Notes from My Lives by Andre Stepankowsky

by Andre Stepankowsky Writer craves 'rebirth’ in region's rivers

Idon’t have a long bucket list, but one “to do” is a particular challenge. I want to wade in every one of Washington’s significant rivers. I’ve checked off many, but many are left to go.

Every time I float, wade or traverse a new river, I cup water in my hands and splash my face. These baptisms are a spiritual and psychological imprinting of that waterway on my memory.

Like salmon drawn to their natal streams, I’m attracted to any river by its unique or outstanding character.

To the Elochoman in Wahkiakum County, I go to take in the bright fall foliage. The berry brambles that cascade down the river banks furnish a feast during a late summer float.

In Central Oregon, the McKenzie River flows three miles under a 1,600-year-old lava flow before emerging in sapphire and turquoise radiance known as Tamolitch Blue Pool. It’s a jewel my daughter and I enjoyed last year.

The Skykomish River last summer was my portal to the North Cascades and some of the nation’s most spectacular alpine scenery. Clattering and gurgling over rocks and logs, the river piped out nocturnal music that put me to sleep.

Yes, rivers speak to us, in whispers of comfort and violent tones of admonishment. Rivers and watersheds are arteries and capillaries that sustain life and civilizations. They are ancient courses of history that support us today and will do so again in countless tomorrows. Rivers define most of our major cities.

Rivers are sources of inspiration, instigators of thought and means of solace. Surely, we all have watched twigs and leaves bob downstream on courses so out of their own control — much like our own destinies. Rivers teach us to change what we can but accept what we cannot alter.

Rivers have brought me both terror and awe. My son Nicky and I once overturned in the Lewis River when I underestimated a narrow rapid. Nick laughed while we clung to our inflatable kayak — and I kicked frantically to get us and our craft ashore. I learned that even a meager summer flow could present a potent danger.

The Columbia River often is dangerously underestimated, too. Its immense force was made plain when I went out by boat to cover a 1984 oil tanker spill with photographer Roger Werth. The river boiled up from beneath the stricken vessel with a force like Niagara Falls in reverse. We kept our distance.

Rivers often are born of violence. The Cowlitz is notable for this, having its origins on three different volcanoes — Mount St. Helens, Mount Adams and Mount Rainier. It is a turgid wreck below Castle Rock, a reminder of the planetary cannon blast at Mount St.

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Helens 43 years ago. But the upper Cowlitz still flows deep and green. An exuberant, bronco-busting rafting trip down the turbulent Cispus — a tributary fed by Mount Adams — is still a fresh and joyful memory 30 years later.

Rivers don’t need beauty to be memorable and restorative. The Coweeman River suffered terrible damage in the 20th century due to logging “splash dams,” grazing, and other uses. Still, its tidal reach behind Kelso High School is an easy and peaceful drift bordered by forested hills, cattails and other wetland plants.

Kudos to the City of Kelso for planning a ramp for non-motorized boating on the Coweeman. As my fellow CRR contributor Robert Michael Pyle has noted, humans need access to landscapes and rivers — even damaged ones— to solder our connections to nature.

I grew up appreciating rivers’ importance because my New Jersey community was in the headwaters of the Passaic River and the state’s largest reservoir. The lower Passaic, though, is among the nation’s most polluted waterways, a legacy of northeastern New Jersey’s industrial presence.

The health of rivers is a measure of our stewardship, because just about everything we make, grow, eat or discard somehow touches our waterways.

We need to care for them — and every so often to be reborn in our appreciation of them.

Award winning journalist Andre Stepankowsky is a former reporter and editor for The Daily News. His CRR column will spring from his many interests, including hiking, rose gardening, music, and woodworking. More of his writing is available through his online newsletter on substack.com by searching for “Lower Columbia Currents.”

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