I love winter along our Willamette Valley rivers; the Willamette in particular. Like many, I worry that this winter’s lack of snow and cold leads us further into drought and continued symptoms of climate change, regardless of what a certain uninformed individual claims. And while I too today will make phone calls and join a local protest…I’m trying to follow the same advice I’m giving my adult daughter. So many of us find ourselves at odds with not being able to tell our grown children “all is well.” I tell her to take the small steps she can to promote change, be compassionate to others, join community in protest, do the work she does, and make sure to take time to find moments of joy. At times this feels privileged and uncaring; yet we need it to get through disturbing times.

My moments of joy include writing and walking. Thus, today’s blog.

Last weekend, Russ and I spent a few hours at Champoeg State Heritage Area. Yes, some know this park has always been a sentimental spot for me and my family. If you read My Music Man, you may recall this. Yes, it is this place we visited the day after Dad died. This place too is where my brothers and I, as kids long ago, scrambled up dirt trails after cleating up our boat, playing hide and seek and hoping for a snack. And yes, we always slowed up at the monument where we knew our third great-grandfather’s name was etched along with forty-one others who voted in favor of forming a provisional government back in 1843. For more on this, listen to My Music Man’s chapter “Champoeg” at the bottom of this post.

And so on this recent gray day, Russ and I wandered the trails of this quiet park, absent summer sun and picnic seekers. My favorite time to visit, really. I do like people but tend to prefer parks and open spaces uninhabited, even though I want everyone to have the opportunity to bask in the joys of these spaces. Maybe that’s part of the reason walking in the rain really doesn’t bother me much, as long as I can stay warm. (Oh, I wish it would rain…)

For those new to the area or who have never made the trip to Champoeg, I say…go! Make sure to give yourself time to walk through the visitor center. Its small footprint makes it easy to wander through and still pick up a bit of history. Then, carry on with your walk, hike or bike ride. (My mom and dad used to love biking the trail from Champoeg to Butteville where Dad had decades before visited a grandfather as a boy.) Call it habit, but I always love to look at the painting reenacting the “big vote.” My third great grandfather, William Willson, was one of several secretaries and you can see I’ve circled his image in the photo below. He and my third great grandmother Chloe Clark went on to claim land where today’s Salem Capitol and Willamette University sit, a school that acknowledges Chloe as its first teacher.

And while I enjoy walking through the visitor center, my true joy is getting outside and heading toward the river. It’s a nice several mile loop to walk from the visitor center toward both the campground – where you could in fact stay in a yurt – and to the day use area where the monument rests.

Some may recall that while the town of Champoeg prospered and grew through the 1850s, even boasting a ferry crossing and stagecoach office, disaster struck via eighteen straight days of rain in 1861. (Oh…I wish it would rain…and snow.) The river flooded the town and destroyed most everything. The town didn’t re-establish itself until 1880 as nearby Butteville. If you look closely on the side of the Pioneer Memorial Building photographed below, you can see the height of the river as it crested in 1861 marked just below the middle upper window.

As we walk the trails and paths, Champoeg’s original townsite is visible in this fertile farming land.

I have always loved the river and its environ in winter. Of course I love summer and blackberries, jumping in the water, slowly paddling my kayak. But there’s something about the quietness of our river banks in the winter. It fills me. And yes, the good and the bad, the things that have changed and the things that should’ve been different. And with all of that, I just breathe.

My Music Man is available via book, e-book and audiobook (narrated by me). Want to learn a bit more? Listen to the chapter below.

Chapter 13: Champoeg (My Music Man)

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Other related work and blogs

My Music Man

Founders Day: We All Have Our Stories

Blogs about J.K., Chloe and William

Dede’s other books