Project Clearwater

Expedition One

Success!

We hit the bayou early Sunday morning and headed downstream. From the start, things were a bit more… interesting… than they had seemed. Let’s just say that the word “fork” is now a bad word to us thanks to block number five.

We found the key log that was blocking everything, so we cut through that. Oh, but wait, there’s another one, so we cut through that. Ah, but that was just one side of a large forked branch, so we cut through that. Finally the big log seemed like it was moving… and so was that stump end over there… and so is that end on the other bank… and that stick poking out downstream… and that other limb floating over there. We ended up making over half a dozen separate cuts to free parts of what turned out to be one very tall multi-trunked tree that had fallen completely across the bayou. It’s all wedged together nicely near the green bank now, providing lovely fish habitat while not blocking the entire bayou.

Anyway, with that and quite a bit of work on the others (including number six, which did a fascinating imitation of the world’s largest propeller before we finally got both ends to move the same direction), the bayou is open all the way to number seven, where the litter raft is waiting. Stay tuned…