Recently a watershed was brought up on this forum spurred from a magazine 
cover. I�ve explored it a bit but it�s vastness makes familiarity a difficult 
and time-consuming task. The past two days I got a chance to visit it again; 
duck hunting on the edges of the Columbia National Wildlife Refuge near 
Othello. 

I read once that this creek is the largest spring creek aquifer in the 
country (it was something like that anyway). Pull out a map and take a look 
at this watershed it�s a staggering chunk of Washington. I encourage anyone 
who enjoys riparian environments to get out and explore this watershed. I 
don�t encourage folks to broadcast particulars concerning the �gems � they 
find but that has been hashed. However, I can�t help but encourage folks to 
get out in it and learn what they can about what makes it such a treasure. 
The natural geology and the manipulation and utilization by humans are 
incredibly complex and inspiring. I enjoy meeting people out there who are 
learning from it as I am, sharing the resource with them is a delight and 
there are always plenty of questions concerning what each of us has learned. 
People who are there because someone told them they could catch a large fish 
in a certain spot bring little to the table and move me to caution in my 
sharing.

Seep: to flow or pass slowly through fine pores or small openings. This is 
what has happened to me out there in the steppe of central Washington. 
Knowledge and awareness has seeped into my consciousness and filled me with 
wonder and even more questions. Even now surrounded by the glacial drama of 
Puget Sound my mind is still drawn back to the contradictions and oxymorons 
of a desert creek where time is beyond comprehension and water sometimes 
flows uphill.

Have fun
Paul

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