Water

“I need you to calculate the layline,” the skipper shouts at me through the darkness. I thumb through our historic track in Navionics and try to piece together a heading. There’s a bright light off in the distance that I assume is the windward mark in Neah Bay. The goal is to turn at exactly the right time. Too soon, …

            In the summer of 2023, our tight-knit community of White Salmon, Washington, was rocked by tragedy. Three young men, all bright stars in their own way, died within the span of six months, by suicide, an unintended drug overdose, and a kayaking accident. The first had been a childhood friend of my son Che. The second was a …

Traversing the Bering Land Bridge, bands of Siberians craving mammoth or milder climes became the first Americans. Daredevils 14,000 years later trickled back, though by then the route had been flooded. One, Lynne Cox from Southern California, wore only goggles, a Speedo swimsuit, and a bright yellow bathing cap to avoid resembling a seal. “There’s success, there’s rescue, and there’s …

A year after my dad died, I embarked on a hike into the mountains. My father, James Michael “Jim” Johnston, had asked to have some of his ashes spread at his favorite place, Lake 22, a lake high on the east flank of Mount Pilchuck in the northern Cascades of Washington State. To my dad, it was a very special …

Here in Western Washington, perpetual cycles of moisture-laden weather systems move inland from offshore, gifting the Cascades Mountain Range with a bounty of snow and rain that sustains the flora, fauna, and people of the region throughout the year. These images trace water’s dynamic journey from the Evergreen State’s icy mountaintops as it descends through creeks, lakes, waterfalls, and rivers …

      I’m in serious bear country, camped on a small floating platform in the middle of a narrow saltwater channel where fishermen sometimes come to sort their nets. Of course, bears do swim, but I feel a bit safer not being on terra firma tonight. Prudence, my eighteen-foot-long purple sea kayak, sits beside my tent. Today, my forty-fifth day at …

In my year-long tenure as a Writing the Land poet, I penned several poems about Todd Creek, the Whatcom Land Trust (WLT) parcel I adopted. The Whatcom Conservation District is partnering with the WLT to restore 22.4 acres of riparian habitat along this beautiful creek in the South Fork Valley of the Nooksack River in Whatcom County. At the end …

  Bellingham  Before casting off, we met friends at the Cabin Tavern. It was dark and wet beyond the cold windowpane but warm and convivial around the table. Ordering at the bar, I told the bartender she wouldn’t see me for some time as I’d be sailing the Salish Sea. “Oh, that sounds great!” she said, likely picturing the summer …

The air buzzes with excitement as each smiling guest, aged five to 99, boards the vessel, united by a shared mission to encounter one of the Pacific Northwest’s most captivating maritime treasures: a football-sized seabird that spends most of its life in the vast Pacific Ocean: the Tufted Puffin. As we head south from the marina, a curious nine-year-old girl …

We hear the words “paddles ready…paddles set…and hit” from our steersperson, and the outrigger canoe starts its glide through the water, gaining speed with our paddle strokes. We round the breakwater and out into the open water of Fairhaven Harbor. All of us relish this feeling of getting on the water and moving together. It feels like freedom. On quiet …