Driving around with a friend or the day we tried to go kayaking twice

This Saturday was a beautiful day, the temperature was mild, the sun was out, and the north Fork Mineral Creek looked like it was going to be a good level.  Unfortunately for Jon and I would never make it to the NF Mineral, on top of that we would never make it to the Little Nisqually either.  It was a day of frustration, confusion, and above all no kayaking.


I've wanted to run the NF mineral for quite some time and the access to this run will make it very difficult to run in the near future.  The creek runs through land owned by the West Fork Timber Company, and because of people using the land improperly they have put gates on all the roads leading into the land.  Quite simply if people wouldn't litter and build meth production facilities on the property Jon and I would have added another Personal First Descent to our list, but because of these issues Jon and I ended up driving around for close to an hour attempting to find alternate ways to get behind the gate.  We talked to several locals and they were kind enough to inform us as to why the land had been shut down to the public. 

Jon and I left the local corner store feeling dejected and mad at society and corporate land owners for limiting access to land.

After a little bit of cursing we opted to try another run in the area, we thought that it would be a bit low, but worth a try considering we'd already put so much effort in coming out there.  So we drove to Alder Lake and dropped a car at the boat ramp and made our way towards the put in for the Little Nisqually river.  About 9 miles from our destination we ran into another gate.  Needless to say Jon and I were collectively mad enough to power a profanity run generator.  Initially we thought that it was closed for the same reason that the Mineral Creek gates existed but found out from some local dirt bikers that it was because of a washout that was just up the road from the gate.  This made us feel a little better, but not that much better.

From here we moped back to the lake and changed out of our gear and drank a beer by the lake. It was a beautiful day and it seemed a shame to let it go to waste.  Jon has recently bought a new house so I followed him back to the new property to check it out.

Jelousy doesn't really properly describe how I felt about his new place.  It has a sweet shop/garage/barn, nice sized house, pond with a few acres of property, fruit trees, places for extensive gardens, and is close to Gig Harbor.  I spent the rest of the weekend hanging out at the house, helping jon clear some alder trees that were threatening a levy, and watched football. 

It ended up being a good weekend in the end, but I'm still a little butt-hurt about gates and closures.  I'm gonna have to get a hold of the West Fork Timber company and see if we can come to an agreement.