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Journal
Shelton native finds success on Utah gridiron
By CHRIS WEST
As a kid, Jordan Afo loved
to dance like Michael Jack-
son.
As he got older and bigger,
the Shelton native and cur-
rent Utah prep football star
adapted his dancing style to
include flips.
birthday party. We were all
hanging out downstairs be-
cause that's where the dance
party was," Afo said. "The
girls told me to get the dance
started and I tried to a back
flip that I usually do. The
ceiling was too short and my
foot hit the ceiling. I landed
Last March that move on my neck and I couldn't feel
almost paralyzed the defen- from my hips down."
sive lineman and ended his Afo's cousins carried him
chances at playing Division I to the car and drove him to
college football, the hospital where doctors
"I went to one of my friend's discovered he had a broken
bone in his spine.
Three days later the 6-foot-
4, 300-pound Afo surprised
doctors by getting out of bed
with the aid of a walker. A
week later he was sent home
to recover. Afo still faces a
long road back to the field,
but his chances are good.
Afo lived in Shelton until
his freshman year of high
school when his parents de-
cided he had a better chance
of succeeding in school and
sports in Utah.
"He wasn't doing too well
in school. My boys never
had the grades in Shelton to
play anything," Afo's mother
LoaLoa said.
The move worked and Afo
has become a highly coveted
recruit. BYU and Utah State
have already extended schol-
arship offers.
He plans to visit with
coaches at the University of
Washington when he returns
to Shelton this summer to
visit his parents. Nebraska,
Michigan and Wyoming have
also contacted him.
"Everyone thinks I am go-
ing toward BYU, but I am
still looking at a number of
schools," Afo said.
Afo lives with his uncle
and cousins in Utah and
stays busy with school, sports
and with his participation in
the Mormon church.
"They are kept so busy
and football is a big thing
See Gridiron on page C-2
Jordan Afo
YOUTH TRACK
Photo courtesy of Victoria Meadows
Runners from South Side Elementary, Mason County Christian and Hood Canal Elementary compete at the Shel-
ton Rotary Track Meet last week. For complete results from the Rotary meet and the City meet, see page C,3.
Mt. Jupiter will leave
you thirsty for more
By CHRIS WEST
The name was intriguing.
I haven't had time to explore the Olym-
pic Range since I moved from Montana
late last year and I couldn't resist any fur-
ther. The temptation to scale a mountain
named after the king of the Roman gods
overpowered me.
Mount Jupiter is one of the hikes that
guidebooks and forest rangers recommend
in spring. The trail is free of snow earlier
than other trails in the area.
In fact, that is the most important thing
to know about the trail to the peak of
Mount Jupiter - it is bone dry.
~F YOU GO
To get to Mount Jupiter from Shelton, take
Highway 101 20 miles past Hoodsport and turn
onto Forest Service Road 2610-010 (Mount Ju-
piter Road). Drive 2.5 miles to turn onto 2610-
011 and find the trailhead at the end of this
Spur road. This spur (011) is gated in winter,
and sometimes in summer during periods of
high fire danger. If the gate is closed, add 2.5
more miles of hiking to the 7.2-mile trail. Al-
though the trail passes through national forest
land, a parking permit is not required because
the trailhead is not within the national forest.
It was a hot day in May as I headed
past Hoodsport on Highway 101 searching
for the turnoff onto Mount Jupiter Road.
About a half mile past the entrance to
Duckabush Recreation Area, the road ap-
peared on the left. It is about six miles up
to the trailhead.
The gods, specifically Jupiter, weren't
with me on this trip from the beginning.
The gate about three miles up the forest
service road was locked. I decided to carry
on with my hiking plans despite adding
about five miles to my trip.
After walking up the hot and dusty log-
ging road, I reached the trailhead, which
sits at the base of a recent clearcut. The
first half-mile of the trail traverses a clear-
cut on a switchback trail. The abundance
of rhododendrons and other wildflow-
ers are the highlights in this otherwise
bland portion of the trip.
Mount Jupiter is the prominent peak
situated between Mount Constance and
The Brothers.
While only reaching 5,701 feet in eleva-
tion, Jupiter provides significant vertical
relief.
The Duckabush River on the south and
See Jupiter on page C-4
Journal photo by Chris West
The views of Hood Canal and the abundance
of wildflowers make the hike to Mount Jupi-
ter worthwhile.
Trout on
the prowl
in Walker
Park water
Last week I was driving by
Walker Park and noticed a
familiar-looking eddy on the
far side of the inlet. The tide
was on its way out and the
water flowed by the spot as if
it were a river.
There in the back-swirl
of the eddy (a depression on
the shore causes the water to
swirl and create a calm spot
behind it), even from across
Hammersley Inlet, I could
see the cut-
throat rav-
aging the
chum salm-
on fry or the
candlefish,
whichever
Was more
available at
that spot.
Cut-
MASON throat trout
are a well-
COUNTY known spe-
cies around
OUTDOORS here, and
for good
By KELLY r e a s o n .
RIORDAN They are
vicious eat-
ers, and for their size put up a
great fight. Every year I hook
into one in the 20-inch range
somewhere in the south
sound. Even when I land a
10-incher, I still stare at the
red slash under the gill plate
(which gives them the savage
name) and enjoy every en-
counter big or small. All salt
waterways, and as far as I
know, all rivers, streams and
cricks in Mason County, are
full of these feisty trout, and
every spot that I can fish for
them I do. Back to my drive
by Walker Park.
I pulled into the park en-
trance for a brief moment and
thought about taking a few
casts, but no, I had my son's
baseball practice to go to. So
as I often do I drove away and
thought about my last experi-
ence fishing for cutthroat.
Last year, about this time,
I found myself at that very
same park casting away with
my needlefish lure, and, I
might add, catching quite
a few fish, when this fel-
low came strolling down the
beach with a rod of his own.
It was not just any rod. It was
a fly rod.
Now, in my experience the
fly-guys and the "normal"
fishermen don't always see
eye to eye on our preferred
methods of fishing, and this
was to be no exception. Con-
tinuing to cast over my patch
of beach turf, I watched as
the fly,guy opened his fancy
fishing vest and pulled out
several flies and just stared
at them.
Minutes went by as this
fellow just kept looking at the
assortment of flies and talk-
ing with himself, presum-
ably asking himself what fly
to use. Finally he tied one on
and then started wading out
See Trout on page C-4
Thursday, June 18, 2009 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Page C-1
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