Recently I went out west and visited my old stomping grounds: the west slope of the Sierra Nevada. For most of my life I lived there in the South Yuba River Watershed. I came to learn a lot about my watershed, as I think every one should. Our watersheds, literally and metaphorically, nourish us. As luck would have it, on this recent trip I was able to trace the watershed from source to sea, and that was an honor.
I saw the headwaters on Sunday, June 16. The gorgeous green Van Norden meadow was seeping with melting snow, gathering the first breaths of the Yuba. From there, this gorgeous river begins to gather her forces.
Later that day I landed in my favorite spot on the planet, a friend’s cabin right on the upper South Yuba, above Spaulding Dam. Spaulding is the first of many dams on the South Yuba. The river was going strong when I was there; the last of the winter’s snow still seeping into the meadow above. The river fluctuated a foot between day and night due to the snow above freezing and melting with the sun.
My view of the upper South Yuba on 6/17/24.
I sat and drank her in as long as I could. I don’t think I’ll be back for a year or two–or three.
My friend Susan and I took our favorite walk over a little wooden bridge that crosses the upper South Yuba.
Three years earlier, right before I left California, I made the pilgrimage up to the cabin to say good-bye to the river. Susan snapped our photo in the same spot. Later I was shocked and happy to see how good Michigan has been for me.
Exhausted, traumatized, and grieving, I visited the same spot in 2021, right before I left California.
Reluctantly I said good-bye to the upper South Fork of the glorious Yuba River. The next day I headed toward Sacramento. So did the water I’d visited in the mountains. It traveled from where I saw it to the lower Yuba, into the Feather, and then into the great Sacramento. From there the Sacramento wanders through the Delta. With my friend Stephanie, I caught up with the water there. Sadly, she and I missed a photo op!
Looking upstream near Rio Vista. The Great Sacramento.
I wonder what stories this old ramp leading to an old dock has to tell about travels on the Sacramento.
The next day I left the Delta and went to the north bay, where I met up with my oldest friend, Jeff. We’ve been friends for 58 years! He drove me to Sausalito to complete my pilgrimage. The water I’d seen in the mountains would end up here, out of the Delta and into the Bay, passing under this iconic bridge and out to the sea.
Water connects all of us.
My friend Jeff and I in Sausalito.
I’m back home in Southeast Michigan now, sitting exactly one acre east of the Saline River in the River Raisin Watershed. The water that passes behind my house will join the River Raisin a mile or so downstream. The River Raisin will empty into Lake Erie, and the water will make its way east to the Atlantic. I haven’t been to that ocean in thirty years! It’s time for another field trip–sooner rather than later!
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