Floating the river at the end of summer

Every time I drive across the overpass spanning the Green River, I look briefly towards Expedition Island and hear the river’s siren call.

The opportunity to spend a lazy afternoon blissfully floating down the river is one I’ve longed for throughout the summer. Work and life scheduling always got in the way; and as the summer weekends slowly dwindled, I quietly feared the chance would escape me this year. Luckily for me, a late summer weekend opened up.

I’m not sure if this is just true for the group I go with, or it its true for a floating trip in general, but the time it takes to prepare seems to match the time spent going down the river. Shopping trips for snacks, digging inflatable tubes out of storage, coordinating with other people, people suddenly dropping out because the river is just too darn cold; setting up a float trip is perhaps the most exhausting part.

Yet, for all that prep work, the reward of floating along instantly makes those hours of preparation worth it. Going with the flow, watching wildlife on the banks of the river and generally not having a care in the world makes a float trip one of the best kinds of therapeutic release. Very few things can compare to the relaxation a floating trip down the river provides.

The simplest pleasures are the best. While I’m often talking about the fun electronic entertainment can provide, video games and movies can’t hold a candle to the joys associated with water and fire.

A quiet afternoon floating down the Green River or a weekend spent in the forest are infinitely more fulfilling than guiding Mario through Bowser’s castles or shooting up bandits on Pandora.

Nothing compares to the sound of water as it flows along its course or the smell and feel of a campfire on a cool night.

Those are the building blocks for the best summertime memories.