Monday, July 29, 2013

Still Summer

Each day that Fairbanks has another 80+ degree day I breathe deep in wonderment. Yet there is also a kernel of reality sitting in the bottom of my stomach, knowing this can't last. While it's here though, I'm doing my best to enjoy every second.

Yesterday was a perfect float day. Blair, Mark, Copper and I floated part of the Pile Driver Slough just south of North Pole.


We paddled upstream until the water level was too low. We kept getting stuck and having to pull the canoe and kayak across shoals.
Trying to get out of the bushes.
We floated back downstream. The water slowed down to the extent that sometimes we were standing still. The wind began blowing us back upstream.

A low point found us beached and we decided that was good enough to hang out for awhile. We hadn't set up a car shuttle and didn't want to get too far downstream. We weren't but 50 yards from our original put-in spot. It was perfect. We worked on our vitamin D storage for winter, waded in the water when we got hot, and had a few beers and fresh snow peas from Mark and Blair's garden. Lovely. Moments like these are much needed for our memory banks. Come January we likely won't believe a day like this ever was, or will be, possible. 
How Copper rolls.
My kayak needs a cup holder.