How many trees are in the river? Lets count and find out.

I spent the entire month of July 2005 walking upstream for 14 mile in the Cedar River inventorying down trees and logs within the wetted channel and along the stream banks for work. This work was commissioned by Seattle Public Utilities (SPU). The Cedar River supplies 70% of the drinking water used by 1.3 million inhabitants in the Seattle area. Being in the great outdoor for so many days and seeing logs that were easily 1000 years old gave me prospective into my life and the shortness of my time on this planet. During my time on the river, I turned 29 years old. Here are a few photos from the journey.

I try to make an argument that the tree on the bank is outside the channel and therefore I don't need to cross the river to measure it. After spending several mintues arguing my case I had to go measure it anyways.

Most of the river was not a calm as this picture shows.

I was all smiles this day

Most days it was raining or threating to rain.

Using a GPS unit, I'm searching for a satellite so that I can record our exact location on the river.

This is a log jam formed by several large spruce trees. I'm standing on a spruce that's about 20ft above the ground surface. You have to be good on your feet for this line of work.

My coworker and I enjoy a chocolate ice cream bar on my birthday at the Ravendale Market- notice the saddles that are used as seats.