Sign along Methow River

This sign in a parking area next to the Methow River along State Route 20 reads,

The River's Work

From the day they are created, rivers work to level themselves and stop flowing. Water cuts where it runs steep and fast, rolling rocks and carrying fine sediment downstream. It drops the rocks and sand where the current slows. Grain by grain, and rock by rock, the highlands are carved down and the lower reaches of the drainage are filled up. It will go on until both ends are at the same elevation and the river's life is over. Even solid stone can't stop it. The water always wins.

Upstream from this sign, the river's course winds through the glacier-carved, flat-bottomed upper Methow Valley. But to the white-water rafter's delight, the river downstream of this point is cutting hard, forming a tight, steep-sided channel as it rushes to the Columbia River (Okanogan County) at Pateros.