What's New on Petyr's Website!

What’s New -- February 2026

February 2026, I've finally recovered from surgery to sit up and work for a few hours each day and have managed to get some writing done. The latest addition is a review of the book by Richard Reeves "Of Boys and Men" .

What’s New -- September 2025

September 2025, I've added two new sections on the "Pre Dam Hydrology" of the Mid-Columbia basin and on the "Postdam and Irrigation Hydrology" . of this region.

For something less dry and technical, I have also added an essay on the "Manosphere"

These are under the Geology, Hydrology and Ecology sections or under Essays. You can also just click the links above.

What’s New -- August 2025

August 2025, I've added two new sections on "Basic Paddling Equipment" and on "Safety, Planning and Weather" . I have also added my "Wheelchair Access Rating" system to aid disabled paddlers in planning a trip. These are under the Water Trails section or click the links above.

What’s New -- July 2025

All of it. July, 2025 is the official grand opening of this web site. It has been up and viewable for about 6 months but has constantly changed in format and content. I have had the fortune to work with Alex Castaneda to transform this site from my own competent but rather unattractive format to a much more exciting layout with more professional functionality. My many thanks to Alex. If you have need of a hard-working, competent, young man please contact Alex.

Water Trails

An initial focus of this site was a place to publish the Tapteal and Chiawana Water Trails. These are now complete. The Tapteal Trail is a more informative version of that on the Tapteal Greenway website. Eventually, I plan to transfer this map to the Tapteal Website.

The Chiawana Water Trail focuses on the Pasco side of the river from Ringold to Sacajawea State Park. Eventually we plan to include the Richland and Kennewick side as well as the Hanford Reach. I have paddled almost the entire length of the Columbia from Priest Rapids Dam to McNary Dam. I believe this is some of the best flatwater paddling in the world and the Tri-Cities could have a significant tourism industry based on paddling.

I plan to include a list of suggested trips from rank beginner to multiday trips but the initial emphasis is on getting local non-paddlers prepared and ready to give it a try. There will be sections on boats, paddles, life jackets and other equipment as well as weather and safety. My main objective is to allow folks to think through how to learn paddling without putting themselves at risk. It is not difficult, nor particularly dangerous, but the Columbia is an intimidating river to many.

Short Stories and Essays

I have included a few short fictional stories based loosely upon my early life experiences. I find fiction a good way to tell my story without seeming to be a big braggart. Fiction takes me out of the picture. But writing fiction takes time.

I also plan to include opinion pieces on various topics and many of these are in draft form. These non-fiction pieces are also difficult to write; I am not a professional pundit nor a dogmatic hack and hence I consider carefully the content of these pieces. The focus of these essays will probably be on the subject of Men and Masculinity. This is a hot topic these days and I will often include segues into my personal experience that drives my concept of the value and worth of men. To a large extent, the conclusion will be that men need to mentor young men and engage them in projects. All too often men see each other as competition as opposed to team mates. Men are not the stereotypical lone neolithic hunter but rather social animals with a highly structured social interaction that tends to be task oriented with a rapid response capability.

Electrical Engineering

Over the last two years, I have been involved in learning electrical engineering and have managed to design and build a few devices for an open-source water quality testing device. Schematics for these projects can be found on my GitHub account. Currently I have completed a report on the low-noise power supply and written about electrochemical instrumentation and how this can be used to design a universal sensor interface. I have, in draft, my design and results for universal sensor interface based upon the potentiostat-galvanostat concept along with various analog signal transformations subcircuits.

Columbia River Eutrophication

I have grave concerns about the health of the Columbia River and especially the Mid-Columbia River Basin. In 2021, we saw the first ever incidence of toxic algae that closed public access to the shoreline. At risk is tens of millions of dollars in tourism based on water recreation. The tourisms people like to quip about “Heads in Beds”. I like to think of it as “Butts in Boats”. Still, we rely on an agricultural industry worth many billions of dollars, which its self is based upon the massive Columbia Basin Irrigation Project. By considering the unique geology, hydrology and ecology of the Mid-Columbia Basin, I believe we can ensure the Columbia River and its tributaries remain clean for recreation without negatively impacting our agriculture.