May 28 dawned sunny and warm, with a light breeze perfect for a day of paddling. The plan was to do a shuttle from a put in several miles south of the takeout at Rosland Campground (LaPine, OR). We knew this stretch of the river had a lot of winding turns, but the reality of the paddle was incredibly more than we had hoped for.
ZEN : a state of calm attentiveness in which one’s actions are guided by intuition rather than by conscious effort. Along the squiggly, circuitous meandering of the Little Deschutes River it was easy to be lulled into a zen-like state – guided by the downstream currents yet aware of sunken logs and glorious green grasses (that could grab a fin and toss a paddler right into the 52 degree water). Just sayin’
Throughout the 3.5 hour adventure more than 90% of the time allowed us to enjoy wetlands, marshes and swift flowing current with out any interruption by “the hand of man.” A mere 30 minutes from home we were in a wilderness wonderland. The stability and long glides of my Starboard 12’6″ X 30 Touring board with ZEN construction was the perfect choice for the journey!
While most of the shoreline was marsh grasses and wetlands peppered with willows, evergreens and private pastureland (monitored by some scary looking longhorns) there was the occasional sandy bank with a sunny beach just right for a picnic lunch!
Ahh summertime – inviting ZEN as a lovely state of mind. Even our canine companion posed regally on the nose of Pam’s board as though she was in her own ZEN space.
Elder SUP 