Washougal Today

Today I paddled down from MP 7 again. Although it was pretty cloudy, the rain held off. This was another chance to pick up trash - it's easier when I'm going on my own pace. I finally packed off the balloons across from the put-in.
What stood out today was all the beaver sign - a twig chewed here, a root gnawed there. Judging from the roots being gnawed, the beavers are ranging pretty widely on the river. My fear is that soon I'll see a beaver carcass. Some landowners just can't bother to put netting around their trees.
As I was picking up trash, I saw people picking up litter at the MP 3 access. It was probably an offender work party. I thanked them. At least for now, we're on the same page.
Something else I noticed was the alien invasion. The Japanese knotweed is sprouting. I'll devote a blog entry to it in a couple weeks, but suffice it to say, this invasive weed requires our efforts to control.
I checked out Big Eddy before turning around. It looks like the sneak would barely go at this level - 6.75' on WASW1.