The Sacramento River near the confluence with the Feather is a place of sedimentation, old marinas, and salmon fishing. With photographer Geoff Fricker (these are not his photos; his are much better!), I visited restoration sites installed by the nonprofit group River Partners, designed to allow the river to go overbank in flood. Pungent mugwort, thriving sycamore, sign of beaver at work, more birds than we could count--those are the gifts of these installations. Out on the water, the clouds reflect back into a blue sky turned cold by the first snowstorm over the Sierra. A good day to stand by the joining of two rivers--two streams of water from the north, where the ducks and geese are settling from their long autumn flights.
