A Tunnel, Some Drizzle, the Jetty, Biologists and the River’s Mouth is Closed

Thursday May 8, 2014 Jenner CA.

Where did this drizzle come from?

As I was driving down to Jenner today to go yakking, I ran into a drizzling rain when  I entered Monte Rio. I wasn’t expecting that. I continued on down to Jenner hoping it would end by the time I got there, but that wasn’t to be.

A couple of biologists were at the boat ramp putting their boat in the water, donning rain gear first. I said hi and put my rain gear on too. I talked with the biologists for a bit before they took off in their boat to put some buoys in the water with measuring devices. They measure salt, temperature and dissolved oxygen in the water throughout the summer. They were just putting the devices in the water for the summer.

The water gage at the visitor center said 6.5 feet today, so the mouth must be closed

The little channel

This was my view as I entered the little channel under the trees.

 

Well, it had been drizzling enough that the trees were saturated, so big cold drops were falling under the trees, so it wasn’t a good place to get out of the drizzle.

This was my view as I sat under the trees in the drizzle, looking up the river from the channel on the east end of Penny Island.

 

I stayed there long enough to decide which way to go, down to the river’s mouth or up to eagle’s landing and try to get out of the drizzle under the big trees there.

I decided to go on up to Eagle’s landing first and then down to the river’s mouth later.

I passed these male Mergansers ducks sitting on a log in the drizzle. Ducks weather for sure.

 

A big tree to get out of the drizzle

I made it up to Eagle’s Landing and pulled under this big fir tree with moss on it to get out of the weather. It was thick enough that it helped a bit and it hadn’t saturated with water yet.

 

The first biologists

I was sitting there when the two biologists that were at the boat ramp came by to drop a buoy in the water with measuring devices attached. They dropped the buoy in the water and it sank out of sight. The cable was a bit short for the water being high with the mouth closure, but no matter, it would show up again soon. The buoy to the right of them is hooked to a University of Davis device that measures current flow down on the rivers bottom. These two guys are from the Sonoma County Water agency.

I asked the two biologists how deep it was in this hole.Thirty one feet was their answer.

 

They went on in after doing their thing, so I crossed over the river to Paddy’s rock and continued on down the river on the north side.

I passed some geese that honked loudly and some ducks too that didn’t say a thing.

 

A Tunnel under the road

Eventually, I came to the little café in Jenner that looked like this. Lots of nice flowers.

 

I noticed the nice flowers and that tunnel caught my attention too. It looked like I could just make it in there and get out of the drizzle for a bit, so I entered it.

 

I just could make it in there and I went on in and out the other side and turned around.I’m inside the tunnel that goes under the highway, which lets the Jenner creek come under the road to get to the river.

 

I turned around and went back to the entrance where I sat hoping the drizzle would stop, but it didn’t.

Me looking out at the drizzle from the tunnel.

 

The river’s mouth is closed

Well, as long as it was going to keep drizzling, I went back out in it and headed on down to the river ‘s mouth area as I wanted to see how much the river’s mouth was closed up with sand.

It continued to drizzle as I approached the river’s mouth area and it looked like this.

 

There were lots of harbor seals resting on the beach.

In the below picture you can see the harbor seals sitting on the sand in the lowest part of the closed river mouth. Note that the sand they are on is just above the current water level, so if the ocean doesn’t push more sand up on the beach, it should wash out soon as the river water level is slowly rising from the water coming down the river.

 

More biologists working on the jetty

I sat in front of the closed river mouth for quite awhile in the drizzle. It slowed to a mist for a bit around one PM, but then picked back up to a drizzle again. I was noticing some guys doing something near the jetty off to my left, so eventually, I paddled on over there to see what they were up to. They appeared to be some more biologists that I heard where going to do a study on the jetty. I think they are measuring the salt in the water in the sand though a hole they dug earlier to see how much salt flows though the sand when the mouth is closed. They are also supposed to study how deep the jetty rock goes down, but I don’t think they have got to that part yet.

Biologists doing some measurements in a hole by the jetty.

Drizzle picks up and I call it a day

The biologists left not too long after I checked them out and the drizzle seemed to be picking up a bit, so I decided it was time for me to head on home for the day too, about 1:30PM.

It drizzled all the way driving home and didn’t stop until I got to my house. I got a fire going in the wood stove and took it easy for the rest of the day.

Even with the drizzle, I rather enjoyed it paddling around today. Just something different. Every day is different paddling around on the river.