WATER MEDITATION

“…and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters.”

Wilson River (Click on image for slightly larger version) Feb. 2008

At a bend in the Wilson River, under the footbridge trailhead, quick flowing water bottlenecks into a narrow rock gorge. The river’s character, once loud and boisterous immediately becomes subdued and sullen. Though popular proverbs suggest that deep waters run quiet, turbulence and turmoil are reflected in the river’s tortured face.

In their Case Study: Water and Ice, Timothy A. Isgro, Marcos Sotomayor, and Eduardo Cruz-Chu admit that …the microscopic structure of liquid water is unknown…

Figure 3: Views of the crystal structure of ice (a-c) and a view of liquid water (d). a) Along the c-axis of the lattice (showing the basal plane) with all 3 equivalent a-axes in the plane of the page and the c-axis coming out of the page, b) With an a-axis running left to right (showing the primary prism plane), c) Along an a-axis, d) Liquid water at 300 K. The difference in the density between ice and liquid water is apparent. The density of liquid water at 4_C is 1.00 g/cm3, while that of ice at 0_C is 0.917 g/cm3

Wilson River, Feb. 2008

Here, where the winter sun dips below the coast range and leaves the gorge in perpetual shade, the river utilizes hydraulic power in combination with crystalline wedges, to chip out an ever wider passage to the sea.

Multnomah Creek, Jan. 2008

Oregon Coast-Near Newport, March 2008

The interface between water and land is sometimes violent. The earth is broken and polished in continent wide rock tumblers.

Silver Falls State Park, May 2008

…or pummeled by streams approaching terminal velocities.

Water Returning to the Sea - near Newport, March 2008

Considerable sifting and sorting occurs.

Sauvie Island shoreline

Patterns emerge and repeat

Wave sculpture - near Seaside,OR

Layers of order arise from chaos

Perhaps the chemical structure of clay, or something like it, once provided the scaffolding by which early proteins ordered themselves.

…then an explosion of life

Considerable sifting and sorting occurs

Brats boiling in beer (one of the more important ways water sustains life on earth)

Wikipedia, while describing the hydrologic cycle, says, “Since the water cycle is truly a ‘cycle’, there is no beginning or end.”

Does water sing as it runs down hill?

Sky sailing

How many humans does it take to ruin the hydrologic cycle?

About 7 billion?

Trace amounts of oil, presumably washed off Marine Drive, trickle into the slough above the Smith and Bybee wetlands.

Over time, wetlands (if you have any) can strain pollutants out of water, but the timeline for taking care of the clever byproducts we have managed to produce isn’t really established yet.

"Water dissolving...and water removing

There is water at the bottom of the ocean"

Talking Heads - Once in a Lifetime

Test Paddling the Thresher 140

Wilderness Systems has broadened their sit-on-top offerings this year with the introduction of the Thresher (this includes a 14 and 15.5 foot version). The Thresher seems designed to bridge a gap between overly stable, relatively slow fishing platforms and sleeker more touring-orientated craft, all for the sake of fisher-people who need to cover significant distances to reach their intended fishing locales, whether that's in the middle of a huge bay or out beyond the breakers in the open sea The characteristics that make this boat a good fishing option, should also make it a killer expedition photography platform/beer barge. I knew my test trials wouldn't be complete until I auditioned this state of the art bid for kayak fishing supremacy. The Thresher 140 I've probably been remiss for not highlighting this before, but the reason I've been able to rent and evaluate various sit-on-top kayaks is because of the reasonable and renter friendly policies of the

Miller Island Expedition: Columbia River Ghost Cult

My brother Fred sent me a checklist of things he didn’t want to forget for our second attempt at a Miller Island Expedition. Foil pans Steak Beer or whiskey/tequila Bacon Shovel TP Bug spray Homebrew Ghost repellents Scouting Miller Island from the Lewis and Clark Highway (Washington side of river) “Ghost repellents?” I asked. Well, it turns out that Fred had been doing some research and found an old article from American Anthropologist by Wm. Duncan Strong called The Occurrence and Wider Implications of a “Ghost Cult” on the Columbia River Suggested by Carvings in Wood, Bone and Stone. The article, written in 1945, revealed that bone carvings depicting figures with prominent rib cages, a symbol of death, were found in old cremation pits on Miller’s Island. Excerpts from the article: “It can be shown that among these peoples there was an old belief in the impending destruction and renewal of the world, when the dead would return…” “One of the most striking fea

John Day River: Thirty Mile Creek to Cottonwood Bridge

"Ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse;" -Romans 1:20 "I'm not so sure about that, but whether or not we all make it through these rapids alive, I'm confident the grading criteria will be fair." - Scott "Get ready to explore your world without boundaries." - Wilderness Systems Owners Manual Sunrise found us on the outskirts of Wasco, high on the Columbia Plateau, our 3 vehicle convoy speeding through golden fields of wheat on toward Condon and then West to a 7:30 AM meeting with a rancher who would provide us a private launch site to the John Day river and also execute our car shuttle. Startling verdant fields, free of the vestiges of irrigation, belied narratives of drought that punctuated the news. The fresh born morning, still cool to the senses, felt like the fledgling hours of a

The Narrative Image

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