May 11, 2025
I committed to a whitewater paddling trip in August. This has been in the works for almost a year now. It’s still 3 months away, but only three weeks until my departure from here to MN. I’m vacillating between finding and packing the myriad and necessities for four months of building a house and preparing for a 14-day paddle on the Hayes River in the wilderness of Manitoba. Both enterprises are foreign to my bailiwick.
But all the details of shutting this house down and getting ready to resume our house building project are daunting. At least we’ve worked on this for the past two years and I have some knowledge of place and duties. Whereas the Hayes and whitewater canoeing is new to me.
I’ve read a couple dozen books, and watched many more You tubes on paddling Wilderness Canada. I run with canoe adventure audiobooks being read to me through earbuds. I love all this stuff: canoeing, camping, wilderness, the Arctic. So I’m absolutely thrilled to have an opportunity to paddle here.
A couple days ago, the book Riverman ended just as my run did. What to listen to next? And Deliverance came to mind. When I read it, I’m thinking in the 80s, I loved the writing, and it takes place on a river. Now I’m past the middle of the book, and it’s a terrific read, but I’m wondering if Deliverance might not have been my best idea.
Mountain Peace 