Quote for Trippers

[Odyssey]

I stumbled on the following quote, and it gave me comfort. I'm always questioning myself and am full of self doubt. Am I always out of step with the world? Why do my own canoe trips, as fulfilling as they are to me, seem ordinary compared to the explorations of others? Am I going to the wrong places, choosing the wrong routes, doing something-everything wrong? Perhaps no; I'll expand my horizons and try new things, but ultimately I'll seek "nothing but a daily succession of adventures of the spirit."

" We tried to satisfy them all (newspaper reporters) but somehow our answers sounded flat and innocuous. There was really nothing we had done that was exciting or that would make a good story, no hairbreadth escapes or great dangers, nothing but a daily succession of adventures of the spirit, the sort of thing that could not make headlines. Our newspaper friends, I know were disappointed. They had expected something sensational, but nothing we gave them sounded good." Sigurd Olsen The Lonely Land

 

[Guest]

One of my favorite quotes is from a local newspaper columnist who is also a farmer, paddler and hiker.

Spend as much time as possible
on mountains, in small boats, or
otherwise out in the weather;
if you never get cold, wet, exhausted or scared,
you won’t properly appreciate
being dry, warm, rested and safe.


Another quote, from Jerome K Jerome’s 1889 “Three Men in a Boat (to say nothing of the dog)”

“Let your boat of life be light, packed only with what you need, a homely home and simple pleasures, one or two friends, worth the name, someone to love and someone to love you, a cat, a dog and a pipe or two, enough to eat and enough to wear, and a little more than enough to drink; for thirst is a dangerous thing”

One hundred and twenty years after publication that slender volume remains a fresh and enjoyable read.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Men_in_a_Boat

 

[memaquay]

But I tell you this, man, I tell you this
I don't know what's gonna happen, man, but I wanna have
my kicks before the whole crap house goes up in flames
alright

-Jim Morrison

 

[Alan Gage]

I'm always questioning myself and am full of self doubt. Am I always out of step with the world? Why do my own canoe trips, as fulfilling as they are to me, seem ordinary compared to the explorations of others?

I always find it comforting to hear others express these feelings, especially when they seem like a "normal" person. Makes me think maybe I'm not so "unique" after all, which is a comfort.

The first couple pages of PG Downes' Sleeping Island really resonated with me as he talked about answering the inevitable question of "why do you take canoe trips to such godforsaken places." He listed the standard answers that are given in reply and then tried to answer, to himself, the real reasons. My copy of the book isn't handy. I'll see if I can find it somewhere in my dad's "library" and get a quote or two.

Alan

 

[Guest]

But I tell you this, man, I tell you this
I don't know what's gonna happen, man, but I wanna have
my kicks before the whole crap house goes up in flames
alright

-Jim Morrison

Rob, in a similarly defiant stance:

“When they get your balls, and your smile, they’ve gotten too much”
Father Daniel Berrigan, in Attica Prison

 

[lowangle al]

Here is a take on a famous quote that I heard on a particularly tough day. "Give me librium or give me meth"

 

[yellowcanoe]

I like Robin's signature.

I came home from a month of mostly canoe tripping and I would agree with it wholeheartedly since the pipes froze and burst all over in our absence.

 

[Robin]

"Only those who awake at dawn in the wilderness can know the thoughts and feelings of the solitary traveler"

from North American Canoe Country, (Going Alone) Calvin Rutstrum

 

[Jim Dodd]

This is a great thread !

Though I'm far from eloquent (I had to look that up) One that is so true to me, is.

"Water dissolves Stress"

An evening paddle down the river of my youth, brings me to the landing with a smile on my face every time !

Jim

 

[yellowcanoe]

"Water dissolves Stress"
hmmm. We knew that water transforming had ruined our house. Our neighbors called us as we were about to set out in the Everglades.

We did not race home. We spent some 20 days on the water.

But the water not only dissolved stress. Now that we are home sans some floors and interior walls.. water causes stress. O hell I might as well go camping again.

 

[Rippy]

On we sweep with threshing oar, our only goal will be the western shore. Led Zep, Immigrant Song.

 

[tear_knee]

On we sweep with threshing oar, our only goal will be the western shore. Led Zep, Immigrant Song.

Nice one! Led Zep has provided us with numerous theme songs on our canoe trips. Whenever I hear "When The Levee Breaks" I feel like I'm portaging through the mud again after six days of rain in Killarney. Crying won't help you, praying won't do you no good..

 

[DaveOR]

"Those who prepare for all the emergencies of life beforehand
may equip them selves at the expense of joy."

- E.M. Forster

 

[Guest]

"Water dissolves stress"-I like that! Some one adds with their name in posts "It's not a map, it's a to do list"
Turtle

 

[snapper]

I'm pretty sure most are familiar with this quote but it's definitely one of my favorites..."There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats." Kenneth Grahame in Wind in the Willows.

That's all for now. Take care and until next time...be well.

snapper

 

[Odyssey]

I'm pretty sure most are familiar with this quote but it's definitely one of my favorites..."There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats." Kenneth Grahame in Wind in the Willows.

That's all for now. Take care and until next time...be well.

snapper

I have several copies of that masterpiece. I discovered it after I should've grown up.

Ratty describes a perfectly relaxed tripping approach:

"he went on dreamily: ...about in boats - or with boats,' the Rat went on composedly, picking himself up with a pleasant laugh. 'In or out of 'em, it doesn't matter. Nothing seems really to matter, that's the charm of it. Whether you get away, or whether you don't; whether you arrive at your destination or whether you reach somewhere else, or whether you never get anywhere at all, you're always busy, and you never do anything in particular; and when you've done it there's always something else to do, and you can do it if you like, but much better not."

 

[BWCA66]

Most of my favorite quotes come from Sig Olson.

The movement of a canoe is like a reed in the wind. Silence is part of it, and the sounds of lapping water, bird songs, and wind in the trees. It is part of the medium through which it floats, the sky, the water, the shores….There is magic in the feel of a paddle and the movement of a canoe, a magic compounded of distance, adventure, solitude, and peace. The way of a canoe is the way of the wilderness, and of a freedom almost forgotten. It is an antidote to insecurity, the open door to waterways of ages past, and a way of life with profound and abiding satisfactions. When a man is part of his canoe, he is part of all that canoes have ever known. – Sigurd Olson from The Singing Wilderness

 

[memaquay]

As I get a older,and sloggin through those long muddy ports get more and more difficult, a refrain from one of my favorite Tragically Hip songs plays over and over in my mind. From the song Little Bones -

Nothing is dead down here, it's just a little tired.

 

[Canoedog]

"There are no shortcuts to anyplace worth going" - anon.

 

[Guest]

One more favorite quote, having nothing to do with tripping.

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work” (Thomas Edison)

That quote, which hangs in my shop, came up a couple days ago in conversation. I was in the local diner, seated by a delightful old couple in the next booth. The elderly gent got up, and as he shuffled past to use the restroom he reached over, tugged on my overalls and said approvingly “Don’t see bib overalls much these days”.

He and I had an enjoyable if too brief conversation when I laid that quote on him. So much so that when leaving I had the waitress slip me their breakfast tab and paid their bill on my way out.

That little human interaction had me smiling all morning.