Well after 10 days living out of a tent in the middle of a rainforest I definitely learned a lot about how to live in a perpetual state of wetness. I came to an understanding that the word dry is a relative term out here. If it's not dripping then its is dry. I also learned what it feels like to have over 100 bug bites on one hand, and finally I learned that with enough boredom and free time people do actually read the writing on the packaging of disposable earplugs. Even if the writing isn't in English. Even though having perpetually wet feet and clothes, constantly being swarmed by biting insects and working like a dog for 10-12 hours a day, I had an awesome time. Working with my supervisor Rob, along with 3 other forest service employees was a great learning experience. I went into the woods not really knowing what to expect but I had a better time than I could've imagined, given the circumstances. Walking into the woods and having to chase a bear away from our gear right away really put into perspective how wild it is out here. We were completely out of any cell phone or radio contact, and the only contact we had with the outside world was a spotty connection with a failing satellite phone.
So we drove about two and a half hours by car trailering and then another drove another 30 minutes by boat to the mouth of Sunny Creek, the river we would be working on. From there, Rob and I made 2 trips to the spot about 2 miles up into the woods by the fish pass that we would be working on. After a couple brats on the fire, I was ready for bed at around 8 from that night on. The next day was full of chainsaws and helicopters clearing trees and slinging in camp gear and new personnel. The days flew by as we dug and drilled out a couple feet of gravel and clay to get to bedrock above the fish pass. Filling a couple hundred sand bags with gravel to make a dam and stop the water was almost as fun as emptying them all. From there we drilled 4 foot holes in the bedrock to plant the rebar for the concrete walls and then came the forming and pouring of the walls. Before anyone expected, we were done with the remodeling of the fish pass. The end goal of this fish pass is to aid Coho, Pink and Chum salmon in traveling up previously impassable falls, increasing spawning grounds along the river and overall increasing the numbers of adults. Our modifications were made to hopefully stop the content plugging of the fish ladder during high flows. Below are a few pictures of the project along the way. Looking forward to some time off and hitting the sockeye hard and hopefully getting out after some king salmon and halibut!
