fathers days ride pics

[KLR Rider]

A bunch of us went out into the hills for a 250 mile ride today. Well maybe it was only 230.. Tried to get to Oakridge Oregon, but got stopped by snow. Heres a brief look. http://clickrebel.blogspot.com/2011/06/fathers-day-ride-to-hills.html

[revmaaatin]

List- Three years ago, 4 of us began the GDR not knowing that the Hurricane that had struck Texas was bringing a unexpected amount of attendent rain, traveling N up the Rocky Mountains. It made for a difficult trip. There was a fractured ankle, a sprained ankle, a broken foot that morphed into a heart attack--largely becuase we 'did not know' what was ahead of us. The adventure had a few adversities. In the spirit of KLR related/NKLR, I submit this for your consideration--if you are coming across the plains states. It might not be what you were expecting. You have been warned. revmaaatin. THE MIGHTY MISSOURI DEFIES THE ARMY N.D. and S. D. -- In the nearly two-centuries-long interaction between the Missouri and the Army Corps of Engineers, the river has repeatedly defied the Army's attempts at control. Today, the Army faces the greatest challenge to its regulation of the Mighty Mo. As of June 14, the Fort Peck reservoir was at 114.2 percent of capacity. The lake is so full that water is now flowing through the dam's emergency spillway. Because the Army does not have the ability to halt the flows through the spillway without threatening the structural integrity of the dam, the dam and reservoir have lost the ability to curtail the Missouri. For all intents and purposes, the Missouri has defeated Fort Peck Dam. Water is just passing through the reservoir and moving on downstream. But that isn't even the full story. The Rocky Mountain snowpack in Montana is now beginning to melt in earnest. In places, that snowpack is at 140 percent of normal. All of that melt water is just going to pass through Fort Peck reservoir. Then there is the issue of rainfall. June is the wettest month of the year on the Northern Plains and within Montana. The rains are going to come. The National Weather Service has predicted above-average rainfall for June in Montana because of the presence of La Nina in the Pacific. As a matter of fact, portions of the Upper Missouri Basin may receive heavy, drenching rains in the next few days. All of that water is going to pass through Fort Peck reservoir. The next bulwark against the Missouri is Garrison Dam, 70 miles north of Bismarck. Garrison is a colossus. The dam rises 210 feet above the riverbed and stretches a little over two miles long from valley wall to valley wall. Lake Sakakawea's elevation is 1,854 feet above sea level when at full capacity. On June 14, the reservoir level was at 1,853.38 feet. The Missouri is only inches from entering the dam's spillway. With all the water currently moving through the unregulated Yellowstone (75,000 cfs at Sidney, Mont., near the river's mouth) and the now-moot Fort Peck reservoir (with an inflow of 86,000 cfs into its reservoir), and the water still to come, the Missouri will surely enter Garrison's spillway, defeating the regulatory ability of the second of the Army's large dams. Below Garrison, the Army built Oahe Dam. At full capacity, Oahe's reservoir has an elevation of 1,620 feet above sea level. At present, the reservoir is at 1,618.58 feet. If the Missouri goes into Oahe's spillway, the river will have rendered it ineffective in stemming its greatest deluge. Big Bend Dam near Chamberlain has already had water through its spillway. It cannot stop the Missouri. Fort Randall is the last major Army bastion against the Missouri. There is still almost 12 feet of freeboard in its reservoir (although just last week it had almost16 feet of freeboard) before the Missouri enters its spillway. If the river goes through its spillway, the lower valley from Yankton south will have no protection from the river. Gavins Point Dam does not have the reservoir capacity to absorb floodwaters emanating out from Fort Randall - it has to immediately release those high flows. The Army is on the cusp of losing its already tenuous hold on the Missouri. Its military officers and civilian engineers and hydrologists know it. It is why they are feverishly attempting to drain the Dakota reservoirs as quickly as possible. The problem is that they may be too late. It is already June and the biggest surge of melt water has yet to enter the system. At this writing, thunderstorms are brewing over parts of Nebraska, Iowa and the Dakotas. The big question is whether the Army's controlled flood, with its 150,000 cfs out of Gavins Point Dam, will be sufficient to drain the reservoirs fast enough and open up storage capacity. If those releases are not enough and the river goes into the emergency spillways of every upstream dam, the lower river will face an uncontrolled flood that may surpass anything in living memory. Valley residents can only hope that the Army's dominoes hold back the Missouri. Story by Robert Kelley Schneiders, reprinted from the Bismarck Tribune, Thursday, June 16, 2011. (Robert Kelley Schneiders, Ph.D., is an environmental historian with Eco InTheKnow, LLC, P.O. Box 4393, Boulder, Colo. 80306, ww.ecointheknow.com.)