Happy New Year to all my Clearwater friends and visitors! I'm pretty sure we'll all be happy to see the calendar turn over after these past two months of rain. Incredible amounts have fallen across Western Washington but just in case you were beginning to feel sorry for yourselves Clearwater has had over twice the amount of the Puget Sound Basin. Yes, indeed, one day late in November the water level of the Queets River reached 115,000 cubic feet per second(cfs) which is about two-thirds the flow of the Upper Columbia River at this time of year. But, let's not dwell on the soggy stuff. At this time of year it's much better to look ahead than to slip into a funk over what the Norwegians call "pig weather".

At this time of the year I do like to thank all of you who visited during the year. Thanks for coming and thanks for doing such a fine job of caring for the guesthouse while there. There is no way I could do it without the quality people that visit each year. Caretakers Fred and Betty Emmett are always surprised at the fact that you do such a great job of cleaning up before leaving. But I know the kind of people you are so it doesn't surprise me at all.

If you were wondering how the place handled the fall storms I can tell you that there was no serious damage or flooding near the house. Naturally, we did lose power for a couple days during the worst of the December 14th storm but that's not terribly unusual for us since we're at the end of the power grid coming north from Hoquiam and power outages are a fact of life throughout the stormy times of the year.

Our clamming has been quite good whenever WDFW opens digging for a couple days-good, that is if the surf isn't too high. Watch your newspaper's sport section for projected openings and try to get over for one of them.

Fishing this past fall was a non-event as the weather simply put the rivers out for the entire fall salmon season and the early part of the steelhead season. Indian netters have been catching lots of fish, though, so the run is pretty strong. If only we could get at them...My friend, fishing guide Ted McManus has a long list of anxious clients desperate to fish. When river conditions are what they have been and they're pleading to go he'll ask them just how they want to float the river, in his boat or on one of the 200 foot sitka spruce trees that are hurtling downstream. That seems to get through to them.

Let's hope 2007 will dry out fast and give us a little shot at the fish during what is traditionally the best part of the steelhead season...

For you hikers who want to get up the Queets Trail the road is still closed but will apparently re-open via detour later this year. The washout above Matheny Creek is monumental and will not be repaired or circumvented by a new stretch of road. Rather a combination of U.S. Forest Service and Department of Natural Resources backroads will be used to access the upper valley. No date has been set for the detour to be cleaned up and readied for use. Hang in there. The Upper Valley is well worth the wait. But, you might e-mail or call Olympic National Park headquarters in Port Angeles and encourage them to get after it as soon as possible.

I hope you enjoyed my new dahlias this year. I thought they were pretty spectacular, especially the purple one. Almost looked like someone had a light turned on inside the flower...

I wonder if any of you saw the young bobcat that was hanging around this spring and summer...At first we couldn't quite believe what he was as he meandered through the front yard in no special hurry. But, once we saw those long legs and pointed ears there was no doubt that we were seeing one of the wild's most elusive characters. There are lots of them in the area-as well as their much larger cousins the cougars-but in all my years on the Peninsula I've only seen two and this one made sure I saw him. Let me know if you saw him, too, because I know he spent some time in the immediate area during spring and summer.

This year all rates remain the same as do reservation procedures. As always please pick your dates carefully because the first night's deposit is non-refundable. The 10% discount applies as usual to returning visitors and there will again be a spring special (3 nights for the full price of 2) between April 15 and June 10. The website calendar will tell you which dates are available and all you need to do is carefully choose those that fit your schedule and then click on those dates. Your dates are confirmed when I receive your first night's deposit within a week. For those of you planning visits during the summer season prompt reservations are important since those dates go fast and once gone...

Finally, thanks again for your interest in the guesthouse. I look forward to meeting all of you at some time soon.

Best regards,

Joe Novak