Otters!

It's always exciting to see otters when you're paddling down the river, but today I saw some simply in the back yard.

There were three, eventually. This is the same rock that an otter hauled-out on years ago. When this rock is dry, it is my indicator that the river is really low. The otters were chowing down on a fish. Later I saw they had another one. I believe the fish are shad - bigger than the fingerlings, but definitely smaller than steelhead. I love those otters.

Yesterday I paddled down from MP 7. A number of shoals were quite the nuisance, requiring 'gorilla' moves to get past, but some of the class 2 drops were more like 2+/3, so that was fun, at least for me. Don't worry, I won't try to get any of my friends out on the Washougal when it is this low...

A sign that there are some fish in the river, there were a number of herons and kingfishers looking for lunch. Also I saw three different families of mergansers. They are always so skitish. I did my best to move around them, staying to the far side and not looking directly at them. Peaceful coexistence.