Columbia River... Crossing the Continent

ITW   98

Monday August 2, 2010



Biggs , Oregon / Maryhill, Washington


It's been months on this journey.  A lifetime by some measurements.

This started back in Birmingham, Alabama back in the Spring.   The dimension of time has expanded and contracted at times.... depending on the day and place.   Hiking into the canyon near Thermopolis Wyoming and seeing hundreds of Petroglyphs -- Ancestral Native art etched inot the rock face walls-- .... Time went back 11,000 years.  

 At the start the goal was to head West to Arizona, then turn north up through the Rockies ....make it to Montana... to see the Northwest Crown of the Continent.    ... Glacier nat park.

This was a Journey; an expedition. Most days were a see saw / wandering route and not a beeline. The purpose was to see it.

... to breath it.

... to seek it.

.... to walk it and hike it.

to leave the rat race to the rats.

.... to revel in it. ....and know that you did it.


Just because you Wander doesn't mean you're Lost.




After months of traveling the back roads of the west, crossing the same exact routes and trails the pioneers used.

The Oregon Trail.

The Santa Fe Trail.

The California Trail.

The Morman Trail.

The Bozeman Trail.

... there's a greater respect for the Pioneer families;  Those were some hearty folk.  I worry about the country sometimes,   .... then think of the stock we come from; we'll endure the hard parts.  Think Covered Wagon and team of Oxen.

I've dodged tornados in Oklahoma.   Camped on the high arid plains of the Southpark of Colorado. .... Hiked into the the Abyss of time at Mesa Verde, Chimney Rock... of the Choco culture.   Walked across Lava fields in Idaho and went down into the ice caves the Shoshone used.   

Hiked down into the canyon and talked w/ the Navajos... --men of the same blood of Manuelito-- at Canyon de Chelly

Camped in the deserts of New Mexico and Utah.

Later traveling North in Utah and Wyoming Trout fished in snowpack rivers and Glacier Lakes.



Been in thermal Hot springs in Arkansas, Wyoming, and Montana.

Gone through Hell's Canyon on the Snake River.

Crossed the plains where the great herds of millions of Bison used to roam. ...  through numerous Native American Indian lands / hunting grounds.   ...and felt the wind on my face sweeping across the vastness of those plains.

I've felt the chill of hiking through snowpack,... up to 10,000 ' elev.... feeling the crispness of the thin air while dancing around the sacred circle at Medicine Wheel Wyoming.   I've seen Deer, Elk, Antelope, Moose, pronghorns, many birds,... Listened to the Coyotes Howl in the night.... and a glimpse of a Grizzly Bear.

Stood at the headwaters of the Missouri river, where Lewis and Clarks Corps of Discovery camped.


Awakened to 34* mornings in August.   Awakened to 24* mornings in July up high in the Big Horn Mountains. ... and actually seen Bighorn Sheep.

After months.... on the expedition foraging ahead, not knowing what is going to be around the next river bend, or over the next mountain pass. .... not knowing where you'd lay your head that day.... that night until 6 or 7pm.

After a time... you lose any sense of "Home".   At times you've lost the memory of just exactly what IS home.    At times,... there is No Direction Home.

And when you begin driving down that amazing Columbia River. ... & the rolling high plains foothills turn into the brown Basalt stairsteps of an eroded canyon river gorge....

 


 

You've been wind burned since leaving Arkansas;  the skin on your face and neck and arms are weathered. and burned bronze.   You see the strength of that wind blowing 40+ up the Columbia pushing modern day wind farm turbines.

And you get to Biggs Oregon on the Columbia.... and you stop ....   and at that moment, .... you can see Mount Hood ahead,...  & sniff the air. You smell the salt in the air.

You wade into the river and you can taste the salt in the brackish water of the Columbia...

You sense you're close;  you can feel it.   ..... it may be a days ride/ maybe 2 days ride.   Maybe 50 miles from the Pacific ocean. ... and you come to that moment where you know ;    ...by god,... we've made it.  We did it !

We've crossed the North American Continent and lived to tell it.    Closing w/ the Pacific.   .... The Columbia moving toward the ocean.

I was excited.  Exhausted after months of Journey. 

   Lord, imagine the excitement of Lewis & Clark after crossing the continent,... knowing they were closing w/ the

Pacific.

I imagine they had a big bonfire at what would become Biggs, Oregon,... and feasted that night on a celebration supper of Elk and Salmon.

I wish I'd been w/ them; that would have been the only thing better than doing this journey now.

This was an Odyessy into the Abyss of Time and Life.

Thank you for the Abundant Blessings.