[October Caddis]

Sinktip, my girl friend, Sue and I ended the season with a great adventure.

We floated the Sky from high brige to Sultan and were at a run we now call quake run. It's a run with a large unstable cliff across from where we were fishing. Sinktip went first and Sue was waiting in the raft and I was standing knee deep beside the raft. I heard what I thought was thunder but stranger and said to Sue, "was that thunder"? About 10 seconds latter we hear it again but much louder and all hell breaks loose.

Every thing started to vibrate. All the river rocks behind us were bouncing into each other and making really strange sounds. I had to hold on to the side of the raft because the softball size rocks under my feet were moving all over the place. At first Sinktip was still fishing, (fanatic that he is). But once the cliff across the river started to come down into the river,(trees that lined the top of the cliff big rocks and lots of sand and dirt even huge root balls were falling and sliding down into the river. I yelled to Sue to get out of the raft, I thought the whole 60 to 80 foot cliff would come down and we would be under 20 feet of dirt, boulders and giant old fir trees. Sue just sat there with her mouth open and Sinktip was trying to get out of the river but was having a hard time even turning around and standing crotch deep in the river made it real hard to do anything but watch with the biggest eyes and his mouth wide open. What a site to see!

If that thing had continued much longer we might have been able to float by that site and say, "that's Duggans Run, he continues to fish there under all that dirt and rocks".

What was amazing was the river turned gray instantly not from the slide but from all the dirt, old algie and other stuff that must have been on the bottom. Visability went from about 10 feet or more to less than 1 foot in seconds and lasted for about 30 minutes to an hour in most places.

Well I'm sure Sinktip can remember more and will put his 2 cents worth in on a great adventure on an isolated stretch of river.
Just another day!
Steve.

 

[sinktip]

Steve did a good job of capturing the whole surreal feel of the event. What was interesting was afterward, the three of us telling about what we focused on during the episode. Sue was watching the big fir trees at the top of the cliff going violently back and forth. Steve was noticing both those and the waves coming upriver. I was totally locked in on the 40-50' tree that was rolling down the face of the cliff to the water.

Like the true addicts we are though, withing 2-3 minutes of the end of the motion, we were discussing our good luck in finally having water with some murkiness in it. I can't speak for the others, but on the next run we fished, I was confident that I would hit a fish. Alas, it was not to be.

One side note worth mentioning. As we left the quake hole and floated out over the tailout that Jeff and I had admired on Sunday, I looked down and spied a 12-14# steelie slowly swimming upstream with a small pink corkie hanging out its mouth. At least one got away

 

[NrthFrk16]

So they must of opened up High Bridge before you were doing your turnaroud or did you have to take the long way-down Reiter Road and up into Index?

I heard at about 3 on the radio that they had closed HWY 2 east of Gold Bar because High Bridge sank 4". I sorta of laughed then realized that it must suck to be anyone that made that float today.

 

[juro]

First of all, I am greatly relieved that the good folks of the PNW came thru this pretty darn well (all things considered and with all due respect to the those injured and the heart attack victim). Thank God.

That being said, I found myself biting my nails and laughing out loud at the same time reading this on-the-water account of the 6.8 PNW-style rock festival and big tree mosh pit on the Sky! You guys definitely get the hardcore award for a new adventure sport - quake fishing.

That must have been a truly unique experience. Like the time Bill and I ran (sloshed?) nearly a mile to shore over a knee deep saltwater flat when the mid-day sky turned black and the water turned bright, and lightning started to rip the sky to pieces as if to make chicken little's story come true. We were the tallest thing on the horizon for miles on the open bay - it was "exhilarating" but you probably wouldn't want to do it again if you could help it.

Glad everyone was OK!

 

[KerryS]

Unfortunately I wasn’t fishing. I visit downtown Seattle about once a year. So, where did I happen to be when the quake hit? In the tallest building in Seattle, The Columbia Center. I have been in a few earthquakes in LA and Alaska but, nothing like this one. What a ride! I was on the 5th floor and it swayed back and forth around 2 or 3 feet. I can't imagine what it was like on the 76th floor. If you have to be in an earthquake stay away from tall buildings. They are really scary!

Everyone in my family is ok. That’s the important thing.

Kerry

 

[Doublespey]

Hey Kerry,

I was in the Key Tower across the street - on the 18th floor. This building was built on rollers just for such earth-shaking events. We were really bouncing around up there, too - and even after the quake was over, the building was still swaying back and forth! People higher up told me they saw a hugh cloud of dust rising from the southern part of the city immediately after the shaking stopped - said it was quite the sight.

Even with the falling trees and sliding cliffs, I'd still rather have been on a steelhead river than a highrise!

Anyway, it's over - maybe we'll see you on the Vedder in May (weather permitting)!