Having spent most of the significant experiences of my adult life on or near the Mississippi River this quote resonates with me so deeply. I am often struck by the Buddhist notion of identifying with water flowing downhill versus the determination of humans climbing to the summit. In the ascent it is easy to leave weaker ones behind but in the descent we flow together... Over rocks and around other obstacles resting in the eddies yet always moving forward. Thank you for your work Chris and thank you for bringing us along.
"… rivers are mighty and the stories they tell are essential to our wellbeing."
You're so right, Chris. Traveling with a river is so different than just standing on the bank watching it go by. It takes time for river stories to unfold.
I was gifted passage down the San Juan River in Utah years ago. It changed my life! Thank you for working so hard to make this opportunity available for others. I’ll do what I can to help.
Phenomenal, Chris! I’m so glad I can be a part of supporting this effort. This is the kind of thing I hoped Chickadee would be involved in when I founded it! Yay for rivers and for folks like all your readers. They are making the dream real.
Oh man! This trip sounds so amazing. I usually would have the means to join, but I'm taking a leave of absence from work so I feel I need to be pretty frugal right now, but an annual subscription is within my means :)
would love to join the river journeys in whatever way possible...thanks for highlighting the work of chickadee (!) and encouraging us to donate--done from Anchorage. 💜
As always, I'm delighted to see you in my inbox. Thanks for the opportunity to contribute.
Just now you've brought back memories of a dear brother who loved nothing more than days spent on rivers. The French River in Killarney Provincial Park is the one he loved best.
I have put my Montana novel on the back burner because I can’t get there this year. The river in question for me is the Sweetwater. Do you know it? I would also like to add that I prefer ice cream to almost any other dessert. So you can have my donuts, even though I would just like one bite.
I live near Bdote, the confluence of two great rivers, the Minnesota and the Mississippi, a very sacred place to the Dakotah. Rivers flowing together is very significant, isn’t it? And awareness of watersheds is my jam. So I can’t help but love this post from the very beginning. AND your initiative here is very compelling. Thank you for articulating so well why it is important.
So much of this resonates; thank you. I am now running rivers I have known in my mind. (Here's to the Nantahala, where i got May-tagged, as well as the North Fork of the Trinity, where I got spun around and ran a difficult rapid backwards . . . good times!) And thank you for the opportunity to contribute to Chickadee.
I also loved the podcast episode. So good to hear you speak at length, especially as one who does not live in Montana.
Always a delight to see a new missive from you in my email. Love this especially: "I don’t want to mutter about finding time. I am going to make the time." So much other goodness in here, too, but this one - this is meaty.
P.S. Please come do a river trip in CO one of these years! I've never been On The River like that, but grew up wading around creeks and exploring wetlands, and I would love to splash down the San Juan, or the Arkansas, or one of our many headwaters routes with this sort of theme as the backdrop.
Having spent most of the significant experiences of my adult life on or near the Mississippi River this quote resonates with me so deeply. I am often struck by the Buddhist notion of identifying with water flowing downhill versus the determination of humans climbing to the summit. In the ascent it is easy to leave weaker ones behind but in the descent we flow together... Over rocks and around other obstacles resting in the eddies yet always moving forward. Thank you for your work Chris and thank you for bringing us along.
"… rivers are mighty and the stories they tell are essential to our wellbeing."
You're so right, Chris. Traveling with a river is so different than just standing on the bank watching it go by. It takes time for river stories to unfold.
I was gifted passage down the San Juan River in Utah years ago. It changed my life! Thank you for working so hard to make this opportunity available for others. I’ll do what I can to help.
Sent Chickadee Services 10 bucks from Downunder. Hoping you get more of your people on the river.
Phenomenal, Chris! I’m so glad I can be a part of supporting this effort. This is the kind of thing I hoped Chickadee would be involved in when I founded it! Yay for rivers and for folks like all your readers. They are making the dream real.
The birds know it's all about water. I'm following their lead.
Oh man! This trip sounds so amazing. I usually would have the means to join, but I'm taking a leave of absence from work so I feel I need to be pretty frugal right now, but an annual subscription is within my means :)
🛶✨Thank you for making it easy to contribute to Chickadee - sent with Love from England. ✨💦
Thank you for helping us help to narrow the gap...Chickadee ✅
River trips are not my deal but I donated for someone else. ❤️
would love to join the river journeys in whatever way possible...thanks for highlighting the work of chickadee (!) and encouraging us to donate--done from Anchorage. 💜
As always, I'm delighted to see you in my inbox. Thanks for the opportunity to contribute.
Just now you've brought back memories of a dear brother who loved nothing more than days spent on rivers. The French River in Killarney Provincial Park is the one he loved best.
I have put my Montana novel on the back burner because I can’t get there this year. The river in question for me is the Sweetwater. Do you know it? I would also like to add that I prefer ice cream to almost any other dessert. So you can have my donuts, even though I would just like one bite.
I live near Bdote, the confluence of two great rivers, the Minnesota and the Mississippi, a very sacred place to the Dakotah. Rivers flowing together is very significant, isn’t it? And awareness of watersheds is my jam. So I can’t help but love this post from the very beginning. AND your initiative here is very compelling. Thank you for articulating so well why it is important.
So much of this resonates; thank you. I am now running rivers I have known in my mind. (Here's to the Nantahala, where i got May-tagged, as well as the North Fork of the Trinity, where I got spun around and ran a difficult rapid backwards . . . good times!) And thank you for the opportunity to contribute to Chickadee.
I also loved the podcast episode. So good to hear you speak at length, especially as one who does not live in Montana.
Always a delight to see a new missive from you in my email. Love this especially: "I don’t want to mutter about finding time. I am going to make the time." So much other goodness in here, too, but this one - this is meaty.
P.S. Please come do a river trip in CO one of these years! I've never been On The River like that, but grew up wading around creeks and exploring wetlands, and I would love to splash down the San Juan, or the Arkansas, or one of our many headwaters routes with this sort of theme as the backdrop.
Exactly