Tuesday December 24, 2013 Jenner CA.
More sore back problems
My sore back felt pretty good last night, until I got up and tried to put my socks and shoes on, and tie them, this morning. That put me back in the ouch state. Some meds and two cold packs got me going and I was on my way down to Jenner to kayak for the day.
Something is trying to tell me not to put my socks and shoes on, so I guess it’s slippers tomorrow.
When I arrived at Jenner today, there was a light breeze and the sun was out, no fog. I put my boat in the water and paddled across to Penny Island and on up the river to eagle’s landing and a little ways past that taking my time and enjoying the day.
The high water level indicated the river’s mouth was still closed.
I heard some geese honking and looked up to see these guys coming in for a landing across the river from me.
I spent about an hour up the river, then turned around and headed back down to Penny Island where I landed for a little walk on the island.
Here is where I put my boat in at Penny Island and went for a little walk.This is looking down the backside channel of Penny Island, towards the ocean.
I explored around looking for trials on the island.
This is one of the trails I tried to follow.
The trail went over these trees.
I got lost for a short time, but finally found my way back out of the brush. When I got back to my kayak I laid down in the nice grass for about a half hour before continuing on down towards the river’s mouth to see if it was really closed?
By now, the breeze had died down to mostly calm. This is my view as I headed down to the river’s mouth area.
Sure enough, the river’s mouth was still closed up.
This is a picture of the end of the jetty showing the sand that is blocking the rivers exit to the ocean.
What causes the river’s mouth to open?
Lorrin asked what opens the river in the Shoutbox? Several things can do it. High tides in the five and six foot range can break over the sand dam and wash the sand dam back into the river creating a channel for the water to flow back out at low tide. This can happen when the ocean is real rough at the same time as the tide goes high.
Or if the sand dam is real low, the river can rise from up river dam water releases or from rain rising the level of the estuary. This can cause the water to flow over the sand dam causing the dam to wash out.
The other way is for someone to dig it out with machinery. This is the method used when the sand dam is real high. This method is usually used when the water level of the estuary gets to 7 feet at the Jenner visitor center. The agency responsible for breaching the river’s mouth is the Sonoma County water Agency. They do the work, but are controlled by several other agencies that have rules and regulations on how and when it’s done.
The sea lions have been hanging out in the estuary
There were some sea lions napping just inside the mouth area.
I hung around the mouth area for about a half hour before starting back in for the day.
This is a picture of Jenner as I started back in for the day.
The sun was setting as I headed back in for the day. Here is a picture of the sunset.
And another sunset picture just as I was almost to the Jenner take out.
It was getting dark as I headed for home. When I got home I started making some bread dough, as my aunt likes a loaf for Christmas, so that was the first thing on the agenda, before taking a nap.
Crab for dinner tonight
While I was napping, someone knocked at my door. It was my brother Tom with a fresh Dungeness crab for me to eat for dinner tonight. Great.
Had a nigh day.