RiverJourneys, a Way to Disconnect and Refresh
  • Home
  • The Experience
  • Pictures
  • About us
  • Blog
  • Contact us
  • Links

Sharing the experience

Reflections on preparation, thoughts, and the actual experience of river life.

Summer news up and coming....

8/26/2018

1 Comment

 
Lots of time on the river this summer.   Little time to write taken.  I need to do it more.  Might be a more well developed habit in my future.  

Regardless, we had 4 days mid-May, I paddled another 5 days at the end of May, 5 days over July 4 and 4 days the weekend of August 11.  A total of 210 miles, would like to break 300. 

Rescued some really intoxicated people with small children.  A tragic situation, but all got out alive.  Kudos to Cara who talked a crazy lady hanging onto a log in swift and deep water into finding her way to safety.  She did it while next to her hanging on to the log.  It was dicey, I pulled people up on the bank and off the jam.  The husband of said lady was passed out on the bottom of the raft and floated downstream, no PFD beyond the next bend and out of sight. 

Finally, after everyone was out, we bushwhacked our way as we heard him downstream yelling.  We found him in 3 ft. of water hanging on to a log because he had no idea he could stand.  We finally got him on shore and as he exited, he fell face first in the mud with his head right between my chacos.  There he was face down.

We called the livery we work with and they sent canoes down (hours later) and picked the folks up and took them to safety.  I want to communicate to everyone that intoxication and river travel do not go well together.  These folks were beyond intoxicated, I suspect meth actually. 

We were grateful to have saved at least two lives that day.  We have now saved at least three people while traveling on the river.  In every situation, a lack of a PFD was critical.  So, some more lessons learned.  Unfortunately for those three adults we pulled off the log jam, I would guess the experience offered little as a catalyst for change.

​
1 Comment

The month of March

2/25/2018

0 Comments

 
The month of March
 
Because I heat my house with wood (lots of work) and a myriad of other reasons, I think of hard core winter as the big three, the months of December, January and February.  I spend much of October unwinding from summer with garden chores, leaves to gather, and usually a fall colors trip down the Manistee.  I did not get that colors trip in last Fall.  Perhaps that is why this winter has been more disconcerting than most.
 
This weekend is the Quiet Water Symposium at Michigan State University.  Will see some old friends, perhaps make new.  Regardless it is a symbolic representation of the end of the big three.  Hope and warmth spring eternal as I see new gear, hear about new places, and new ways of doing the ancient art of paddling or packing and living out of doors.  March and April were the birth months of my biological children.  The newness of life and the celebration of who they have become give me pause to celebrate and recognize life transitions.
I visited with my Dad today.  He will be 85 in December and I wondered how my life will go from now until I am 85.  I have slightly less than 20 years until then.  I started my relationship with my wife 20 years ago and it seems the life we have made together was time that was rich and full of growth. 
 
While it may seem long and filled with opportunity, the remainder of my life is very finite.  I will only experience the changes of Fall and the big three through so many cycles.  The sounds of the peepers in spring and that first trill of a Red Winged Blackbird calling the warmth will fall upon my ears just so many times.  I feel eternally grateful for these experiences every time they pass through my life experience.
I love March, but this March seems particularly poignant.  The remaining chill, the hope of warmth, the sounds of the peepers and the returning birds fill my being with thankfulness for the day.  Enjoy Spring.
 
David

Picture
0 Comments

Thoughts on lessons

2/7/2018

0 Comments

 
My experiences in the out-of-doors will be different in some powerful ways this year.  ​ My Mom loved time out in the woods.  We camped in a little 14 foot travel trailer when I was a kid.   Mom and I  cut a lot of firewood together in the mid-seventies.  Sometimes Dad would come with us where it was accessible and build a campfire to warm by.  Swinging a maul, splitting a lot of red oak, we were warmed for our efforts.

As a descendent, it seems as though I am given her perspective through my eyes.  My senses will imagine how she would have enjoyed where we are.  The pungent smell of the red oak, the ping of the maul off of a hard piece of hickory while bathing in the green of the forest remind me, connect me.    The sounds of  owls, whippoorwills and such while camped on the river would have thrilled her.  

Seems we all need to do that.  View the world through the eyes and hearts of our elders.  Not just human, but also other forces before us, the earth, trees, water.  When I leave a campsite I always give thanks for being there.  It has enveloped me phsically and spiritually for a moment, a day or three.  I can't wait to show Mom the river this summer.  We will enjoy it
.
0 Comments

February 03rd, 2018

2/3/2018

0 Comments

 
This is that time of year I get cabin fever.  Reading Jerry Dennis books about the rivers, trout, camping out and the joy of being outdoors.  

I am ready this year.  I want outdoor time.  The more the better.  Forest bathing as a concept is something I can really buy into.  I am ready for the river, the song of a distant whippoorwill, the howl of a coyote.  Wind blowing through the pines, distant thunder rolling through the river valley, I am ready for it all.  Just thinking of it, my soul feels cleansed.
​
0 Comments

Beginnings

3/2/2014

0 Comments

 
Designing websites is not one of my favorite things.  Yet, as I reflect on the goals and desires I have for RiverJourneys, I realize the need to communicate effectively what the experience is and is not.  My passion for rivers sometimes overwhelms me.  From my youth spending nights along the Wabash fishing for catfish, listening to the sounds of the water, the frogs, and landing that catfish, the thrill of a river environment continues to enthrall me.  


I started paddling seriously with a group of men, (we all went to college together),  over Memorial Day weekend 37 years ago.  We have had a trip every year since.  There was the occasional missed trip for each of us due to children graduating and such.   Yet the experiences we have had together are unparalleled and have a continued tradition and deep meaning.   There is something special about river time.  It is magical.  I am thankful for every moment I am part of it.

I find as I paddle, I am completely in the here and now, relaxed yet vibrant.  Observing, my senses are acute, awakened to what is around me forgetting the burdens of modern life.  I am a part of it, if for just a fleeting moment.  The stresses of a profession, vehicles, a house and all of the small but mighty things that can sap  energy from me are forgotten.  I am in an element that brings few worries, minimal concerns.  All I have is the stuff in my canoe, the water, the sky, the woods and my skills.  Meshing them into a joyful journey is mine if I let go and participate.

The sense of well-being I experience paddling can be matched by none other.  This is the gift I want to bring to participants in a RiverJourneys experience.   At some level, we all want to share what we love.  It is an expression of what is important to us. 

Let's gear up for a great season.  Come join us for a long weekend, a holiday venture, or an extended trip.  If you have a group, bring them along, if not, we can find a time that will work for you.   I am looking forward to a great year of paddling.  With all of the snow, water levels should be up for a while, most likely colder than usual.  

Morels and spring walleye as well as a nice brown draw us north as soon as possible.  This winter has done an excellent job of heightening my anticipation for that first really warm spring night, swinging in my hammock listening to the shrill little calls of the peepers and frogs. 

   Join me. 
0 Comments

    Author

    David has been running the Manistee for 23 years.  In addition, he has paddled rivers in Indiana, Arkansas, Missouri, West Virginia, Kentucky,  Wisonsin, Tennessee, Michigan and Ohio.  He has a wealth of outdoor experience and hopes to persuade more people to spend more time outdoors.

    Archives

    August 2018
    February 2018
    March 2014

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly