Mud!

Last night we were greeted at the entryway by a seal skin waiting to be tanned. It's amazing how quickly the unusual becomes the norm.  Something occurred yesterday that was far more unusual than a seal skin sitting at the door, the sun came out.  Not only did it peek it's lazy head from behind the clouds, it stayed out all day yesterday and remained so for much of today.  We're not quite sure how to handle such unusual weather events.  After more than three weeks of solid rain I was beginning to believe my dad's joke about it started raining once and never stopped was about to prove true.  We are still under a boil water alert and the paths up the valley are a mudder's dream from all the rain.  The water in the creek was high enough a few days ago to allow a humpie salmon to hitch a ride in the ranger as Mike crossed. 

The mud gave me my first opportunity to be the driver in an impromptu mudding session.  I've been mudding before, but always as a passenger rather than a driver.  Considering Mike had gotten stuck and required assistance from the wench to free himself of the very same mud holes I would be traversing, I was a bit nervous.  However, I made it cleanly through each mud puddle without any issues, but I am quite certain the water level in the creek increased considerably in the 30 minutes between crossing with Mike driving and my own crossing.  Mike has suggested I crossed further upstream where the water was deeper, but I'm convinced the creek has it out for me and the water levels were intentionally higher for my crossing.