While picking blackberries one morning at the east end of the Riverfront Trail, I recently met a retired couple who wanted to know where they should go to walk right along the river. I suggested they try Klindt’s Cove Pocket Park or the Chenoweth Creek Trail access.
They made me think again about how the trail fosters our relationship with the river. Although the average current in the Columbia at The Dalles is equal to the water that flows past it every minute, it’s easy to take for granted its life-giving, 1,243-mile path to the ocean.
To experience the river, whether swimming, fishing, kayaking, windsports, playing on its many and varied beaches and banks, or sitting on a bench to watch the light change – take a minute and reflect on the wonderful simplicity of water. Hydrogen and oxygen together define the Earth and life on it – the water planet.
Yes, it’s easy to take water for granted, even though our lives depend on it and we walk around in bodies that are 65% water. Put your hands in the river and think about what “wetness” is. A single water molecule is not “wet.” It’s only wet when it bonds with other water molecules through weak hydrogen bonds that give water its cohesive and adhesive properties. And the density of water is so perfect—if you’ve ever seen kids jumping into a ball pit full of 2-inch colorful plastic balls, next time you go swimming, remember that you’re being carried by an indeterminate number of tiny molecular “balls.” Whenever I’m kayaking on the river, I celebrate the wonderful substance that carries my boat and the myriad roles it plays in every aspect of daily life, from the solvent to my coffee grounds to the clouds that bring the rain and the snow cover in the mountains that releases water in the summer heat. Oh yeah, and let’s not forget how those little molecules came together to form the Columbia River Gorge! See you along the way.
“Nothing is softer or more flexible than water, and yet nothing can resist it.”
Directions are provided by the Riverfront Trail Board.
a group of local volunteers
who manage, maintain and promote the Dalles Riverfront Trail. To sponsor this recurring feature, please contact us:
541-386-1234 extension 100 or email,
