Rivers have been part of my soul for as long as I can remember. Whether I am fishing, rafting, or trying to restore habitat, rivers are my strength.
I am the best possible me when on a river.
Rafting has been ingrained in me since the middle 1970s, learning the ropes on the Olympic Peninsula, graduating to the Class III water of the Wenatchee and doing the granddaddy of them all, The Canyon (Grand) about 12 years ago.
Rafting trips were our family vacations and our kids grew up learning how to paddle and row, set up and breakdown camp, and enjoy the ever-changing scenery.
Fishing is a major part of my being, with clear moving water my preference. I rarely keep a trout for dinner, but relish the pursuit in mostly amazingly beautiful places that sometimes allow us to learn their secrets.
The following sums up my deep feelings of rivers:
“There is a river that flows through a church
It’s a holy place where one’s soul can be searched
Not a place of Sundays, nor steeples,
But of hallowed waters for certain peoples.”
-Patrick Harris in The Drake, fall 2013