“Six of 18,” the cyclist said to me. I nodded, knowing he meant the number of spillways open at the dam we had both stopped to photograph. Until last week, three had been the most spillways I’d ever seen open. When I passed by the dam earlier this week, 10 spillways were open and pouring water into the river.

An impressive, welcome sight after the long drought

The last two weekends have brought much-needed rain here, but with the rain came winds that broke trees apart, some already drought-dead but others blossoming out for the season.

Split apart and resting on two other trees

Fallen across the bike path

Two Sundays ago (before the time changed and I didn’t struggle as much to get up early), I was out before the chainsaws started. I made my way to the river to see it roaring past. It was the highest I’ve seen it.

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