This past weekend some friends and I decided to head up the Skagit River to the little towns of Concrete, Rockport, and Marblemount. Every year during the month of January these tiny towns are wonderful places to visit if you enjoy watching bald eagles. The Skagit Eagle Festival is held during this time because of the large concentrations of these magnificent raptors that arrive in this area. According to the United States Forest Service, the Skagit River hosts the largest wintering population of bald eagles in the state of Washington. Many of these eagles spend their summers in Alaska and northern British Columbia. So why do they like the Skagit River? They know that during the winter months it is a prime feeding spot and they flock to this area by the hundreds to dine on spawned-out chum salmon and waterfowl.
On our first day, we didn't arrive to the prime eagle watching areas until early afternoon. Usually the eagles are most active first thing in the morning. The other difficulty we were having was the weather. It was a regular winter wonderland! And while it was very beautiful to be driving around the mountains in the snow, we were having a very hard time finding any eagles. We traveled around all day looking for great eagle watching spots, but most of the time all we saw was this:
We decided that our best bet was to wake up early the next morning and go out looking for our handsome, feathery models during the time they are most active. While we slept Saturday night, a fresh blanket of snow covered the valley and we woke up to a beautiful sunrise and a white world:
We quickly hopped in the car and began scoping out all the supposably great eagle watching spots. Sadly, there was just not much to be had. According to local people in the area, there just aren't as many eagles on the river this year as there were in previous years. The chum salmon run had been less than bountiful and there just wasn't enough food to go around. We stopped at mile marker 100 on highway 20 which is one of the prime watching spots. There was a single eagle on the sandbar munching on a salmon, but he quickly flew away before we could get a good look at him. Bummed out, we walked back to the car to drive down to the next eagle watching spot. Just as we were about to hop in and drive off, a minivan stopped next to us. The driver rolled down the window, "Hey! You guys wanna see like 100 eagles?" We noticed that Pacific Northwest Float Trips was printed on the side of the van. "Sure..." we said warily. The driver said, "Come on a free float trip with us! You'll see many more eagles on the river than you will from the road. Just be in Rockport by 9:30 and we'll go!" We told the driver we'd think about it and he drove off. A free float trip? Ok, what's the catch? I guess in today's society we are so used to not really getting anything for free. There is always some sort of hoop you have to jump through. But the river trip did sound like a lot of fun and the weather wasn't too bad. Hmmm. Lets do it! But as we drove toward Rockport the sky opened and began to dump snow. By the time we arrived in Rockport it was approaching white-out conditions and we began to second-guess our decision to go out. We found the driver of the van. He explained to us that they had tarps and blankets we could cover up with and that it really would be a unique experience. He also explained that the trip really was free and that if we enjoyed ourselves to just tip our guide. Okay! Lets go! We loaded up with all our gear and the driver took us to the put-in. There we met our guide, Donovan. We plopped ourselves in the boat and began to float down stream. It was still snowing, but it did seem to be letting up some and before long, we spotted our first eagle:
And then something wonderful happened. The snow stopped, the sun came out, and we began to see dozens and dozens of eagles!:
I think my favorite image of the whole float trip was an eagle sitting on a rock in the river. The lighting was just perfect:
The float trip only lasted an hour, but it will probably be one of the most memorable hours of my life. The scenery was so incredible and the eagles were absolutely stunning. We were so pleased we had braved the weather and headed out on the water. We certainly would have been kicking ourselves if we hadn't! It was simply magical and the snow was the icing on the cake. I would highly recommend visiting the eagle festival if you are in the Skagit area in the future. It is a truly memorable experience and don't forget to take a float trip! Trust me - you will not regret it!
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