T H E   F I R S T   D A Y

Thursday, July 8, 2004

Soon I come upon this informative sign. For some reason, largely unknown to science but secretly coveted by those sneaky marketing folks, bears not only have a good sense about the fire volatility of forests, they also like to communicate said facts via billboard signage. The most popular spokesbear, Smokey the Bear, says the fire danger today is "low". This will change once summer sizzles on with little or no precipitation. It gets really dry here near summer's end when the potential for wildfires is a real concern for many folks living in or near the forest. Apparently, the bears are concerned as well.

On a whim my first stop is the Speelyai Bay Recreation Area. This park and apparently many others down the road are maintained by the public utility, Pacific Power & Light Company. A number of fish hatcheries are operated by the conglomerate as well. The park serves up a lake, a boat launch, a little beach and many picnic tables, pretty much standard fare in these parts. It borders Lake Merwin which turns out to be a fairly large lake. Now that it's later in the evening, aside from the boat being taken out of the lake, no other watercraft are in sight on land or in the water.

The park provides the first oddity of the trip, a public restroom with an insanely long handcap access ramp. The designers, no doubt, take great pleasure in designing their restrooms to frustrate and embarrass the bladder-challenged public.

Next stop is Yale Park which lies adjacent to Yale Lake. Hmmm, basically this park is a clone of the previous and is yet another park managed by Pacific Power & Light Company. Why would a utility company maintain parks? Just being charitable? Probably not. My guess is they're required to do so as a means of giving back to the community for use of the public's natural resources for the power they generate.