Water Magnetism

Regular readers know that I have been a "river rat" since childhood. I grew up along the West Branch of the Susquehanna River in north central Pennsylvania. It doesn't look as big as it is since there's a mile-wide island sitting there on the left.




Just a few miles to the west was the confluence of the West Branch with Pine Creek, its largest tributary, heading south from the Endless Mountains. "Creek" is misleading. In many places this would be a river.




A few miles to the south was a short stream called Rauchtown Run going through Ravensburg State Park and an area we always called "The Rocks." It's only a few miles long before heading underground. But it was wild and scenic.


Put all three together and it's no wonder that water has been such a draw to me, whether it is river, ocean, or lake. I have lived near the Lehigh River, the Rock, the Minnesota and the Zumbro, and never far from the Susquehanna, the Delaware or the Mississippi. Water has something about it. Primitive and powerful or lazy and barely a trickle.

I was struck by this again on my last bike ride along the Great River Trail. Most of the trail is not right along the river. There is a wide wetland area between the trail and the Mississippi itself. But when you come south to Trempealeau, WI, down the hill into downtown- there it is.

Wide and blue-gray behind Lock and Dam # 6. It is a moment of awe as I felt drawn to a sacred place- a Thin Place where heaven and earth are barely separated by a thin veil.

Water. Great river or small stream; ocean or rocky run. It is water.



Along the Great River Trail itself you see the edges of the river in the marshlands and wildlife.





But you get near Onalaska at the southern end and there it is again, now at Lock and Dam #5, with people fishing on the spillway.

I am not much of a fisherman myself. I am not into the sport of catch and release. But I understand the fishing. It is somehow built created into us. Hunter-gatherer? Perhaps. We have seen pictures of bears reach in and grab the fish- and wish we could do the same. I like fishing in the Boundary Waters where we eat what we catch. Otherwise, give me a book along the shore with a sunset in the background- an opportunity unparalleled in "civilization."

Or that indescribable moment at the Atlantic Ocean when the sun rises.

or on the Gulf of Mexico as it sets.

There is something unique about water.

Evolution tells us that is where we came from.

Genesis says the Spirit moved across the face of the waters to bring forth Creation.

How can we not be attracted to water?