Portneuf River, These two days together.

I have spent thousands of hours recreating on or very near the Portneuf River. As a child, I would fish it. My great grandparents were some of the settlers of Dempsey Creek. My Grandfather was born in a white house that once sat on Maughn Road across from where we got out or the river on the float trip. My grandparents met at a dance in the Topaz area as my grandmother, from Salt Lake City, visited her cousins. I think I can say I would not have existed without the Portneuf River. Wow. I just realized that.  As a teen in High School I would swim in many of the known swimming holes and spend whole days just exploring it. I was aware of the law about entering water and being able to stay up to high water mark to avoid trespassing. I almost made a game of it. I would walk, float, falling, swim, and fish up and down it. There are very few places on the Portneuf above Inkom that I haven’t bathed in.  I continue to fish and swim in the Porneuf. I’ll drive 35 miles any day to try and catch one or the few really amazing Cuthroat, Brown, or Rainbow trout. I thought I really loved the Portneuf.

These last two days in MILES have made me love the Portneuf more. I want to help it. I feel bad for the poor little thing as it nears Pocatello, but I feel like I look at it like a student, who I really like , but who has really messed up. Everybody I have encountered over the last few days has brought a great amount of knowledge and passion for this river. Learning the geology of the Portneuf flood plain and learning the causes of its silky chocolate milky appearance around Pocatello helps me be more compassionate toward it.  Comparing  past pictures to the river’s current conditions makes me want to call Portneuf’s parents.  Thinking about the river’s changes over geololocical time and in the time man has tried to live around it gives me hope through my own influence as a teacher and a doer I can influence change for the betterment of the Portneuf.

Because I kinda love it.