Mischief and Mayhem!
Oh so this is what a wild river looks and acts like! Free flowing vastness with features, twists and turns and a surprise around every bend- absolutely stunning!
And I kinda got my ass kicked 🤪🤪🤪 lotsa rain. 7 portages. 5 sets of oh wow rapids. Lining down 3 sections that were past my skill set and will. Even with the elements and conditions being at my edge, I really appreciate how it all flowed.
A lot happened and I noticed I never fully lost my cool and I never swam and there was no yard sale🤪. And I didn’t hurt myself. The canoe got hung up on rocks mid stream a number of times- I lost my paddle and found it again after getting shot out backwards in a 360 (more than twice🤪) probably on the same trajectory that the spinning paddle took :-)
I talked to myself a lot today. A lot of personal coaching :-) positive affirmations like- breathe. Relax. Go with the flow. Don’t try so hard. Be easy. Don’t go against the current. Be smart. Remember the purpose. Don’t run this one. It’s not worth it. You can run this one. You got this. One step at a time. One obstacle to navigate around at a time. Things like that.
Through all the storminess of this day- I never lost sight of the resource that feeds us, its beauty, it invaluable value to human kind and all of life. We are beyond fortunate to have this free flowing river making its way into our tap and to casco bay-
by the time I made it to Twin Bridges in Harrison, I was super cold and on the verge of hypothermia. I didn’t feel right. I called a friend. She lived nearby and offered to make herself available if a need arose. It did. I called. She came.
Hot shower! Wood stove! Hot tea! And we had a jam session! I got to practice my fiddle!
She saved me from the evening heavy downpour after a day of rain - couldn’t feel more grateful or cozy. Everything is dried and I will regroup tomorrow and put back in below Twin Bridges and paddle towards Naples.
Onward!
I lined my canoe around this drop and walked it to a safer place for me to paddle again.
This drop was too risky to line down so I dragged it to a safer place to put back in.
The look of relative satisfaction for making the choice to portage rather than get in over my head literally.
This was a quiet moment where I’m now going to be drinking River water. The end of my water from the tap. So far so good :-)
It’s the simple pleasures.
Grateful!!!
