Humptulips

Hi everyone!

What a funny word - Humptulips.  There is a small town named Humptulips here in Washington State.  There is also a river of the same name.  Today I will share a story about the river.

I have shared some of the river adventures my husband and I have had with you on Puglette Ponders.  But just a brief catch up for the folks that have not heard those tales of woe.  My husband and I have a small, green plastic boat that we have taken on many adventures.  Some good, some bad.  Usually the bad involved me falling into the water or crashing into something.  We did have a lot of really great adventures in this little boat, I will share some of those at a later date.

Western Washington is blessed by an abundance of water ways.  I know...who would have thought with all the rain we would have lots of streams and rivers!?!  My husband and I would load our little green boat into the back of our old Isuzu Trooper and take off for camping and fishing on most weekends.  If we were going to float down a river we would take two cars and park one at our landing spot and take the trooper to the starting spot.  That way we would have a car to get back to the beginning of our trip to retrieve the vehicle that held the boat.  This was a good system and we had lots of fun using this method.

On one of our more memorable trips we drove the two vehicles to the Humptulips River and floated down a lovely river on a sunny summer day.  Sounds quite bucolic, right?  We had checked out the area on a previous trip and had selected a smaller tributary to launch the boat.  We studied maps and were excited to float through farmland and forests while fishing.

On the day of our trip we loaded up the cars with the boat and our fishing gear.  Since it was only going to be about a half day on the river we packed a small lunch and some snacks.  We were so happy to have another fun day on a river.  We had already scouted out a great landing spot with easy access and space to park our car.  We dropped of the small car we had and drove the SUV up to our pre-selected launch site.  We arrived at the spot that just a few weeks ago had been a full stream only to find that the water level was quite a bit lower.  Oh well, we were sure it would be fine.  The boat floats and water is flowing...let's go!

We had only gone a few hundred yards when we bottomed out.  Not enough water.  Oh well, let's just carry the boat a short way to where the stream resumes.  Easy Peasy.  We were able to float along again and the day looked promising.  I was sitting in the front of the boat guiding my husband while he manned the motor and steered. 

All of a sudden we came around a bend and Wham! Right into a beaver dam face first.  Luckily the water level was low and we did not capsize.  I just got a face full of small twigs and branches.  But we had to get out and carry the boat past the beaver dam.  Ok, back into the water.  So you know what a dam does in a river, right?  It blocks most of the water from flowing freely down the stream.  We ended up dragging the boat more and more as we went towards our goal, the Humptulips River.  We were getting pretty tired of dragging the boat and had resorted to scooting on our butts in the boat just so we didn't have to get out and drag that boat.  It was getting heavier and heavier each time we had to get out and pull it along a rocky stream bed.

By the time we reached the big river we were exhausted!  What a relief to see that the river was flowing freely.  We were really ready to just float along.  Ahhh...this is more like it!  We used our little motor when the current slowed down, but we mostly just went with the flow.  Delightful!  We thought we would float along for a few hours and land where we had parked our car.  We would just laugh about the troubles we had along the way.

But no, we had lost track of time and the day got away from us.  Pretty soon the sun started going down and dusk was arriving.  We had no idea where we were or how far we had to go until we reached our parked car.  Pretty soon the mosquitoes were out in droves.  We went through clouds of mosquitoes getting eaten alive.  Soon the mosquitoes were joined by bats.  The bats were swooping in to eat the nasty bugs.  Well that's just fine, but they have no sense of personal space.  I really want a bat to stay at least two hundred feet away from me at all times.

When you are lost, floating down a river in a cloud of mosquitoes and bats darkness falls really fast.  Soon we were floating in the dark without a flashlight in empty farmland and forests.  I will say that the sunset was just lovely.

We floated along looking for our landing spot.  I was starting to get really nervous about finding the beach where we had parked our car.  It was really dark and difficult to see.  The beach we had chosen for a landing area was just really a small, sandy spot surrounded by trees.  Were we ever going to go home??  I really wanted a nice, bright indoor space free from bats, bugs and water.

Finally we spotted a group of local teens partying.  I was thrilled to see other humans!!  We waved as we went past, the good feeling of a shared humanity fading with their light.  As we floated past, my husband recognized the beach as our landing spot.  Hallelujah!  The ordeal was over.  We could get out of the boat and go home!  I was overjoyed.

My joy dimmed a bit when I remembered that we had to go get the other vehicle, load the boat and drive two plus hours home.  When we got into the small car to head out to the SUV we looked at the clock and realized we had been on the river for over twelve hours.  We had only planned on a four hour trip.  I wanted to be home before dark.  I did not want to be scratched up and mosquito bitten.  Yes, I was a crabby pants girl.  >:o(

We did stop on the way home to get dinner at a Denny's.  I went to the restroom and when I saw myself in the mirror I wanted to cry.  My hair was going in a million different directions, I had a really bad sunburn and so many mosquito bites that I was just a lumpy mess.  Thank goodness I was finally able to wash my hands!

Looking back we realized that we had pulled our boat over most of ten miles of river and stream beds.  Not exactly what we had planned.  We have had many good laughs over this ordeal.  We shared the good and the bad.  It is one of our favorite stories to share.  I am glad to have shared it with all of you.
talk to you soon!
Judy