Parks – Page 26 – Sequim Daily Photo

The new span

Last winter floodwaters and accompanying debris on the Dungeness River undermined and collapsed part of the Railroad Bridge. The historic trestle survived without damage but the western portion of the span required replacement. A new prefabricated deck has recently been placed on new foundations. This is the portion on the right, above, that does not have tall vertical timbers above the deck.

Here’s a view from the other side, looking westward along the side of the bridge. A fence at the west end of the trestle makes it hard to get a good shot of the new deck.

This property belongs to the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe. The Tribe has partnered with a variety of entities to rebuild the bridge. The good news is that the new portion of the bridge was engineered to reduce the number of pilings in the river and removed old ones that had been treated with creosote. This improves salmon habitat and allow a less impeded river flow.

Railroad Bridge visit

I visited the Railroad Bridge recently to check out the progress on the new west end of the span. I’ll show you what it looks like on Wednesday.

Window shopping

This is a window in a bunker at Fort Flagler State Park last week. I liked the strong shadow under it but wasn’t so impressed when I got it home. So I fooled around with it in Photoshop until it hummed a happier tune.

Low flow

The local paper had a headline Friday that read “Area rivers at historic low flows.”

Though our rainfall last winter was almost normal rainfall the snowfall in our mountains was pitifully meager – 7 percent of average. And that snowpack feeds the regional rivers.

River flows are low and warm and mortality rates are high for our spawning salmon. Two Olympic Peninsula rivers, the Elwah and Calawah, were measured at their lowest flow rate for the month of June in 117 years. All of our rivers are now flowing at rates more typical of late summer or early autumn.

Evolution of Sunset part 3

Sunset at Fort Flagler last week just got better and better. Here’s the last of the series of the brilliant sky – and beautiful water – we witnessed. It was one of those spectacular sunsets that take their time unfolding. What a treat!

Evolution of sunset, part 2

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, we left the beach at Fort Flagler before sunset. The sky was flat grey and it was downright cold. But I happened to look over my shoulder as we reached the nearby campground. The sky had burst into flames and burned bright gold. I took this shot a few minutes later when we returned to the beach. And it got even better. Check back tomorrow for Evolution of Sunset part 3.

Forest and sunset

Here’s a stretch of trail we walked last week at Fort Flagler. It’s a beautiful place to walk.

We also spent time on the beach and thought we’d take in the sunset. But it looked like the sun was going to get buried in dark clouds. So we headed back to camp. Bad call! Check back tomorrow for part 2 of the Evolution of Sunset.