At this site, the vegetation community on the south bank--alders closer to the stream and douglas firs upslope--was distinct from the vegetation on the north bank--willows and cottonwoods. The channel was 15-20 ft wide with a distinct thalweg hugging the south bank at a maximum depth of about 1.5 ft. The banks were more like low-angle beaches and were composed of very coarse, angular cobbles and pebbles. The north bank was littered with 2-3 foot-wide chunks of concrete, indicating that the channel's location on the edge of its floodplain was engineered.

The sketch is intended to show valley contours, where the high density of lines on the left side represents the steep slope on the south side of the stream, and the widely spaced contours on the right side represent the low-lying floodplain surface on the north side of the stream. In hindsight, that's way too many contour lines for such flat topography. Oh well.

As shown in this sketch, the channel hugs the south (left) side of the valley, while the highway hugs the north (right) side of the valley. In between lies the city park in a forest of cottonwoods. This is not remotely drawn to scale.