Pretty soon, the kayaking season will be over and this journal will be covering the winter topics of books and knitting and Netflix and concerts.  But for now, there is no way I am coming indoors.

Getting ready to put in at Barton yesterday:

You can’t tell from any of the pictures, but the Clackamas is splashing white all the way.  It’s just not possible to take pictures while navigating the white stuff so you can only see the odd calm moments.

Most of the interest on the Clackamas is created by huge boulders just under the surface.  Around here if you mention boulders someone says, “Yeah.  Those came down here with the Great Missoula Flood,”  like that was yesterday, when, actually it happened at the end of the last ice age.

But, speaking of books, I did read a great one this week,  The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown.  A paddling book of sorts, and so much more.  It’s about nine American boys, the crew team from the U. of Washington, ordinary boys from working-class families during The Great Depression, and their epic quest for the gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.  Scholarly folks will love how well it’s documented.  West Coast folks will love the rivalry between Cal and the U. of Wa.  Everyone will love George Pocock, who built the team’s boat from Western Red Cedar (Thuja plicata).  Now, every crew team in  the world rows Pocock boats.  Of course, they no longer smell of our beautiful cedar, more’s the pity.

And everyone will love the boys who, against impossible odds, went to Berlin and brought home the gold.