Happy Earth Day

Every day should be Earth Day, not just one day a year.

Living and working in the outdoors provides the constant wonder of nature and the appreciation of the changing of it. It is interesting to watch the river slowly release the ice and begin to build in volume. The trees are always late in sprouting their leaves in the foothills, so traveling from the Rafting Center to the river is like changing a season in the early spring. It is always several weeks behind.

The leaves on the trees bud, the grasses green up along the rivers edge and slowly the river valley does a catch up. As you drive up to the raft launch site, it is like going back in time to an earlier stage of the arrival of spring. One week, you can see the wildflowers blooming at the rafting take out point and a week later they are blooming at the rafting put in point.

Over the years of taking people out onto the river and guiding a raft, there is one point on the river, an actual location, that a lot of people have commented on how beautiful the area is. It is so stunning that it over-rides the excitement of being on the river and temporarily makes you stop and just look around. Then as the river carries the raft further downstream, it’s back to paddling and the adventure of the next rapid continues.

Happy earth day is just like that – we take a breath , and look around at what we have.

Now to learn how to look and appreciate every day.