Project ReWard — Expedition Four

With the water level low enough to get to the good stuff, the mission for Expedition Four of Project ReWard was rather straightforward:  paddle up Ward Creek to the Derelict Bridge by Buzbee Drive and go to town.

The Derelict has been building its collection for years.  Several times in the past, we’ve cut pieces of the jam away to make channel, but we’ve never tried to clear it all.  This time around, on the other hand, we’re leaving no log unpulled.  Our personal favorite part had to be pulling the pair of giant black plastic pipes.  They have been particularly problematic since finding their way to the bridge a long time ago, but not any longer.  Oh, and once all the air bubbles out, apparently they sink.  Strongly.

With another day’s work behind us now, the Derelict is now (provisionally) clear.  When the water drops another foot or so from what it was this trip, the two bays closest to the dropped end of the bridge may actually be land thanks to years of silting in.  Still, that shouldn’t be a problem for paddlers.  We’ll obviously have to recheck all the bridges during very low water just in case there were hidden issues, but things should be looking up.

Next week will be a “vacation” day from Project ReWard, but the following weekend we’ll be back at it.  The plan for Expedition Five is to launch from upstream and paddle down to the Ward Creek Lumberyard at Pecue to begin the assault on that massive jam.  If you’ve always wanted to help out on one of our big work days, this would be a good opportunity.  The paddle will be much shorter, just over a mile, and we can use assistance on anything from a bit of casual litter picking to actually helping dismantle the jam.  Either way, we’re really looking forward to it.  It’s going to be epic.