Canoe-Palooza Part Three

Here we are again, the third installment of my very own canoeing escapades. I said this last time and I’ll say it again, if you are just joining us, it may behoove you to start from the beginning.

Now that you’ve all caught up…Sorry we had a struggler. Now that you’ve ALL caught up I’d like to talk about the actual canoeing part of the trip—I mean paddling and boats and water and such.

On paddling: It is a simple concept. Long stick, flat end, in water. So, we have established the simplicity of the task at hand. That being said—easier said than done. The strenuousness of paddling the greater part of the day is to remain unmeasured. The first day you start off all happy go lucky and naively gung-ho—and let me tell you from personal experience, that first night you pain for it in back pain. I hobbled—HOBBLED—around the campsite. Complete vertical standing was out of the question and walking was sort of a think only done for getting out of the tent for food and returning to the tent for more sleeping.

Day two is better. You know to pace yourself and by supper you mostly feel creaky in your shoulders. Day three is a piece of cake—it involves pure, (mostly) painless exhaustion brought on by new found enthusiasm fostered by day two’s modesty. I will have to keep you posted on day four, five, six, and seven, being that I am writing this on the eve of three.

Paddling is very conducive to thinking. That is why, I believe, I have so much to share about my experiences. All the shoulder movement has got the cogs turning and I must cognitively process my experiences through words on a (web) page. You just think. You paddle and you look and you enjoy and you chat and you think. Sometimes you think so deeply about so many things that the quality of your paddling declines and your father who is in the canoe with you must tell you to paddle harder. But this doesn’t happen very often—only on very intense thinking occasions. Other times when nothing particularly riveting comes to mind to think about you can just think about paddling; down into the water, up out of the water. Sometimes it is windy or there are precarious rocks or whatever and then you most think very hard about paddling.

On boats: Surprisingly fragile although seemingly hardy. Bulkier than you’d like but lighter than you’d expect. As of yet, not much to report on boats. More on portaging another time.

On water: extensive thoughts on water. Mayhaps an entire installment required to extrapolate upon the plethora of water induced musings. What a pretentious sentences, I think I’ll keep it anyway.