Read on to hear first-hand accounts of the special encounters and unique experiences of those who live and play on the water.
COFFEE ON THE DECK: Since 2002 we have lived next to the Sacramento. Nothing compares to having that first cup of coffee on the deck before facing the day. Wildlife abounds along the river. Every year a little fox jumps up in the air over and over again doing back flips trying for low hanging plums. Rabbits and Deer are thick, while birds of prey circle above. Keeps everything in perspective. Dan & Debi live on the Sacramento River.
SUNRISE ON THE RIVER:
I have lived on the river since 2004. Just waking up to the wildlife and the beautiful sunrises and sunsets. The wildlife is just everywhere, along with some of the greatest trout fish in the world. Rick Krogen lives on the Sacramento River.
BALD EAGLE: One day, while I was working at the desk in the office or second bedroom, I heard a large flapping sound coming from the river. An American Bald Eagle had just caught a fish and was using the branch outside the window to catch it’s breath. I grabbed my video camera but the battery was not charged. I then took the still camera and shot some great pictures of it through the glass of the office door.
It shook it wings to dry them off while holding onto the Trout that this master fisherman had caught. It was there for awhile before looking me straight in the eye, then taking off. As it leaped from the limb it plummeted toward the river then as it’s wings grabbed air, it made a graceful arc up and away.
Living on the river with a home that has windows that can see the river is a very nature enhanced experience. Besides seeing Bald Eagles, we have seen Great Blue Herons, egrets, geese, and many types of ducks. On the other side of the river we have seen deer, bobcat, otters and fox. In the early morning hours we have seen possum and raccoons walking in the back yard next to the river.
If you stare at the water long enough and you are lucky, you can actually see the fish swimming by.
RISING MIST: No matter how badly my morning starts, when I drive over the bridge in the early morning hours, taking my daughter to school, the sight of that magical mist rising from the river, encircling the lone fly fisherman that is usually hip deep in the water and appears to be in a spiritual reality that is far removed from the hustle and bustle of daily human minutiae, I can’t help but smile and wonder what it was that could possibly have put me in such a bad mood and caused me to write the longest sentence of my career!
Excerpt from Wind in the Willows (The River Bank chapter):
`I beg your pardon,’ said the Mole, pulling himself together with an
effort. `You must think me very rude; but all this is so new to me.
So–this–is–a–River!’
`The River,’ corrected the Rat.
`And you really live by the river? What a jolly life!’
`By it and with it and on it and in it,’ said the Rat. `It’s brother and sister to me, and aunts, and company, and food and drink, and (naturally) washing. It’s my world, and I don’t want any other. What it hasn’t got is not worth having, and what it doesn’t know is not worth knowing. Lord! the times we’ve had together! Whether in winter or
summer, spring or autumn, it’s always got its fun and its excitements.
When the floods are on in February, and my cellars and basement are
brimming with drink that’s no good to me, and the brown water runs by my
best bedroom window; or again when it all drops away and, shows patches
of mud that smells like plum-cake, and the rushes and weed clog the
channels, and I can potter about dry shod over most of the bed of it and
find fresh food to eat, and things careless people have dropped out of
boats!’
