Thursday, June 2, 2011

Why, oh, why?


Why DO we do this?

Who would want to take off for a month long canoe trip--not a wilderness sojourn with a few friends, but the travelling circus that is a Voyageur Brigade? I expect something like 100 people, more or less, in the ten teams participating in this grand expedition. We will not experience solitude, especially in camp. Maybe momentarily on the river.

The stretch of the Columbia River that we will do is not completely wilderness, although I do expect some parts of it to be less travelled. Much of it is resevoir, water trapped behind one dam or another dam. We will have to portage several of them. Hopefully by trailer or a set of wheels under the canoe.

We will join the larger brigade about half way through, near the small town of Miles, WA, west of Spokane where the Spokane River joins the Columbia. From what I can see on Google Earth, it looks like desert, dry and nearly stark naked of trees.

It will be hot and dry, not terribly comfortable. So we will paddle in the early parts of the day.

That might be the best part of the day, anyway. It's the best time to see animals, the coolest part of the day. There's something special about dawn--it's the beginning of a new day, a new opportunity for life. Who knows what will happen!

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