“To understand just one life, you have to swallow the world. I told you that.” Salaman Rushdie
Eighty days in a non-motorized boat in four different countries. It was a good year. Over the course of our adventures we visited two archeological digs and a bunch of recent and old history in the Balkans. Honestly, us here at the sublimity life haven’t really thought of a theme for the year; we’d just like to tell you about some of the rivers and history that we discovered on the way. We’ll keep this year’s description short and sweet. After all, we are leaving on another adventure very very soon.
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| A good old fashion 'throw and go' in Croatia Photo by Jesse Mitchell |
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| Mountain Goats on the Grande Ronde Photo Grace Bagley |
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| Happy kids on the Grande Ronde Photo Grace Bagley |
After a few
multi day trips on the John Day, and Grande Ronde the first big summer adventure
began in sea kayaks at the Broken Islands of British Columbia. We spent 6
nights and 7 days boating after launching from Secret Beach. We stayed at Willis, Clark, Gilbartar, and
Hand Islands. All of the islands are
decently protected in a fjord. As the
guide book says, “If you want to camp by yourselves, don’t go to the broken
islands.” It is a true story we had
neighbors at each campsite, but the scenery is great and the trip is worth
it. Most of the campsites are located on
or near old First Nation village sites.
It is an easy adventure to set up with a long week out of Portland.
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| Broken Islands Photo by Allen Hux |
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| Broken Islands Photo by David Brigg |
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| Broken Islands Photo by David Brigg |
Other than the
scenery, the highlight of the trip was a visit to a First Nation archeological
dig on Keith Island coordinated by the University of Vancouver. The main dig site was located on a midden pile
(a pile of discarded shells and garbage) that would have been essentially the pile
behind the long houses. The shells help
to preserve wood and bone that would have disintegrated if left out in the
open. On the tour of the dig we saw
three very interesting things. First the
dig had recently unearthed a wool dog that had been buried in the midden pile and
we were able to observe the remains. The
First Nation villages had two types of dogs: village dogs and wool dogs. They would keep the wool dogs on islands so
that they didn’t interbreed with the village dogs. These wool dogs were extremely hairy and the
hair was used to make all sorts of clothing and supplies. The day before we visited, a news crew had
come to document the amazing wool dog discovery. The second thing that I found interesting at
the dig was an old obsidian arrowhead.
The obsidian would have come from the Oregon flows in Eastern Oregon
near Bend. I always find it incredible
the distances that arrowheads made with obsidian from Oregon traveled through
trade. The final thing that I found
interested about the dig was a second dig site up the hill. This dig was at a much older village
site. In particular you could see at the
dig site an old shoreline that was much higher than the current ocean level. It had the obvious markings of rocks and sand
of a shoreline and included some fragments of human habitation. This extremely
large change in sea level is due to two main variables. First of all during the Ice Ages the sea
levels would have fluctuated over time.
More importantly the glaciers near and covering the broken islands would
have weighted the ground down and the earth would have actually sunk from the
weight. One person described the area as
acting like a teeter-totter going up and down as the ice ages grew and then
receded. It was all super interesting.
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| Brett Smith Relaxing Photo by David Brigg |
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| Clark Island Photo by David Brigg |
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| Carrie made jewelry Photo by David Brigg |
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| Broken Island Beauty Photo by David Brigg |
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| Relaxing on Clark Island for Carrie's birthday Photo by David Brigg |
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| Good times on the Broken Islands Photo by David Brigg |
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| Sea Lion Tooth from the archeological dig Photo by David Brigg |
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| This seems like a likely canoe run (parking spot for wood boats) |
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| B double e double r un BEER RUN. Turns out we finagled a local lodge into a shower and beer. Photo by Becky |
“We pulled the
e-brake just for funsies.” Becky
After the trip
Niki and I said goodbye to the rest of the crew and drove straight to Idaho for
a Lower Main Salmon trip with an expanded group of representatives from the Ross
family; including a group of 3 Bagley family members in tow. The entire trip was another great successful
kids trip with most of the usual fun, swimming, and games (and mild amounts of
debauchery). The most unique aspect of
this particular trip down the lower was a visit at an archeological dig that
was located at an intersection of an ancient trail with the river that the Nez
Peirce trail also intersected. The dig
is located where a modern road also accesses the river. When the road grade was dug the top layers of
archeological history were removed. That
means the college students can quickly dig down to ancient history. At this particular dig site tour we learned a
number of fun facts; and received some sweet swag including bandannas and
temporary tattoos. Probably the most
interesting discovery at the site we heard about was an old stash of buried
stone tools. Some ancient person covered
the stone tools by a wolverine carcass somewhere near 13,500 years ago. It seems likely that they would have
eventually wanted to return to recover the valuable tools, but they
didn’t. It also seems odd that a
wolverine would have been killed in this area and then used simply to protect
some tools. The lead archeologist at the
dig is writing her doctorate thesis on the wolverine stash. Pretty cool.
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| Lower Main Salmon archeological dig Photo by Mike Ross |
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| Photo by Cindi |
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| OOPS Photo Grace Bagley |
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| Dress Up Night Photo by Mike Ross |
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| Photo by Mike Ross |
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| Motoring out on the Lower Snake River with the propane engine Photo Grace Bagley |
As usual any
story about Native American history is filled with recent colonialism
tragedy. While being chased by cavalry,
the Nez Perce managed to cross the Salmon River very near this site, lead by
Chief Joseph with their entire family units; evading the cavalry for a
time. Of course they weren’t able to
evade them for long.
As usual a Lower Main Salmon trip is always
worth it. We had a lot more adventures
then those recorded here; but time is of the essence and we are on to the next
adventure. Keeping things short and
sweet.
“Ahead of him,
on the dusty road, he saw a dog trotting along in the warm sunshine.” Truman Capote
Next up, it was
a few weeks of preparing and packing for a Europe boating vacation. Jesse Mitchell and his family had recently
moved to a location in the Bavaria region of Germany for a great job
opportunity. During the move, Jesse
shipped over three kayaks: a Nomad, Hercules and 4-Fun. It was time for a visit. Did I mention that the family BMW was fitted
with a roof rack?
South African
Dave and I arrived in Bavaria near the end of summer. Jesse met us with some fresh beers and we
enjoyed a train ride back to his family home.
All kayakers in all parts of the world appreciate all of our friends and
families who have allowed us to crash on couches, floors, and vans. The Mitchell family did one better and hooked
us up with rooms and beds. Did I mention
jetlag is actually a thing as you age?
Once Dave and I
recovered, the three of us hopped in the BMW and Jesse drove us out of Germany,
through Austria, hit a small corner of Italy, and into Slovenia. At some point when I was a kid, I had read a
magazine article about the Soca River. I
have dreamed of kayaking in the area since then. When we arrived late in summer, the flows
were low, but that opened up some of the more difficult runs for us. Alternatively the area would also be good to
visit when the flows are higher, the region would still have lots of manageable
sections and offer some difficult runs for the advanced boater. The camping along the Soca River is great and
easy to coordinate. The food in the area
is amazing for rural food. Out of town
boaters can easily rent boats from the Prijon kayak shop and they will include
camping and shuttles. You will find lots
of kayakers to talk to and exchange stories with at the campsites [such as Tina
the German outdoor school student who was learning how to kayak on a road trip
in her parent’s minivan with her mom’s fiberglass boat strapped to the roof, or
the group of kayakers from Slovakia who pulled up in three rental vans and
loved to talk about rivers.] There is no
reason more Northwest boaters don’t visit the Soca River and go boating. It would be a great addition to any European
vacation.
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| Soca River |
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| Jesse on the Soca River |
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| Lower Soca River |
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| Campground on the Soca River |
All the names
are a bit strange; here is our list of sections that we ran on the Soca River.
Day 1: Sotocjna (campground at confluence) all the
way to Trnova 1. Class 2 with a long
pretty class one section and then we followed two local boaters that we met
down the final section that was class 3 plus at these flows.
Day 2: Dave put in at Krosvec and ran entrance drop into
the gorge. Jesse and I put in at
Zmuklica and paddled upstream into the gorge just below the entrance drop. Took out at Prijon Sports center where we
camped. (Cezsoca). That afternoon we drove to and went hiking
through an awesome canyon called Tolmin Gorge.
Day 3: Started the day by taking gondola to the top
of the mountain that is the border of Slovenia and Italy and hiked around and
had a beer. Afterwards we put in at
Otana and boated down to Napolean Most.
The put in is a very very long set of stairs; take your time. This section was our most difficult of the
trip; but at the low flows you can take it slow and make good decisions. It rates as class 4 and would be much more
difficult at high flows. It is possible
to find a way to portage things if you don’t like them. We did portage one drop, but from the bottom
it was apparent we should have run it at these low flows.
The take out bridge
was an interesting historical relic. The
narrow area once had a wooden bridge across it that was destroyed by Venetians
in 1616. The bridge was rebuilt out of
stone in 1750 and Napolean’s troops once walked across it. During World War I the Austrians destroyed
the bridge. On top of all that history,
it is also an incredible beautiful location.
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| Jesse in his element Photo by David Brigg |
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| Napolean's Bridge Photo by David Brigg |
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| Waiting for the ferry to Rab Island in Croatia after leaving Soca River |
Next day Jesse
drove us to Rab Island for some sea kayaking in Croatia. The BMW map navigation steered us in a less
than optimal path and we took the long ferry but made it there. A local rents heavy-duty Prijon sea kayaks to
people who want to do multiday trips and he gives very detailed instructions
about good campsites. Bring your own
paddle, but the boats are just fine and the information from the rental company
is priceless.
The general
logistics for our trip are as follows.
We launched in city of Rab and went clockwise around the island. Night one we camped at Armata Inlet, which
had a couple of other boats using the bay for an overnight anchor. The next day we paddled to our favorite
island Sv. Grgur. The island had its own
restaurant that we visited for dinner and beers and our camp was at an old
agricultural ruin. We saw lots of the
local dear on the island. The island
also had a large TITO written on the hill with white rocks, more about that
history in the next paragraph. Next we
stayed on Goli Atok, which is a Yugoslavian era prisoner camp ruin. We literally camped at the former women’s
prison near the dock. Again we went to
the local bar for dinner and beer. The
next day we paddled back to the main island of Rab, had some beers at a beach
for lunch, and then camped on the Lopar peninsula. At one point we had talked about paddling all
the way around the island, but we decided to cut the sea kayak trip short and
head to the mainland for some more whitewater.
After all we were counting our progress in BPK (beers per kilometer) and
we were visiting more bars than campsites.
It was time to get off the island before we became complete lushes. (NOTE:
BPK should not be confused with ASPK (aperol spritzs per kilometer).
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| Croatian Sea Kayaking Photo by David Brigg |
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| Tito, leader for life in Yugoslavia Photo by David Brigg |
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| Kayaking back from the bar. Photo by David Brigg |
Two things
really stood out on the Rab Island paddle; the limestone scenery against the
Adriatic Sea, and the historical relics.
The craziest relic was Goli Atuk.
Tito came to power in Yugoslavia at the end of World War II. There is so much history behind this fact
that I won’t attempt to summarize it. I
have been doing a lot of reading to get a better understanding for my own
knowledge. Goli Atuk became a political
prisoner camp that helped reeducate people as TITO held onto his leader for
life position. Of course there was
torture and killing on the island. Now
the island is a tourist attraction, I believe visited mostly by people who live
in countries that were formerly part of Yugoslavia. The ruins are quite interesting and strange
to visit. The craziest thing is that
the island has a “train” (a tractor pulling wheeled passenger cars) that takes
visitors around. I suppose in some ways
it is similar to Alcatraz. Soon our
travels would intersect a part of Croatia that made it sadly apparent why some
people actually feel like the TITO times weren’t that bad.
Years ago one of
the famous kayaker movies visited Croatia.
They showed images of destroyed buildings and kayaking limestone
slides. I really wanted to at least hit
one slide and see some of the history while we were in the country. We managed to hit two rivers that were way better
than expected and saw more history that we had hoped to see.
First of all,
the rivers were low flow runs over Limestone.
They created really fun slides and silly drops. Both rivers had a waterfall that required
portaging. The pictures don’t really do
it much justice; it was just a lot of silly fun in good weather with clear
water. The first river is called
Zmuranja and local companies take guided tourist trips down it in inflatable
kayaks. It was super fun. The second was the Mreznica River which was
just as much fun but a little less rural.
The local kayak company gave us tons of beta and gave us a ride down the
four wheel drive put in road. The name
of the company is Raftrek if you find yourself in Croatia and want a guided
trip.
In the areas
that we traveled around to get to the rivers we went past a large number of
destroyed houses, an uncountable number of memorials, some old tanks, and some
fields full of mines that are fenced off and marked. I have read a lot of material about the conflicts
in the area after the fall of Yugoslavia (different offenses during the
conflict have different names) and I can’t even attempt to fully understand the
complexity of it. A lot of it boils down
to tensions between the Croats who were mostly Roman Catholic, the Serbs who
are mostly Orthodox Christian, and the Bosnians who tend to be Muslim. The area
has a long history of migration and war.
The end of TITO rule and the fall of Yugoslavia started a power
struggle. I recommend that you read some
of the history; it has a lot of current relevance with all of the anti-Muslim
rhetoric that is being used in politics.
After that we
headed back to Munich. We had some time
to explore Munich and I was able visit my German friend Christiana and her
family. Then it was back to the US and
back to work.
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| Rogue River Lodge Trip Photo by Cecilia |
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| Rogue River Lodge Trip Photo by Cecilia |
The last
overnight river trip of the year was a 2-night lodge trip down the Rogue River
with Babcock, Carol, Mike Ross, Cecilia and Lacey. Staying at the lodges made for an easy lightweight
trip with catered meals. The manager of
Paradise told us that Half Moon Lodge was for sale and we took the opportunity
to go take a self-guided tour of the lodge on the last day. I must say, I wasn’t surprised to hear that
Mike and Cecilia purchased Half Moon Lodge.
This last weekend I even took a quick trip with Mike for his first assessment
of his newly owned lodge. I’m looking
forward to years of visiting.
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| Picture from the most recent trip to Half Moon Lodge |
Gosh. If you compare this year’s write up to years
past it seems pretty short. I suppose
the meaning of a year isn’t tied to the number of words chosen to describe it. I keep getting more and more reminders how
important it is to cherish your friends and family and more importantly make
sure you go on adventures with them over our short time on this planet. I feel like this year was a treat.
PS. We are leaving for New Zealand in a few
days. The reason our editors let us get
away with a shortened blog about Summer 2018 is that they are excited to be on
a new adventure for next “summer.” See
ya soon and take care.
