By Cindy Flanagan
The rain begins and with it, river travel transforms. The rattling call of the Belted Kingfisher in the distance, then suddenly it hurries by, head fused, bill downward, wings beating rapidly as it searches the waters for fish below. The cottonwoods and big leaf maples along the banks have ochred and crimsoned. Each leaf departing from its hold. Twirling and swirling. Some of the leaves so lucky to land in the gurgling waterflows that extend their journey downstream. And beneath those floating leaf canoes and cloud reflections, wiggles of red and green appear. Salmon. Returning to spawn and transform from fish into earth’s tapestry.
A few weeks ago, if you asked me to describe the Cedar River during salmon spawn, I don’t know that I could have captured it and been able to articulate the magic and beauty. I probably would have described it more mechanically saying something like “Every year, in the fall, the salmon come to the Cedar River to spawn.” But I have a different more vivid picture of the salmon spawning experience on the Cedar, thanks to our Nature Journaling outing on October 19th. Taking time to slow down and notice and putting some of that information in my journal is what helped shape such vivid memories of the river transformations. What I loved most about our nature journal outing was that we were all in the same place looking at the same things, yet what caught each of our attention was different. Some people became lost in the explorations of a tree and its bark and leaves, some tracked a spider and its web, while others played in the reflections of a puddle.
Interested in capturing nature moments? Join us in our nature journaling adventures this November at Saltwater State Park and online to explore birds and coniferous cones.
Nature Journaling at Renton Library along the Cedar River in October