Wednesday, January 30, 2019

Summer 2018

“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.

A good old fashion 'throw and go' in Croatia      Photo by Jesse Mitchell

Mountain Goats on the Grande Ronde   Photo Grace Bagley



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.

Broken Islands   Photo by Allen Hux



Broken Islands   Photo by David Brigg

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.

Brett Smith Relaxing   Photo by David Brigg

Clark Island  Photo by David Brigg

Carrie made jewelry  Photo by David Brigg

Broken Island Beauty  Photo by David Brigg

Relaxing on Clark Island for Carrie's birthday  Photo by David Brigg

Good times on the Broken Islands  Photo by David Brigg

Sea Lion Tooth from the archeological dig  Photo by David Brigg

This seems like a likely canoe run (parking spot for wood boats)

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. 

Lower Main Salmon archeological dig   Photo by Mike Ross

Photo by Cindi


OOPS    Photo Grace Bagley


Dress Up Night   Photo by Mike Ross

Photo by Mike Ross


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.

Soca River



Jesse on the Soca River

Lower Soca River

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.


Jesse in his element  Photo by David Brigg

Napolean's Bridge  Photo by David Brigg

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).

Croatian Sea Kayaking   Photo by David Brigg
Tito, leader for life in Yugoslavia  Photo by David Brigg

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.




Goli Atuk  A friendly family tour of the former prison camp

SA Dave's camp spot at the former women's prison on Goli Atuk

ASPK (aperol spritzs per kilometer)
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.

A Croatian Shuttle Vehicle



A Croatian Slide

A Croatian Portage

Some Croatian Fun

A sober reminder

A roadside memorial    Photo by Jesse Mitchell
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.


Rogue River Lodge Trip  Photo by Cecilia

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.

 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.

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