Everyday
Magic
Last
week, I headed out to a trail along Marin
County’s
Lagunitas Creek with a singular hope: to witness
salmon on the tail end of their journey from the
Pacific Ocean to their freshwater spawning
habitat here in California. Several fish species
return to this creek every year, including
Chinook and Coho salmon and
steelhead trout.
When
I arrived at a trailhead, my two children and
sister in tow, another group was just returning
from their own salmon-spotting attempt. They
hadn’t
had any luck, they told us. There were no fish
to be seen. This did not bode well for us, I
thought, but we hit the trail nonetheless.
And
minutes later, we spotted our first fish. It was
a Chinook, I think, beautiful as it battled its
way upstream, flashes of silver shimmering in
the water. Then we saw another. And several
more. Most were smallish. One was huge. Another
was stuck in an exhausting cycle, navigating the
same small rapid only to be swept down again,
over and over.
The
persistence of that exhausted, undaunted fish
filled me with awe for the pure magic of these
ancient animals. Individually, salmon accomplish
the seemingly impossible, battling currents,
boulders, and downed trees as they migrate miles
inland to spawn. Collectively, they have
survived tremendous threats to their species in
recent decades, including intensive logging and
stream sedimentation, loss of waterways to urban
development, and massive water diversions.
Despite all of this, they keep up their efforts
to return to California streams, as they have
done for thousands of years. If we could just
get out of their way, they might continue for
thousands more.
As
we made our way back to the car, I
couldn’t
help but feel for the group that
hadn’t
spotted a single fish; they had missed out on
the wonder and joy of the experience. When I
relayed the sentiment to my colleague Brian, he
pointed out that we all sometimes miss the
wonders right under our noses. He’s
right.
There is hidden beauty all around us, whether
we’re
looking for it or not. I think
there’s
a bit of magic in that,
too. |
