Talking Story Archives - Page 90 of 114

And another thing…

Posted by Ken Campbell June 30, 2009 0 Comment 1009 views

If you look up the History of the Olympic Mountains on Wikipedia, you’ll be hit with a long – albeit deceptively shallow – writeup of all things historical and Olympic. From the days of the Spanish explorers to the time of Lt. O’Neil and the mountain men… and then talk turns to the Press Expedition. […]

Another safety rant

Posted by Ken Campbell June 28, 2009 3 Comments 1112 views

I spent most of the day yesterday on the paddleboard. Up one side of Commencement Bay and down the other, a beautiful summer Saturday, with hundreds of people walking the waterfront. At Owen Beach, two little girls were swimming in the water – really swimming and not just splashing about – their delight completely canceling […]

A Media moment

Posted by Ken Campbell June 25, 2009 0 Comment 1032 views

Big paddleboard story in the Tacoma News Tribune today, with the boy on the cover of the Adventure section. Not a bad video on the Trib web site either. Just go to http://www.thenewstribune.com/ and click on the SUP video in the video section. Then get out on the water.

The Press Party revisited

Posted by Ken Campbell June 25, 2009 1 Comment 976 views

I have a book about the Olympics that talks about the Press Party in the most disparaging of terms. “Drunkards and imbiciles,” it calls them. No mercy. And perhaps there is some truth to the slam. After all, it did take them 6 months to go 40-odd miles. You don’t get numbers like that being […]

Going faster

Posted by Ken Campbell June 21, 2009 0 Comment 943 views

I’m not a racer. By nature, I travel fairly slowly. I make steady progress, whether it’s in a kayak or on foot, and over the course of a long day, I may go farther than others, but I am not, in any sense of the term, built for speed. Which makes it hard to explain […]

Scotch Broom

Posted by Ken Campbell June 20, 2009 1 Comment 1266 views

Scotch Broom is native to southern Europe and northern Africa (which is more than can be said for the country of Scotland itself, but that’s the way it goes.) It seems just as likely to me, being a casual observer, that it is native to the Olympic Peninsula. It is one of those classic stories […]

The Bar (Part 3)

Posted by Ken Campbell June 19, 2009 0 Comment 1086 views

It takes about a half-hour or so to make the switch between the SUP and the kayak. In that time, the wind dies down a bit and the effects of the current, while still strong, are less of a factor on the displacement hull of the boat than they had been on the flat bottom […]

The Bar (Part 2)

Posted by Ken Campbell June 18, 2009 1 Comment 1097 views

Between Westport and Ocean Shores lies two miles of open water. Not just any open water either; we’re talking the Gray’s Harbor bar, a treacherous mix of wind, waves and currents that are capable of shaking the nerve of any waterman on any given day. The Chehalis River – along with the Humptulips, the Wishkah, […]

The Bar (Part 1)

Posted by Ken Campbell June 17, 2009 0 Comment 1006 views

I was standing on the beach at Ocean Shores, looking across the water to the jetties of Westport, when the man emerged from the overgrown area to the west and began walking toward me. He was probably in his thirties somewhere, but he looked older. I had just put the paddleboard down on the sand […]

Interlude

Posted by Ken Campbell June 15, 2009 0 Comment 944 views

It’s summer, the time of year when the clumsy cubs are gamboling in the high country, the alders along the rivers are shimmering an electric green, and I am, as they say, “away from the office.” Between late May and late September, I am much more likely to be in a kayak somewhere than I […]