Greetings and welcome!
The weekend was a fun one. The weather stayed mostly nice, and there were a lot of people around taking part in all of the fun stuff that we do on weekends.
The forecast changed at the last minute and suggested that Sunday would be a soggy one. Thankfully that storm came overnight Saturday night into Sunday morning, and Sunday turned out to be a nice day. About 4pm a thunderstorm cell came through with some short lived but very intense rain. Monday brought a cooler day with some wind. Later in the day the unsettled weather brought spotty showers and some really cool cloud formations. The spotty showers and cool windy day was a repeat for Tuesday.
We have what looks like a couple of nice days in the 70s ahead for Wednesday-Friday. There is a chance of rain both days on the weekend. I am going to let the weekend get a little closer before I buy into any scenarios. A little faster or a little slower timing on the weekend weather could leave us with a great weekend.
The whitewater rafting on the Peshtigo River last weekend was a blast. The river was hungry Saturday and there were exciting pop-ups, raft burials and disappearing acts, and some really epic wipe-outs. I had a lot of pictures that were just a leg or a paddle or a head sticking up out of the river as people took the rapids deep. A lot of people got a swim, and they had a blast.
Sunday was the polar opposite as far as the river being hungry. I saw raft after raft get away with a deep line run at the rapids that should have been a guaranteed wipeout, only to pop out intact. It was still huge fun, just with a little less carnage.
The river should be great for next weekend. The normal flow is 500cfs, and today it is at 800, and the graph is pretty flat. That translates to about a +12” river level, and it should be at least 6”+ for the weekend. Get it while you can.
The gators (mosquitoes) were hit and miss, but when they were a hit they were plentiful. I walked through a wooded area in one spot and emerged with a cloud of them around me. My Repel 40 served me well and I only got a few welts, but the cloud was impressive. Most of the rest of my time outside they were pretty minimal. I encountered a few wood ticks, but nothing unusual.
A couple of passing thoughts.. First I am happy that I didn’t hear very much in the way of emergency vehicle sirens over the weekend. Hopefully than means it was a safe holiday.
The other passing thought was a little pride and appreciation that so many people were remembering what the Memorial Day weekend holiday was really about. I liked that a lot.
I am going to leave you with a few rafting pictures from the weekend. Have a good week and thank you for visiting!
RJB
