Brushwacker

About Brushwacker

Down where the Washougal River widens out before it meets the Columbia, the road running along the water is hedged in blackberry canes gone dormant and thorny for the winter, gravel bars exposed at low water on the far side. Brushwacker clears the driveways and access lanes along that stretch, cutting back the same brush all year and then clearing the snow and ice that catches in it come winter. River fog sits low along this bottomland longer than it does up in town, and a frozen morning here can look like nothing at all until a driveway proves otherwise underfoot. Working the low road properties one at a time, they open a path from the blackberry-lined lane to each front door before the fog burns off the water. A blade only does half the job on ground this brushy; the rest gets done by hand.