Talking Story Archives - Page 70 of 114

First thoughts

Posted by Ken Campbell May 26, 2010 0 Comment 1143 views

I think you feel your age when you wake up. Later in the morning, after a cup or two of coffee, after getting to work and moving around, you may start feeling better, more flexible, feeling younger. The motions of the day have a way of allowing a return to the way it’s always been, […]

Adrift

Posted by Ken Campbell May 25, 2010 0 Comment 1238 views

I’ve seen drift cards before, but I’d never found one myself. Drift cards are small rectangles of plywood or particle board, usually painted a fairly bright color and marked with specific information about how to get in touch with the person or group that sent it out. They are usually released in a group, dozens […]

A San Juan traverse

Posted by Ken Campbell May 24, 2010 0 Comment 1408 views

The weather was perfect for paddling. A couple of raindrops – literally, two – on Saturday afternoon, but the sun was out most of the time and the San Juans are at their most beautiful when the sun is shining. The Rosario Strait crossing went quickly, our pace spurred by a massive freighter bearing down […]

Kids were tougher back then

Posted by Ken Campbell May 21, 2010 0 Comment 1269 views

There are a couple of stories behind the naming of Mount Tom. At 7,048 feet, Tom is one of the more prominent peaks in the Mount Olympus neighborhood, though it doesn’t see nearly as much traffic. (Which, when you consider how few climbers attempt the peninsula’s namesake peak, means that Tom is practically ignored.) One […]

Weekend at Juan’s

Posted by Ken Campbell May 20, 2010 0 Comment 1084 views

I am headed to the San Juans this weekend, a 2-day trip on the SUP from Washington Park to Friday Harbor, with a ferry shuttle back. It’s a trip I’ve taken a dozen times or more, but this will be the first time for me on a paddleboard. I’m planning on going through my gear […]

My "real job"

Posted by Ken Campbell May 18, 2010 0 Comment 1034 views

I don’t do the whole Facebook thing. I did for a while, for a few months, but I shut my page down not that long ago and, I must say, have suffered no ill effects. For anybody that does still subscribe – and I’m guessing that’s most everybody else – here’s a link to my […]

Counting down

Posted by Ken Campbell May 17, 2010 0 Comment 1087 views

Just 2 months left now before the start of this summer’s attempt at an Olympic circumnavigation. I suppose there are a few more things I still need to get done – working out the shuttles, for one thing – but other than those few remaining items, I feel ready. I wish I were starting tomorrow. […]

Third weekend in May

Posted by Ken Campbell May 16, 2010 0 Comment 1096 views

I was about halfway through my paddle this morning when I realized that this should be symposium weekend. I mean, if there was still a Puget Sound Sea Kayak Symposium, this would have been the 6th annual. And what a beautiful weather weekend this has turned out to be. The blue skies and mild spring […]

The ties that bind

Posted by Ken Campbell May 16, 2010 0 Comment 1091 views

It can sometimes prove difficult to free ourselves from the things that hold us back. This past week saw a humpback whale near Destruction Island that had been entangled in line from crab pots. Rescuers with the Cascadia Research Collective, based in Olympia, attempted to free the whale from the nylon ropes that had been […]

Why?

Posted by Ken Campbell May 14, 2010 1 Comment 1072 views

Paddling along the waterfront the other day, I passed underneath a dock. People strolled the walkway above me and one couple stopped me for a moment to ask about what I was doing. I told them I was riding a stand up paddleboard, that it wasn’t that hard to do and it was a lot […]