Upstream

Yesterday, I met my friends Peter and Solveig at the trailhead at Camp Creek, on traditional land of Watlala people, about fifty miles southeast of Portland, Oregon. When we crossed over the bridge, there were a half dozen Chinook Salmon swimming in the cold shallow water below. They were traveling upstream, from the Pacific to the Columbia to the Sandy to the Zig Zag to Camp Creek where we witnessed this wonder. 

While Solveig sat beside the creek staring, she said that the females, returning to the place of their birth, would lay their eggs and die four days later. I caught a glimpse of why these Beings are so sacred to Native people here. Despite all the dams that white people built, there are still a few who have the strength to swim upstream, against the current, so they can teach us how to give up our lives for the next generation.