This spring, University of Washington’s Future Rivers NRT teamed up with Washington State University’s Rivers, Watersheds, and Communities NRT to connect and share ideas, resources, and research grounded in a mutual focus of enhancing freshwater science in the state of Washington. Future River’s program manager attended WSU’s annual symposium in Pullman and Spokane and helped to lead a joint lightning talk session featuring work by graduate students from both universities. Students and faculty from both sides of the mountains also met in the middle for a night of camping and a 10-mile float down the Yakima River. As one student aptly summed it up, “Four hours on a raft is certainly a bonding experience, both personally and academically.”