{"id":15245,"date":"2018-01-11T15:00:21","date_gmt":"2018-01-11T23:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/community.nrs.com\/?p=15245"},"modified":"2018-01-26T13:44:04","modified_gmt":"2018-01-26T21:44:04","slug":"wild-river-life-recap-memories-upper-midwest-western-rivers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/community.nrs.com\/duct-tape\/2018\/01\/11\/wild-river-life-recap-memories-upper-midwest-western-rivers\/","title":{"rendered":"A Wild River Life Recap: Memories of the Upper Midwest and Western Rivers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hitting the road as the Wild River Life<\/a> meant exchanging our material comforts and the stability of routine for a life focused on a few of our core values.<\/p>\n

First, we essentially gave our time, energy, and resources to river conservation. We didn\u2019t have a job that paid us to do this or someone dictating how to do it. We just followed our gut. We absolutely believe that our nation needs to step it up in protecting our free-flowing rivers, our clean water, our recreation economy, and our healthy ecosystems. There isn\u2019t much time in life to put so much energy into a belief or a cause, and we consider ourselves lucky to have been able to make that happen.<\/p>\n

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Second, we lived simply. To the point, at times our 20-foot RV and a 10-foot gear trailer felt like too much stuff. But in the end, we appreciated all the things we had and were happy to challenge ourselves to acquire and consume as much as we could within our limited space. We got creative and made it work.<\/p>\n

Lastly, we started a family. Talk about taking a leap. We knew having a child would be one of the biggest adventures of our lives and thought starting that adventure while living our values would be extra special. And so, we now have a bright and beautiful baby girl, Juniper Alma Elliott, just 8 days old at the time of writing this article.<\/p>\n

As we reflect on these larger elements of our tour, we are reminded of several stand-out memories from our journey across the Upper Midwest and Western United States seeking Wild and Scenic Rivers.<\/p>\n

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Susans\u00a02017 Wild & Scenic Highlights<\/span><\/h3>\n

Canoeing the St. Croix River<\/strong>
\nWallace lept into the canoe each morning as if he forgot how much he preferred running freely on shore. We pushed away from our campsite and began the methodical paddling down Minnesota\u2019s and Wisconsin\u2019s Saint Croix River. I\u2019ve spent two weeks living out of my Green Boat on the Grand Canyon, and days on end camping with rafts, but I had never loaded my multi-day gear into a canoe and paddled away. This is the culture of the Saint Croix\u2014canoe culture.<\/span><\/p>\n

For me, exploring this storied waterway would not have felt as authentic in our kayaks. We also couldn\u2019t have taken our dog or worked together as a team to paddle our way downstream. We sat quietly and listened to birdsongs. We watched turtles sun themselves on partially sunken branches. We watched the fog dissipate across the river\u2019s surface each morning. Canoeing felt mindful in a way that allowed me to take in more of my surroundings, and more of the Saint Croix\u2019s outstandingly remarkable values.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Learning Multi-day Tips from Seasoned Experts
\n<\/strong>Our Owyhee River trip included several new friends, as any good multi-day river trip should. We shook hands at the put-in and grew to love each other over six days floating through Oregon\u2019s desert canyon landscape. Each night, Wilma and Dick would unload the kitchen from their raft. Having decades of multi-day river tripping under their belts, this was like no river kitchen I had seen.<\/p>\n

We unfurled handmade wooden tables that connected with small pins and levers to their expanding bases. We unpacked individual stuff sacks for dishes that kept them cleaner and easier to find than in one big bin. And we opened Wilma\u2019s kitchen box, packed perfectly with spices, sauces, hot beverages, handy utensils and more. I took notes and looked forward to modifying our kitchen to become such a tailored and organized system.<\/p>\n

Being Pregnant on Rivers
\n<\/strong>Rowing into camps on the Owyhee, I would unload one of our river beds and promptly throw it among the sage brush for a nap. Breathing the crisp Oregon desert air as I experienced the typical \u201cmorning sickness\u201d at two-months pregnant still felt like a treat. At six months, I kayaked the Main Salmon River, just barely fitting into my skirt. At nearly nine months pregnant, I floated the familiar White Salmon, my local Wild and Scenic river. As the months progressed and my belly grew, I bopped down rivers and imagined my child swaying along with me for each wave train, each eddy catch.<\/p>\n

Intact river systems are the natural way of things. This environment helped me connect with the natural ways of my own body as I made space and supported the growing life inside of me. My stress hormones disappeared, my blood pumped strongly, my oxygenation increased, my endorphins released, and my baby felt it all. Simply put, I believe that spending time on pristine rivers greatly bolstered my baby\u2019s health and well-being. Plus, her river log would already be longer than most before she was even born.<\/p>\n