The Daily Bucket is a nature refuge.
We amicably discuss animals, weather, climate, soil, plants, waters and note life’s patterns.
We invite you to note what you are seeing around you in your own part of the world, and to share your observations in the comments below.
|
.
October 2019
Olympic peninsula, Pacific Northwest
A railroad bridge was built a century ago to help bring timber from the primeval forests of the Olympic peninsula to the mills of Puget Sound. Today it’s a park and one section of the Olympic Discovery Trail that goes all the way from Port Townsend to Port Angeles. The bridge crosses the Dungeness River at Sequim, Washington. We stopped there last week to enjoy the river, the fall colors and the historic bridge.
The bridge was built in 1915. A 150 foot truss section crosses the main channel and a 580 foot long trestle continues over the riparian floodplain and side channels to the west. A detailed history of its design and history can be found here: dungenessrivercenter.org/.….. A number of other pages at that site describe the Dungeness River Center and Railroad Bridge Park, their features and activities.
The big timbers and iron rods of the bridge have an appealing patina of age.
The bridge provides a wonderful place to see the river, with colorful riparian trees in their warm autumn hues, last of their foliage getting knocked off by the alternating breezes and gales of the season. These are mostly cottonwoods, big leaf maples and alders.
We walked a little ways down the trestle to admire the construction and to see the river up and downstream.
Downstream:
Upstream we’re looking south toward the Olympic mountains. There were several people fly fishing in the river when we were there. The park is a good access spot for them. The video gives a sense of how peaceful the river is right now in mid-fall, before the serious winter rains start.
.
The Dungeness, like all rivers on the peninsula, varies in flow dramatically during the year. It’s shallow and calm during our summer drought season but can turn into a dangerous torrent during heavy rain events and during snowmelt season in spring. A few years ago the Dungeness flooded, bringing giant trees down the river which collided hard enough against the trestle portion of the bridge to damage it. This news piece shows you what the river looks like in a winter flood. Once the waters receded, the bridge remained closed for ten months for repair. One change was replacing the old wooden deck with a concrete pathway.
.
This park is easy to get to if you’re traveling around the Olympic peninsula, a couple of miles outside Sequim, which is just off Highway 101. We actually found the park by accident looking for a nice spot to stop and have our bread n cheese lunch. We’ll come back the next time we’re on the peninsula and spend a bit more time exploring. There’s an Audubon Center with exhibits, and the river itself to walk around by, with birds and insects and all. And it’s just a lovely peaceful place, listening to the river over the rocks.
🍂
Clear and cold this morning in the PNW islands. Upper 30s. Some ground fog now burning off.
What’s up in nature in your area today?
🍁
"SPOTLIGHT ON GREEN NEWS & VIEWS"
EVERY SATURDAY AT 3:00 PM PACIFIC TIME ON THE DAILY KOS FRONT PAGE.
IT'S A GREAT WAY TO CATCH UP ON DIARIES YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED. BE SURE TO RECOMMEND AND COMMENT IN THE DIARY.
|