Paddling the full moon
11/10/14 04:32
I don’t know if I would have thought of the title for today’s blog had I not read Steve Chapple’s 1993 book, “Kayaking the Full Moon.” In my own defense, he may have a pretty good title, but he didn’t write much of a book. It is number 2,562,491on the Amazon list and used copies are going for 1 cent, so I’m not the only one who thinks that the book isn’t going to make it to the rank of the classics. I’m not sure you want a book review, but here goes anyway.
After the intriguing title, Chapple had a subtitle that intrigued me and got me to buy the book: “A Journey Down the Yellowstone River to the Soul of Montana.” I’ve paddled the Yellowstone. I grew up two miles upstream on one of its tributaries, and I’ve been interested in the soul of Montana for all of my life. In Chapple’s case, however, the subtitle is merely presumptuous. A guy from San Francisco who comes to Montana with a couple of plastic sea kayaks and floats the Yellowstone from Gardiner to the state line, spending his nights in motels and doing a little bit of drinking in bars and local dives, doesn’t give himself an opportunity to get to know Montana, much less journey into its soul.
Within a few pages, most paddlers will discover that Chappel is no kayaker. They start their floating in the most challenging part of the Yellowstone. There is a little whitewater in the canyon, no big deal for a creek boat, but a bit rocky for a long boat. Still, it would have been no problem in the plastic boats they were using. But they were afraid of the river. And they were inexperienced paddlers. Had they learned to handle their boats before launching them in the rapids, they might have learned to love the river. It is a gorgeous float, and not very strenuous.
They survive the first few hours of the float and downstream from that point the entire river is an easy trip in a canoe, but they continue with their kayaks except for a single float near Billings that they take with a newspaperman in his aluminum canoe. So they took a risk and got away with it. No one had to call out the search and rescue folks. The description of the river as dangerous and challenging probably is a good thing if it keeps other inexperienced boaters off the water. The Yellowstone can get downright crowded on a warm August day.
What drives me up the wall about the book, however, is the way in which he thinks that he has somehow captured the culture of Montana by talking with a few drunks in a few bars. No disrespect for those who drink, but the twisted version of a very tragic death that occurred not far from my home made me sick. I knew the victim. I know more of the story. It isn’t funny. The pain of loss felt by her family will never go away. Chappel’s reporting of something about which he didn’t know is made worse by the fact that he didn’t even take time to look up the story in the newspaper archives.
So all in all, he missed the soul of my beloved home state. He missed the joy of paddling. And, in my humble opinion, someone who doesn’t know a sea kayak from a creek boat shouldn’t be allowed to use the word Kayak in a book title.
Still, it is a cool title: Kayaking the Full Moon. I’ve been trying to do just that this week. Yesterday, I was on the water just before 5 am. The moon was nearly full. I had a kayak. I paddle kayaks after it starts to get cold. There is no need for a decked boat on the lake, but it is simply warmer than an open canoe. Alas yesterday clouds obscured the moon from sight all of the time I was on the lake. By about 7 a.m. the clouds had blown away and the moon set in full sight, but I had to be off of the lake by then in order to make it to the office by 7:30.
Nonetheless, even with the clouds the full moon made the night a lot more light than usual. I could see to navigate my way around the lake without any light and without any problem. i paddled across the lake and into a cove where I sat for a little while and listened to an owl calling from a nearby tree. The ducks grumbled a little. A few fish rose to meet the drops off of my paddle. Mostly I had the lake to myself. Mostly I had the quiet to myself. I just didn’t have a view of the stars above and the nearly-full moon.
So, I’m after it again today. I’ll be able to spend a little more time today. I don’t have to be at the church until 9 a.m. and I don’t have to shower before going in because I’ll be helping with wood splitting and showering afterwards will pretty much be in order.
I’m lucky to have warm clothes. These days, with a nod to safety, I paddle with a dry suit in chilly weather. Were I to fall into the lake, I have enough warmth to swim to shore if I need to. With a lifejacket, self rescue is pretty much assured. Over the dry suit, I have a paddling jacket and I can add lots of other layers as needed. And, as I mentioned, a kayak with a spray skirt is nice and warm for feet and legs. The kayak I paddle for these outings is one I made myself, a cedar-strip boat that is durable, good looking, and a design by Nick Shade that is a kind of hybrid. Technically a sea kayak, it is only 12 feel long and very beamy. It is stable, and not too quick, but has enough rocker to handle easily. It would be a great boat for the Yellowstone. In fact, it has quite a bit of Yellowstone experience, from about Springdale to Reed Point or so.
And unlike the guy with the catchy title, I really do paddle under the full moon while he made his trip in broad daylight.