AdventuresNW
These four poems originate from 20 years of canoe tripping on the Skagit River from Ross Lake to the Salish Sea. The Skagit is a river, a watershed, a cultural identity, a place of spirits, and a home. As a guest on native land, I acknowledge the people whose longhouses and seasonal camps bordered the river from the mountains to the sea since time immemorial. Their descendants include the Upper Skagit Indian Tribe, the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, and the Nlaka’pamux Nation.
Valley of the Spirits
Skagit River –
a dark ribbon of moving light.
Spring rain brings flowers,
summer rain feeds the people,
fall rain quenches fires,
winter rain calls the salmon home.
Paddling through this land,
your stories witnessed by trees,
we know the stars by different names.
In the calm between storms,
the night is alive
with the cries of migrating geese.
Hozomeen
Mare’s tails fill the sky,
sweat runs into our eyes,
we pull into the wind.
Six-hour paddle up the East Bank,
steady wind and whitecaps.
We stand in knee-deep waves
to unload the canoe.
Summits rise above
cloud-shrouded mountains,
pale October sky.
Many trails linger
below the surface
of the lake.
Some day
the dams will be gone –
old campsites emerge.
Downstream
We paddle through green valleys,
listening for the calls of small birds.
18 miles on the river today,
past Sauk Delta rocks and snags.
In the long twilight of a summer afternoon
we build a fire in rocks by water,
camp on narrow sand spit in tall grass.
Tomorrow, downstream,
the day after, downstream.
River Notes
Skagit mist rises
spring floods fill Newhalem Gorge
it was all like this before.
People name things
even if they already have names
that’s not the worst we do.
Far below
Diablo Lake a silver thread
late morning sun.
Sunset beach
broken paddle
yesterday’s rapids.
The waterfall is full
of good intentions
and pools of abundance.
Diablo Gorge narrows
the river turns on its side
salmon wait.
Saul Weisberg worked as a wilderness climbing ranger, field biologist, fire lookout, and commercial fisherman before starting North Cascades Institute. Now retired after 35 years as executive director, he loves paying attention to the natural world, canoeing in the rain, walking in the mountains and writing poems. He lives in Bellingham.
