River Kayaking

It's hard for me to describe, with enough enthusiasm, just how the river makes me feel. I Love it out there. I can get lost in it.....just paddle deep into it and lose myself.

The fall is a great time to be out here. It looks unreal, the colors pop out at you and they are so vivid it is hard to take it all in. It looks as if an artist with a color fetish has painted it.

The weather can be a little tricky, take my advice and check the weather as often as possible before you go. Getting caught out here in bad conditions is Bad....really Bad. I arrived at the river early and I was surrounded by winter clouds, low in the sky, their reflections perfect in the still morning water. By mid day.....all but a few of those clouds had ventured off. Leaving me with a beautiful blue sky. The contrast of the fall leaves against the blue sky was a vision that will stay with me for a while.

As I paddled a mile or so down the river the wind began to pick up, a gentle breeze in the trees that allowed many leaves to fall. All around me......leaves began to fall from the trees.....spiraling down in such large numbers that it almost appeared to be snowning. They fell in the water all around me almost completely covering the surface of the river. Amazing. It was on of those moments when you think..."I should grab my camera!" ....but you're so absorbed in the moment that its impossible to react. In times like that.....I find myself trying so hard to remember every detail of the moment.....and this is one of those times that it is simply too much. It wouldn't matter anyway, no description could ever do justice to a vision like that. It was a genuine "You had to be there." moment.

I closed my eyes and listened to the sounds of the river. Running water.....The wind in the trees.....a Crow out in the distance......birds of all kinds preparing for the winter to come. I pulled out my thermos of Chicken Soup and took a sip........and all I could think was, How Blessed a man I am, Life is Good.