spring is coming

blown to the big river
floating away...
cherry blossoms
-Issa, 1804

Liquid Zen

8. Great Waves

In the early days of the Meiji era there lived a well-known wrestler called O-nami, Great Waves.
O-nami was immensly strong and knew the art of wresting. In his private bouts he defeated even his teacher, but in public was so bashful that his own pupils threw him.
O-nami felt he should go to a Zen master for help. Hakuju, a wandering teacher, was stopping in a little temple nearby, so O-nami went to see him and told him of his great trouble.
"Great Waves is your name," the teacher advised, "so stay in this temple tonight. Imagine that you are those billows. You are no longer a wrestler who is afraid. You are those huge waves sweeping everything before them, swallowing all in their path. Do this and you will be the greatest wrestler in the land."
The teacher retired. O-nami sat in meditation trying to imagine himself as waves. He thought of many different things. Then gradually he turned more and more to the feeling of waves. As the night advanced the waves became larger and larger. They swept away the flowers in their vases. Even the Buddha in the shrine was inundated. Before dawn the temple was nothing but the ebb and flow of an immense sea.
In the morning the teacher found O-nami meditating, a faint smile on his face. He patted the wrestler's shoulder. "Now nothing can disturb you," he said. "You are those waves. You will sweep everything before you."
The same day O-nami entered the wrestling contests and won. After that, no one in Japan was able to defeat him.

Well, I'm not O-nami, but I often bring this story to my mind. I know I have a reasonably good paddling skill set, but I am often intimidated by new or big rapids. Sometimes they throw me! As O-nami turned more and more to the feeling of the waves, I turn myself more and more to the feeling of the water, to use its flow to carry me through the rapids, to sweep me where I want to go down the river.
Sometimes when I'm scouting I deliberately look where the main flow of water is going and consider how it will get me where I want to go. Is there something I would want to miss? Is there something I would want to play with? How can I best follow that flow? How can I best use it?
There's nothing like a little meditation.

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Revenue to Dodge!

Revenue to Dodge seemed like a good destination Friday. It's a shorter drive than just about anything else but the Washougal. Every time I paddle this run I wonder why I don't do it more often. It's really pretty fun, and scenic. The boulder gardens towards the end actually have some boulders in them. Partly, I think it was the lower water level - 1,870 cfs - Friday that made a difference, made it more interesting. At higher water, a lot of the features get washed out. This was the lowest I've run it.

There was some concern about the shuttle, since Lusted Road is closed by a landslide between Dodge and Bull Run. It turned out that the route through Sandy was not bad at all, 8.2 miles compared with the usual 4.4. Workers are still busy on the Revenue Bridge. The downstream half is done, but it looks like they are just starting on the upstream half. We had no problem parking or accessing the river. Of course, there were only 3 of us.

Into the Sunset

One thing about living so close to the river: it's easy to paddle into the darkness. Dusk is a great time to observe wildlife. Yesterday, it was geese - there are so many of them now. I've been watching for beaver. There are many signs of them, including a large tree felled near MP 1, but I haven't seen their little heads popping up anywhere yet. They make themselves pretty unpopular with some waterfront homeowners by cutting down trees. The water was still very low, at 5.03', but it was about the same as on Monday.

Kalama Tuesday

So Tuesday it was the Red Barn Run on the Kalama. The water was higher than the last couple times, so the boulder gardens at the beginning were quite interesting. Lots of fishermen were out, but they all seemed friendly. It is obvious that I still have a few things to figure out about the video - it's hard to keep the lens clear when is cold and splashy. My Remix found a pretty good groove in the wave M was surfing.

Not Too Low Yet

Monday we took a little run down at 5.02' on the WASW1 gauge and found it was interesting enough. It's quite technical but there is enough water to keep boats off the rocks most of the time. The video shows my mini-boof spot, but L does not boof it. There's a pretty big reversal there when the water is higher. On the shuttle, I saw a bald eagle staring at some bird watchers turned out near MP 5. Another nice day.

Always Something

Friday we ran the Washougal

with 5.08' on the WASW1 gauge - a very low level, but still pretty fun. Looking for a shorter, but interesting run, I discovered another good put-in just below MP 5 and above the long class 2 rapid below Cougar Creek. It's fun to run that rapid because of the mini-boof opportunities on the right.

Two bald eagles were perched in a tree just below MP 2! I think it is no coincidence that they were looking down on a pool that normally has many ducks on it. Some of the homeowners there must feed the ducks.