My Watermark is the Chilliwack River, BC.

They say that walking in nature makes you feel more calm and relaxed and for me, this has always been true of the Chilliwack River. My parent’s house is a mere five-minute walk from the river so I have had the privilege of visiting it regularly for most of my life. I have walked down there in spring, summer, fall, and winter, watched beavers move in and build their dams, and seen the main flow switch from one bank to the other. My family has worried some years that the river would flood and come over the road like it did in ’89. As a family we have tubed and swam in the river, roasted marshmallows on the bank, caught insects and minnows and watched the salmon run.

The river was most important to me when I was a teenager (during the years around 2007). My part of the river is not on any map and the trails are known only to the locals and fishermen who make them. Whenever I was upset, which as a teenager was all the time, I would wander the trails with my dog. I would walk for kilometers and get lost on new paths until I could find my way back home. When it was warm I would swim or wade in the shallows. I even had a special spot by a beaver dam where I would go to think. The Chilliwack River is my happy place.