Monday, July 11, 2011

What a Difference



What a difference a year makes.  I went for a nice long hike a couple days ago to see if I could find a few summer runs.  The river was about twice as high as a week earlier last summer.  The fishing was poor with limited visibility, but sometimes the trip is as important as the fishing.

I sometimes think that those of us that live in the Northwest have short memories when it comes to weather.  The cold and non-existent spring and early summer faded from memory with the recent warm weather.  The heart pushed hard to do a summer trip even though the mind knew the folly.

The differences between years were not only noticeable in the increased river flows but in the vegetation on the hike upriver.  A year ago the thistle was head high and in bloom while this year the thistle was barely knee high and not even close to flowering.

The warm weather may have caused temporary weather amnesia in my head, but the stream-side vegetation and water level couldn't forget the cold spring and early summer.

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