River Scenes

Stuck at home with nowhere to hike, I was getting desperate.  So desperate in fact that just to have an outing, I agreed to go fishing with my hubby.

Moon and Bridge pier

It's not that I hate fishing.  It's just that fishing involves sitting in a boat for hours on end and I like activities with more movement.  My hubby loves this sort of thing but I, well, I find it kind of boring.

But - these are unusual times - and sometimes that means keeping an open mind and trying new things.  So in the very wee hours one early April Saturday I found myself at a boat ramp just north of downtown Portland helping my hubby launch his boat (well, technically he was doing 99% of the work......and I was just holding the ropes).

St Johns Bridge before sunrise (cell phone shot)

We launched at one of the few City parks still open underneath Portland's iconic St Johns Bridge.  The moon shone brightly in the pre-dawn sky, lighting up a bright halo around the clouds and illuminating the bridge.  Hoping for some wildlife shots, I'd only brought my long lens and had to rely on my phone's wide angle camera to capture the full scene.

Sunrise river reflections

After loading everything we'd need into hubby's boat, and parking the truck and trailer, we slid out into the Willamette River.  (And for those of you not from around here it's pronounced "will-AM-it" as in, Willamette, dammit!).

The riverbank here is far from pristine.  Lined with industrial docks, warehouses, huge cranes, rotting pilings, tank farms, and huge ocean-going vessels, this portion of the Willamette has been tainted by commerce for well over a century.  Still it was cool to cruise by gigantic docks with the corresponding large ships as we motored to hubby's favorite fishing spot.

Bright morning clouds

In this era of social distancing, fishing was one activity still allowed by the state of Oregon.  With everyone in boats, it's easy to maintain that 6 foot distance, I guess.  But neighboring Washington state apparently didn't agree, and closed their fishing season due to the virus.  Of course this caused a great migration across state lines.  My hubby said last weekend over half the boats on this river were from out of state, mostly Washington.  Since that didn't jive with the "stay close to home" spirit of social distancing our governor then declared only in-state residents would be allowed to fish from the following weekend on.  

Daybreak

Despite the lack of out of staters, there were still quite a few boats floating in the river as we approached the designated fishing spot.  Hubby rigged his pole and began the slow troll up and down the river, hoping to lure a fat, spring salmon.  I readied my camera to capture sunrise from a shore lined with utility poles, buildings, and huge metal towers.  A bit different from the mountain scenes I was used to capturing.

Sauvie Island Bridge

Sunrise was a lovely golden orange, providing a warm glow to the surrounding riverbank areas and fisherman's boats.  I glanced over at nearby Sauvie Island (a huge island where the Columbia and Willamette Rivers meet) and captured a nice shot of the Sauvie Island bridge basking in soft morning light.

Looking back towards the bridge

After that, my hubby kept trolling up and down the river, in a set pattern.  The number of boats increased and I entertained myself checking out the other fisherman (and some women) in boats of many different shapes and sizes.  There were huge cabin cruisers and tiny metal dinghy's with putt-putt motors.  Some boats had just one occupant, while others were crammed with people (no social distancing happening there - hopefully they were all from the same family).  A couple of the fancier boats belonged to professional fishing guides.  Painted with bright colors and decorative logos, I was surprised to see these boats full of fisherman (and they were less than 6 feet apart).

Osprey perching on a piling

Besides sunrise, the highlight of my day was cruising by an osprey nest.  Perched on top of some rotting pilings, an osprey couple had built a huge nest of sticks.  Each time we passed by, I'd ready my camera and big lens, hoping to catch one of the birds in action.  The advantage of being on the water - we could get really close to these magnificent raptors.  With the moving boat, however I soon discovered it was extremely difficult to hold my lens steady enough to get a clear image.  But our trolling route took us past the nest several times, so I got many opportunities to practice.

River view

Fishing was slow.  My hubby had one bite, but quickly lost it.  We saw a grand total of two salmon caught the entire morning (among 71 boats).  Spring salmon are extremely difficult to catch.

I'd hoped to see more wildlife, but besides the osprey the only other action was a flock of Canadian geese.  After a few hours, boredom set in, and I reached for my Kindle.

Osprey in nest

With my Kindle to read, I was entertained and would've probably lasted longer if it weren't for the call of nature.  Although I'd rationed my water intake all morning, by 10:30 my bladder began telling me it needed some relief.  I didn't want to try and go on the boat.  We were surrounded by other fishing vessels - full of mostly men - so I wasn't about to drop trou over a bucket in front of them all.  And there wasn't a good place to tie up on the adjacent shorelines, nor anywhere I could go even if we could.  Luckily hubby took pity on me, and said he was ready to quit anyway.  So he pulled in his line and we headed to the dock.

St Johns Bridge in daylight

One advantage to finishing early - no one at the boat dock, so social distancing was easy!  While hubby took care of loading the boat, I made a beeline for the restroom.  (It wasn't the cleanest but at that point I didn't care.  Luckily it had a good supply of soap and water)  While my hubby readied the boat for our trip home, I grabbed my camera for a couple of daylight shots of the nearby St Johns Bridge and it's gorgeous steel span and towers.  One of Portland's local landmarks.

So that's the story of my first salmon fishing trip on the mighty Willamette River.  It really wasn't that bad - I saw a lovely sunrise, got close to an osprey couple, and got to learn all about what my hubby does on his spring and fall weekends.  Would I go again?  Well, yes probably if this quarantine keeps me from hiking for awhile.  But next time we'll have to figure out a new "relief system!"  :)

Birth of a Bridge

I'm a civil engineer who works for the local transportation bureau.  Although my job consists of designing streets and sidewalks, I occasionally get an interesting, unique assignment.

Our transit agency has an extensive network of light rail tracks that's ever expanding.  Their current project includes building a new bridge across the Willamette River in downtown Portland.  As one of the local agency review engineers, I had a small role in the preliminary design phase of this bridge.  Now that construction is underway, I sometimes get opportunities to tour the construction site.  Is there anything cooler than watching a bridge being built? (Especially to a nerdy civil engineer!)

Towers rising out of the river

Construction started in the summer of 2011.  To build the bridge piers, giant cofferdams were placed in the river, the water pumped out, and huge shafts drilled into the river bottom.  Filled with concrete, these became the foundations.  Then, throughout the year, two towers slowly rose out of the water.

West tower

These photos are from September 2012.  The tower near the west shore was nearly 2/3 complete.

Tower close-up

A close up of the west tower.  Look at the long staircase workers must climb to reach the top!

Concrete pour from the workbridge

For access from shore, a sturdy workbridge was built.  This enables delivery of construction materials to the work area and easy access for the workers.  Concrete trucks can drive very close to the towers.  The long green arm is a pump that gets the concrete up to the work platform.  As you can imagine, it takes a lot of concrete to build a bridge of this size.

Towers on the east shore

A look at the east tower.  Not very far along at this point.  The green rectangles you see are rebar cages that form the skeleton of the towers.  Forms will be placed around the rebar and the cage will be filled with concrete.  As you can see, there's a workbridge on this side of the river too.  Cranes balanced on huge barges do the heavy lifting.

We engineers love this stuff!

Some facts:  This will be a cable-stayed suspension bridge.  When completed, the bridge will serve light rail trains, streetcar, buses, pedestrians and bicycles, but no private autos will be allowed.  It will be approximately 1,720 feet in length, and the towers will each be 180 feet high.  It's the first new bridge built across the Willamette River in nearly 40 years.

A year later.....

Fast forward to November 2013.  Not only are both towers at full height, but the concrete bridge decks, anchored by long cables, extend from both sides of each tower.  The abutments on both shores are well under construction, and the bridge decks are getting ever closer to reaching land.

Form traveler on the west end

Last week, I got another opportunity to visit the construction site.  Not only that, I was able to go up on the bridge itself!  Not many people are allowed to get so close.

This shot is two photos stitched together.  It shows the form traveler on the west end of the deck.  The deck is built outward in both directions from the towers, keeping each side in balance.  The form traveler moves with the extension of the deck.  As construction progresses, cables are cast into the deck's underside.

Underside of the west tower

I think this is an interesting view of the bridge's underside.  A lot sure has happened in a year!

The decks are getting closer...

Eventually the deck will touch the abutments on each side of the river.  And the other ends will meet in the middle of the river.  In this photo, it looks as though the decks are getting close to touching, but I'm told this closure won't happen until next May.

Soon they will meet!

Here's a view of the deck's underside, suspended over the river.  I think it's so amazing that a bunch of steel cables can hold up so much concrete!

I see the cables up close and personal

This is my view from the bridge deck.  Is this awesome or what?  Each of these white pipes house over thirty individual steel cables.  The cables run through a hole in the tower, and are cast into the bottom of the deck on both sides.

View from center span

Walking in the middle of the deck, where the future tracks will be laid, gives you an idea of the huge scale of such a structure.  Tracks will be located in the center of the bridge, and each outer side will have a wide path for bikes and pedestrians.  In the future, it will be great to walk across this bridge and take in the city and river views.  Someplace to bring my camera, that's for sure!

Cables radiating out from the tower

It's fun to see a project move from words in meetings, to lines on a plan sheet, to an actual steel and concrete structure.  Scheduled for completion in late 2014, I can't wait to tour the finished product.

For more information, check out the transit agency's website.



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