Sixty Rivers

Friday, November 27, 2009

Old Town Canoe #78,795 was purchased used by my father and his buddy Don Newton in 1946 for about $30. How the craft ended up in Grand Rapids after being initially sold to a customer in Akron, Ohio is unknown. Their first outing was to Log Lake near Kalkaska, although much of their time in the early years was spent on the Muskegon River which was closer to home. I took many trips down nearby rivers as a teenager, including the Flat, Muskegon, and Rogue. I restored the canoe around 1974 after many years of disuse and neglect. This photo of my son Brad and his daughter Madeline was taken in 2006 on Lake Helena.

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The Song of Wandering Aengus

I went out to the hazel wood,
Because a fire was in my head,
And cut and peeled a hazel wand,
And hooked a berry to a thread;
And when white moths were on the wing,
And moth-like stars were flickering out,
I dropped the berry in the stream,
And caught a little silver trout.

When I had laid it on the floor,
I went to blow the fire aflame,
But something rustled on the floor,
And someone called me by my name:
It had become a glimmering girl,
With apple blossom in her hair,
Who called me by my name and ran,
And faded through the brightening air.

Though I am old with wandering,
Through hollow lands and hilly lands,
I will find out where she has gone,
And kiss her lips and take her hands;
And walk among long dappled grass,
And pluck till time and times are done,
The silver apples of the moon,
The golden apples of the sun.

W. B. Yeats (The Wind Among the Reeds)

The origin of Sixty Rivers - 2007

A year or so ago I read an article in the Grand Rapids Press about a retired couple endeavoring to play 61 rounds of golf in every state in 61 days, and just to make it interesting play all 50 states, the 10 Canadian provinces and Washington DC. It occurred to me that it would be helpful to set goals for the fishing adventures I had often dreamed of but never applied myself to accomplishing. As my sixtieth birthday approached, I began to ponder celebrating the auspicious occasion by fishing 60 rivers. Initially, the idea of 60 rivers in 60 days seemed to have a nice ring to it, although it sounded a lot like work. I settled on achieving the goal in one year, recording my experience in this blog so that family and friends could follow my adventure and occasionally give me a push when I fall behind.