Great food for thought here. Let's just hope everyone puts it into practice.

I've done a small amount of rowing in others DB's here in the Skagit, and I've fished it from sleds and DB's numerous times from Marblemount down to Birdsview. STILL, I'm going to be dang careful when I float it in my own DB. Every time I get out in someone elses boat I ask a zillion questions about how to row though this, or drift through that, when rowing. (Beezer can vouch for this....thank God he is a patient dude!).

Living on a stretch of the Skagit also means we get to see the changes that it goes through...and those changes happen on a constant basis. Where a log is one day, it might be jammed 50 yds. downriver the next. Fortunately, the Skagit is big enough that you can easily get around most obstacles...SO LONG AS YOU KNOW THEY ARE THERE.

I seriously doubt I would float any other river without having someone to follow that I KNOW has mucho experience on it. That seems to be the biggest danger...even for accomplished rowers.

Back in the days when I trained commercial truck drivers (Class A), we taught a basic concept:

G...............(Get)
O...............(Out)
A...............(And)
L...............(LOOK!)

If you don't know, don't go!

Mike (I refuse to be a statistic) B