Rain?
Printed From: ProfessorPaddle.com
Category: General
Forum Name: Chit Chat
Forum Discription: Non Boating Related Discussions
URL: http://www.professorpaddle.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=7360
Printed Date: 05 Oct 2025 at 7:25pm
Topic: Rain?
Posted By: 14kayaking2
Subject: Rain?
Date Posted: 27 Sep 2008 at 6:37pm
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So.... I moved here from "colorful Colorado" which is really not that entirely colorful, however does boast about having more sunny days than the "sunshine state." I was told that all I was going to do was see rain, rain and more rain....and then some more rain upon moving here. However this is not to be the case as of yet. Instead it is just more beautiful, and colorful than I coulda imagined (different mountains to be sure, though Seattle traffic is just plain dumb...for all you Audi driving dip..ahem.. CARPOOL to Microsoft, you all live next door to eachother and are going to the same f'n place). I miss the mountains of colorado for just that reason...but... Alas, colorado has not the season we have here... in fact James you just played in a bunch of playtowns, and I am sorry that you had to go this time of the year because the rivers are barely even running. What I am trying to say is I am looking forward to some good rain to raise the water levels and really start kicking off this season....anybody else agree? or am I just one person who is out of place here? ------------- "We are only boaters between swims" Matty |
Replies:
Posted By: funnywater
Date Posted: 27 Sep 2008 at 9:35pm
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oh you just wait, sir. i hope you got your sun fix in back in colorado, and again while you've been here, cuz that's the last you're going to see of it for quite a while. sounds like you arrived at the single month and a half time out of the year when the northwest is sunny and warm. there will be rain. then there will be more rain. then it will sprinkle. after that it may mist for a few days. following that trend will be a long stint of drizzle. next come the showers. and at various points intermittently throughout all of this, watch out for falling cats and dogs. ------------- see you in the funny papers |
Posted By: James
Date Posted: 28 Sep 2008 at 8:57am
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The rivers will rise.... Kids will complain... "I hate this state... its so wet all the time", "I can't wait till I am old enough to move out... I'm going to California" but that won't stop the rain.... Best tip... Buy a good tarp and get your rainy camping gear tricked out while its still dry! ------------- |
Posted By: Ellingferd
Date Posted: 28 Sep 2008 at 11:30am
| trust me, its going to rain. a lot. |
Posted By: kurle
Date Posted: 28 Sep 2008 at 3:47pm
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a lot. ------------- |
Posted By: refried
Date Posted: 28 Sep 2008 at 7:51pm
| and keep raining |
Posted By: franzhorner
Date Posted: 29 Sep 2008 at 10:06am
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MORE RAIN PLEASE
------------- MORE RAIN PLEASE |
Posted By: Chuck e fresh
Date Posted: 29 Sep 2008 at 10:15am
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This reminds of a milly vanilly song, you know the one. Blaim it on the rain. It doesn't rain that much here. If it is raining drive an hourand a half and find some sun or snow to get in. If you get home and it's still raining scream haliluya grab your paddle gear and get on the river. Rain is good but sence it ain't raining today I think I'll get myself wet on some left over rain and snow that is trickling down the skykomish as we speak.. Later sun lover's....Rainhater's...or is it the other way around ??? I dunno, you pick !! ------------- There's no such word as can't!so stop making excuses!!!! |
Posted By: 14kayaking2
Date Posted: 29 Sep 2008 at 5:34pm
I second your motion Chuck. It seems that rain will only bring more fun. I mean really, if you can't light up soggy firewood then what kinda camper are you? Until I was spoiled by Colorado, I had never had "dry" firewood before...(ok that's not true....it was DAMN dry in a few places). Seriously, we only get a about 20 more days of rain here than in many other states (albeit a lot more rain... in that time) So...Rain BRING IT ON... Now about those slugs though...they any good to eat? they sure seem plentiful.
------------- "We are only boaters between swims" Matty |
Posted By: jP
Date Posted: 29 Sep 2008 at 7:41pm
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Well, now-- lighting a fire in the Great Northwest can be another matter entirely, and not one to take lightly! sure, if you have lots of flammables with you that's one thing, maybe lots of dry paper, ect. But lighting a fire during the colder, rainy months WITH ONLY A LIGHTER AND/OR MATCHES can be quite a feat. I mean, the wood and kindling you find can be not only soggy but down right saturated. Keep it in mind as it could become an important task if you're ever stuck in a canyon after something goes terribly wrong. Not that I do it enough, but I try to build fires using as little extra help as possible (like no fuel or paper). For example, it helps to get as much of the tiniest kindling (like 1/16th" diameter, not 1/8th") you can find, and get it going in a bundle so make a minnie-torch, before moving on to the bigger stuff. ------------- 🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋 |
Posted By: 14kayaking2
Date Posted: 29 Sep 2008 at 8:41pm
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for sure.... whenever I knew that the whole trip was going to have ONLY wet wood I would sometimes bag a couple days of laundry lint.... truly a lightweight, high quality flame producer. Then In college (and a brief stint as a hotshot out of Kaibab ranger district), we used fuzee's to start firelines, or light backfires. Essentially just a roadflare(though it does burn about 1500 centigrade hotter), you can easily substitute the flare instead...not a bad addition to any midwinter safety kit as it will get going soggy wood and I mean drenched stuff. The other thing to think about in wet weather is... "thank god for gore-tex." ------------- "We are only boaters between swims" Matty |
Posted By: dave
Date Posted: 29 Sep 2008 at 8:43pm
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this is a funny post..... ------------- Nomad |
Posted By: Chuck e fresh
Date Posted: 30 Sep 2008 at 10:49am
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I"d like FIrelog's for 800 alex... ------------- There's no such word as can't!so stop making excuses!!!! |
Posted By: franzhorner
Date Posted: 30 Sep 2008 at 3:22pm
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One thing I have learned trying to light fires in the winter rain is that it is imperative to have a dry base. A firepan/hubcap would be ideal but you can always use some of your larger dry pieces as the base for making your fire. Another trick is to take a knife or ax and make shavings of wood for your kindling. I one time famously got very upset with a group of guide trainees at a campground on the Cispus because we couldn't get a fire started. We had dry bundles of wood and a phone book full of paper and couldn't get the damn fire to light. The trainees were considering driving back to Morton and getting a motel room. This upset me very much! It was raining very hard but we were under a tarp. A dry base and wood shavings finally got the thing started. With a warm fire in place I was able to convince the trainees that they should damn camp-out and not take the wimpy route of getting a motel...I famously asked "what kind of outdoor's people are we if we can't start a fire in the rain?" and "I will not let this stand!"... "we call ourselves guides??!" it took over an hour to get a nice fire stoked!! ------------- MORE RAIN PLEASE |
Posted By: James
Date Posted: 30 Sep 2008 at 6:32pm
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I can recall quite a few nights of rain poured camp fires.... damp hours of prep just to get the flame going.... but I also recall some nights that took only a handful of needles and a spark to start up.... how great and scary at the same time.... as you watch the 3rd pallet get tossed on top... sparks and crackles ..... uh you think we should start bringing water from the river? Anyone got a photo of Phils old tarp? I'm ready for the fall... Bring the rain on.. I am preping my tarps and getting ready for a camped out fall and even winter... The more tarps the better! ------------- |
Posted By: 14kayaking2
Date Posted: 30 Sep 2008 at 10:57pm
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tarps? a burlap sack is the best thing.... It lets moisture through and doesn't really keep any out. Hells yeah!!! By the way....Chuck... the answer for your statement was what sells for too much money and really doesn't seem to light a fire... right? Oh yes...it's gonna be a wonderful, miserable, wet winter. yeeeeehaaw!!!! ------------- "We are only boaters between swims" Matty |
Posted By: JoesKayak
Date Posted: 01 Oct 2008 at 9:39am
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Oh yes..... I can't wait for those dark days of non-stop overcast weather where you never actually see the sun literally for weeks and even months. Slow non-stop drizzle and mist punctuated by days of pounding rain that bring the rivers up. Folks at the office all mopy and bitchy about the endless stream of gray, wet weather... meanwhile I'm whistling as I go down the hallway, knowing that I'm headed to the river Saturday morning to have the time of my life while they are staying in bed until noon, too depressed to move and contemplating moving to Arizona or just killing themselves. Oh happy, happy days. Pacific Northwest... where else could I ever live????? |
Posted By: oopsiflipped
Date Posted: 01 Oct 2008 at 3:45pm
| not sure we're going to have to wait much longer....nwrfc has some promising predictions! |
Posted By: Chuck e fresh
Date Posted: 01 Oct 2008 at 7:28pm
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The judge's, will except that answer Kevin. Bear Grills ( or is it the survivor man guy... ?? ) I think it's S/M guy , he recomends cotton balls dipped in vassiline. keep em in a plastic bag and presto change-o abera -kadabera alla peanutbutter and jelly sandwich'es.. boom you gotta fire starter !! I've heard of people using that method andit working !! I must say, I do love the rain !!!!!!!! ------------- There's no such word as can't!so stop making excuses!!!! |
Posted By: dave
Date Posted: 01 Oct 2008 at 7:54pm
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I find it much easier to camp at home with high speed cable, big screen tv and food in the fridge.
The way things are going we will all be camping out in the wilderness soon, so why rush into it now? Better enjoy being indoors while you can. ------------- Nomad |
Posted By: Chuck e fresh
Date Posted: 01 Oct 2008 at 8:04pm
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Hmmm , Is it really possible to live in a door ? ------------- There's no such word as can't!so stop making excuses!!!! |
Posted By: dave
Date Posted: 01 Oct 2008 at 8:32pm
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Yes...... ------------- Nomad |
Posted By: bigboatsrule
Date Posted: 02 Oct 2008 at 10:43am
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Oddly enough I'm sitting in Pittsburgh where there has been a perfect combination of misery this week. The sun hasn't come out for 7 days and the pissy-drizzle hasn't been enough to get the rivers above 65 cfs. Looking forward to returning to Bellingham this saturday for some sunshine.
It's not evironmentally friendly but for emergency kit in your lifejacket pocket strips of old bike inner tube won't absorb water and burn like an out of contro Iraqi oil well.
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Posted By: Chuck e fresh
Date Posted: 02 Oct 2008 at 6:01pm
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hellz gueah ..!! ------------- There's no such word as can't!so stop making excuses!!!! |
Posted By: jP
Date Posted: 03 Oct 2008 at 5:52pm
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Here it comes for the weekend!! Rain Rain come TODAY!!!! ------------- 🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋 |
Posted By: 14kayaking2
Date Posted: 03 Oct 2008 at 7:27pm
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all hail the rains! Let it rain let it rain.
------------- "We are only boaters between swims" Matty |
Posted By: huckin harms
Date Posted: 04 Oct 2008 at 7:22am
Hardly rained yesterday/last night at all... maybe .1 in here in GB. Still time to get some more wood.
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Posted By: 14kayaking2
Date Posted: 04 Oct 2008 at 3:47pm
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Mother nature has given up. As a result of all our dam... damning projects we have diverted so much water that our entire ecosystem is changing. the Pacific NW is about to become a desert, whilst arizona and places like that are going to be inundated with heretofore unheard of deluges.... heres to hoping that reverse psychology works.... ------------- "We are only boaters between swims" Matty |
Posted By: Chuck e fresh
Date Posted: 05 Oct 2008 at 11:12am
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Paddled in the rain yesterday and will be headed out again today. I hate my life !!!!! ------------- There's no such word as can't!so stop making excuses!!!! |
Posted By: dave
Date Posted: 05 Oct 2008 at 9:00pm
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I have never stopped paddling all year! Almost 4 times a week solid. I must admit I so spend allot of time at the power house, but what the hell, I am in great paddling shape! ------------- Nomad |
Posted By: Chuck e fresh
Date Posted: 07 Oct 2008 at 9:37am
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Are you really shaped like paddle !!????.. ------------- There's no such word as can't!so stop making excuses!!!! |