One thing that always comes up when we talk about altering the natural progression of wood down the river is that old sticker of liability. I remember one summer that a couple of young girls died at Dimple rock when they swam. The park or the DNR were talking about dynamiting Dimple for a while, and they did get in to explore the massive undercut. This of course was met with a lot of opposition as quite an extreme measure. I think it is illustrative that argument revolved around whether the park had more exposure to lawsuits if they altered the rock, hoping to make it safer, or leaving a known serious hazard in place (negligence). I’d hate to be in that position.

In the end, the rocks were left, but it is clearly a fine line, especially in an area with as heavy a traffic as the Lower Yough.

The extension, of course, is that the Horseshoe Bend section of the Nooksack gets quite a lot of traffic in the summer. I know we’re on it twice a week often, and my god, what will Tony do?

But I have patience for the trees. We have Downtown whitewater, too, but that is a post for another day.

- Dirk