Roll on Skagit Roll on!

In Skagit County, it's all about the river-the Skagit River. It runs through the county from the North Cascades to Puget Sound threading together an array of communities that are home to most of the county's 120,000 residents. I am one of them; and like many in the county, I live near the river. When it floods I can see it (safely) from my office window. I have driven along it, hiked beside it, and cycled along it. Today I finally experienced the river by being on it. My wife booked a float trip on the river with Pacific NW Float Trips-part of their winter bald eagle watching trips in conjunction with the Skagit River Bald Eagle Festival in Concrete and Rockport.

While the trip is more passive than the type of recreation I am more used to-I usually prefer to be paddling, pushing, pedaling-you get my point-it was fun to sit back and let the river (and our guide Donavon too) do the work. Under a gray cloak that held off drenching us until the last mile or two, we just languidly (with a few brief and small rapids) floated down the river and absorbed nature and winter in the Northwest at its finest. Eagles, mergansers, dippers, moss draped maples, and majestic firs-and then rain-the life force of the Pacific Northwest. It was a nice trip-a nice experience to feel the river-the river that defines my home-my region-and my special corner of God's green (very green here in Skagit County) planet!