Carbon River, WA

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Carbon River, WA

8/16/07

I left home before the sun was up. As I drove through the interchange near Sumner, where several highways converge and join for the trip up to Seattle, the traffic was already bumper-to-bumper. A sea of red tail lights, moving very slowly, pointed the way to the office, to the world of work and commerce, the world of responsibility.

I went the other way. The traffic got lighter the further I drove out Highway 410. Just before Buckley, I turned south toward Wilkeson and Carbonado, then continued on the winding mountain road until I got to the Carbon River entrance to Mount Rainier National Park. There are some excellent impromptu campsites at the side of the road here, just along the river, and I parked here and started walking. (The Carbon River entrance to the park is closed due to flooding and storm damage, and the word is that it may be closed permanently. Might not be all bad.)

I crossed the bridge over the river and dropped down to the streambed, walking east. Jumping from stony ledge to sandy beach, from pool to dirt, I traveled upstream. Past the incalculable number of logs, branches and entire trees that have been deposited here by the river during times of flood, I was thankful that it was the time of low water. The logs and boulders bore silent witness to the power that rivers can wield when they're angry.

The sun had come up as I walked and shafts of light pierced the clouds as I stopped for a mid-morning snack. The river was divided up into braided channels, some moving fast and deep, others trickling slowly from one placid pool to the next. From where I sat, I could see the gritty brown water coursing through a small canyon of rocks and sand before opening up to a wider, shallower section downstream. A shaft of sunlight caught on a sheer granite face 2000 feet above me on the mountain to the south. I drank my water and got up again, ready for a little more heaven.

This is better than work.

Ken Campbell