Pauline Thompsen and her late husband once watched floodwaters overflow the banks of the south fork of the Ogden River and crawl to the edge of their shaded summer cabin.
Never again, they vowed.When the floods receded, the couple built a rock dike along the bank.
"For now, the (dike's) keeping the water where it's supposed to be," Thompsen said Friday.
Dike or no dike, it's a little scary standing close to the section of the south fork near Thompsen's home.
Recent snowmelt atop Cache National Forest has morphed the once cozy swimhole into an endless, angry wave of muddy water.
The rock that usually juts 2 feet out of the water? Gone, buried somewhere under the rising runoff. "The grandkids like to use that rock to dive into the water," laughed Thompsen. "Nobody will be swimming now."
Her neighbors living a mile down the river near Huntsville would settle for their driveway.
The dirt road that twists through six cabins and trailers was washed out a couple of weeks ago, giving way to several inches of rushing water. Sandbags now line the canal, protecting one resident's workshop.
Although water has seeped into some yards, it has caused little damage.
"We'll be doing more sandbagging today," said the resident, who asked not to be identified.
Folks living near the banks of Logan's Blacksmith Fork River can only hope for a sandbagging respite.
Neighbors, church groups and college kids have already gathered three times in the past three weeks to reinforce the sandbag dike protecting the Old Manor subdivision.
"The river's usually about 15 or 20 feet across," said Old Manor resident Dave Norman. "Now I bet it's 50 or 60 feet wide."
Not a drop has breached the makeshift dike, but runoff has saturated the soil and sent groundwater percolating to the surface of yards and basements.
A pump squeezed into a crawl space below Norman's living room churns a steady stream of water into the nearby Blacksmith.
Almost 3 inches of Cache County mountain snowmelt has also raised the Logan River at the mouth of Logan Canyon. The river could be mistaken for a small reservoir near the Icon Health and Fitness building in south Logan.
Mild weekend weather will likely be an ally.
Temperatures should be in the high 70s, allowing a slow, study snowmelt. Still, field flooding is expected to continue in areas of northern Utah all weekend, according to the Utah Division of Comprehensive Emergency Management.
Meanwhile, Mill Creek and Big and Little Cottonwood creeks will swell this week and run high all spring.
The Jordan River will remain loyal to its banks - for now. High flows from Utah Lake and the Six Creeks Drainage, perhaps prompted by rain, could mean flooding along the Jordan, according to emergency management officials.
And remember, heavy snowmelt means swollen, frigid rivers. Utah spring waterways pose dangers for anyone swimming or wandering close to the edge.