Vantage Washington -- wind

Today was a long day and reminiscent of the 2008 Brigade when a 70 kilometer day was common. The 2008 Brigade was a more physically demanding trip with many long hard days early in the trip. I recall being both physically and emotionally drained for the first several weeks. In 2008 we traveled 3000 kilometers in 9 weeks, this is about half that in 6 weeks.

Today we left Wenatchee late -- 8:30am -- because we had a 10:30 arrival about 17km down river at Rock Island. The morning current pushed us along nicely and we even had a tail wind at time. After an arrival ceremony, some hotdogs and some time spent chatting with visitors, we moved the canoes around the next dam and headed down river again. Soon the current slowed and the wind turned towards us. The canoes split into two groups, each betting that the opposite shore would be the easier. Our group was in the shade for much of the hot afternoon hours and we even saw a few groups of wild sheep perched on the canyon-like walls. It is very beautiful along this section of the Columbia.
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