Diving into a new decade!
I’ve got a good feeling about my 30s.
Thanks to everyone who has joined me on the journey and shared the love along the way ❤️
This past year has really sucked for me in many ways, but it finally feels like I may have reached a turning point…I’m letting myself fill up with goodness as the rivers have filled with meltwater.
Yosemite has set lit me up again, especially getting to finally finish Serenity Crack/Sons of Yesterday following my badass rope gun Josh up some splitter madness. Despite crippling toe pain and nearly puking on the first pitch (haha), it turned out to be a stellar day of big granite and big joy.
The awesome river crew I‘ve found this year already feels like home, complete with resident pups, stunning swimming holes and an abundant garden.
The river is high and wild, and demands respect as I learn the lines on another roaring waterway. I can hear the boulders turning in the current as I write. The wildflowers are blooming, and I think Indian Paintbrush orange and Cornflower blue are my new favorite colors.
It’s been easy to stay silent when it feels like everything is falling apart, but I just wanted to share this moment of joy in a beautiful world while it’s here, and to say a deep thank you to everyone who has had my back this year especially. Healing and growing are not straight paths and I’m sure I have a long way to go still, but I’ve been so lucky to have been continually pointed in the right direction by good people who believe in good people. I couldn’t do it without you all, and I see you. Thank you.
If you’re in that dark place now, know that outside the sun is still bright and the water’s still rushing and the flowers are still beautiful 🌊 ☀️
Some glimpses from a recent expedition hundreds of miles through the Grand Canyon, with much of my family in tow. If you’re lucky enough to have been here, you know - the sand you’ll find in your socks for weeks afterwards, the spiraling notes of a canyon wren echoing off towering red walls, each bend catching light in a new way each hour, and the reevaluation of what counts as ‘real life’. Tears were shed, carnage was had, lines were greased, fingers were cracked, and lives were changed. I’m full of awe and secrets with those who shared the journey down to the Vishnu Basement and back again. Until we meet again, my friend.
It’s been a bit hard to know what story to tell about my life lately, when it sometimes feels like I’m on a midnight train barreling into the unknown…the price of an unconventional life. But I do believe there’s something beautiful in the night ahead, and something powerful in the stories behind. Thanks for sharing the journey.
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From the archives. Somewhere on the Bolivian Altiplano, 2012.
Damn straight I finished!
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It’s been a wild and beautiful journey from the headwaters of the Salmon River to the Pacific, and I truly just feel overwhelmed with love and gratitude right now for all the people who believed in me and made me cry happy tears.
If you’d like to celebrate with me, you can start by going to our take action page on salmonsourcetosea.com and raising your voice to save our salmon :)
I’ll be eating a good meal and taking a nap 🌊
Sometimes life throws you curveballs, and the only thing you can do is choose how to react.
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It’s been a wild couple of months on this #SalmonSourcetoSea journey filled with high highs and low lows, and especially over the last couple of weeks. A lot has changed, but a lot hasn’t.
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I just wanted to update you all that I’m still on my way to the ocean on a solo joyride! One paddle stroke at a time, simple as moving downstream. The amount of love and support I have felt along the way is incredible, and I won’t be forgetting any of the good people who got me a boat, fed me, laughed with me, and believed in me (pictures of these river angels to follow once I can offload my cards.) It sure is liberating trusting in yourself and the universe, and I’m very proud of this journey. Now let’s get those damn dams out and bring the salmon back!!
Alone at 19, I left school for a while and found my people on this trip around South America. Refugio Frey holds a special place in my heart - from these wild and free climbers, to the towering granite spires and the wind of condors flying past my back. I was fed and taught and welcomed, like I would be over and over again on that trip, and I finally felt like I was stepping into who I wanted to be.
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From the archives. Bariloche, Argentina, 2012.
Hi all, I’m excited to announce the launch of a project I’ve joined with an incredible group of women for a super important cause!
This spring, myself, @brookehess and @elizabeth.tobey will be ski touring, rafting, and kayaking 1,000+ miles from the sources of the Main, Middle and South Forks of the Salmon, all the way down to the Snake and Columbia rivers and out to the Pacific Ocean, following the natural migration path of anadromous fish and making a film along the way. This source to sea journey aims to promote action for the removal of the Lower Snake River dams and for a moratorium on the Stibnite gold mine, especially due to their impact on the critically endangered chinook and sockeye salmon populations. Additionally, we hope to elevate indigenous voices of the region who have been most impacted by declines in fish populations, and who have already been leading this fight.
We can’t do this without your support, so please follow @salmonsourcetosea , share with your network, donate to the project/film, or get involved in person! Click the link in the @salmonsourcetosea bio to learn more!
an ode to the Tuolumne
to clavey falls
to the person I get to become each summer
to youth and tenacity and occasional stupidity
to wild places
and of course to the people caught in the same current
who fill me up with love
📸: @franpdfi@just_queso@jshanlin1@avaachristensen
