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| Hapy days. |
“What are the hashmarks?” Aside from a great conversation
starter, the hashmarks on the backside of my paddle are how I loosely tracked
my days on the water for 2016. I started the year off on the water on New Year’s
Day and on Jan. 2. Back-to-back days on the water to start the year was more
than I could ask for. And it helped me set my hopes high.
So to informally track how many times I got in my boat I
started scrawling marks on my paddle blade. Each slash represented a day on the
river, somewhere, paddling Class II or better. I had hoped for 50. I came close
and notched 39 days on the water. Family obligations slowed my pace. Trips
involving two days or more on the water helped. In the end, it represented 39
gloriously happy days with friends, two epic first-descents and a tremendous
amount of personal paddling development.
Really it amounts to less than one day a week. It doesn’t
sound like much. Especially knowing one of our area paddlers notched 300 days
on the water in 2016 (#amazing). But I got a great mix of park-and-play time, big
water runs and lots of down-river play sessions. Even one day would be enough.
So far, so good for 2017. Where will 2018 find me?
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