“..my toes are slipping as the gravel underneath them washes downstream,…”
“But that experience really helped reinforce the fact that I’m not nearly invincible, and a clear head and caution should prevail on the water. I also got the sense that death can be a really stupid, flippant event if you let it. Which is scarier than the river.”
As I checked Matt Stansberry’s blog, I read an account of a close call on the Deschutes River. He expressed the fear and evolving panic that took over as he was carried down the river. I have never learned to swim. I have had close calls (twice on the Kilchis R. once on Sandy R., once on the Minam R.) even in swimming pools. The fear is engrained whether wading or sitting on a pontoon boat. I have learned to cope, but I have always marveled at the pictures of steelhead anglers wading chest deep on the Deschutes R. while standing on bowling balls or shifting gravel. Reading Matt’s account, makes me feel more secure in my judgement to hold back a bit with my wading. I don’t assume any wading belt or over confidence in my swimming capabilities (which I don’t possess) will bring me through at the bottom of the drift should I go under. Matt’s remark about the shifting gravel was telling in that I recall an early November on the Deschutes R. fishing for Redsides below a Chinook redd. I recall edging out little by little on fairly firm gravel only to suddenly reach the edge, the drop and quickly eroding gravel as I started to go forward. The harder I pushed, the quicker I moved forward. Of course, by virtue of the fact I am writing this I managed to propel myself backwards with water over the top of my waders, my heart almost bursting with the exertion and the adrenaline dump making me off kilter for the next hour. Matt Stansberry’s post is a good reminder of how easily it happens and how death can smirk as it so easily grabs another. Read it and consider your wading practices and the reality of a misstep.
http://mattstansberry.wordpress.com/2008/06/24/near-death-on-the-deschutes-plus-more-photos/
SwittersB & Exploring 