Stephanie’s vision quest.
As they come nearer, it’s clear the calves are nervous and uncertain, looking to their mother for guidance. However, she is relaxed and continues eating until they pass right in front of us, weaving amongst our gear and canoes.
FLU T ES AND FIRE
Days on the river are filled with paddling, hiking and creating. Matthew is up earliest each morning, composing music and testing melodies. He often wanders along the shore in the late afternoon, humming and recording the sounds of the water, bees and birds nearby.
In contrast, it feels like Brendan and I are frantically scrambling around our campsites and during rest stops, chasing images. One moment we’re sneaking up on a flock of Dall sheep, and an hour later we’re diving after grayling with our underwater camera gear.
I can see for miles and miles.
Stephanie is grounded. She spends her days studying the landscape and settles down to sketch her visions in the evening. She has a remarkable way of capturing emotion in her paintings, something that can be a struggle as a photographer but necessary for our project to make an impact back home. I watch her work in hopes of improving my own art.
• • •
Matthew at work and play.
SHA DOWS IN THE SKY
Too soon we leave the jagged peaks of the Wind for the low plateau country of the Peel River. I hike up the last mountain on the Wind for a midnight dinner of soup and bannock with peanut butter.
Under the midnight sun, a cool wind blows the fresh scent of sphagnum moss while clouds dance across the sky, shimmering and reflecting on the river valley. The view is surreal. Looking upriver, I take in endless miles of magnificent peaks. A quick pivot points me downriver where the stark expanse of lowlands stretches.
The land feels pure and pristine, unchanged for thousands of years. Standing on this rise, it’s easy to imagine that I can see the entire watershed unfurling around me. I feel optimistic. If others could only see this view, I tell myself, they’d want to protect it, too. Click.
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