Where the Devil Don't Stay

Our real discoveries come from chaos, from going to the place that looks wrong and stupid and foolish. - Chuck Palahniuk.



Kayaking has never been some enlightening journey or path for me. It was always something I enjoyed doing. I never sought out greater meaning from the river or felt like I was communing with nature. I just had fun and pushed myself. Eight years have passed and I am still just as, if not more, passionate about doing it than when I started. When you introduce something that eventually consumes your being it always offers up change and discoveries.

Dalton Creech on The Creecher



Most of these changes and discoveries didn’t exactly come in the most controlled of situations. It isn’t the days that were easy or worked out rather ordinarily that I remember the most, but rather the days where most went array  and I stepped off into the unknown.

Matt Wallace almost looking like a real kayaker



Matt Wallace avoids the Hornets Nest

Dalton Creech Typical Dry Coon



Routine days on the river are always fun, but how memorable are they really?  I can almost always remember all my swims, pins, and crashes vividly, but I can barely remember the routine trips where all went well.  These are the times  where I learned to keep cool and to get  “back on the horse”.  Without these crashes, I would have never progressed into the boater and person I have become today.  These crashes and swims motivated me to become a better paddler. They pushed me to improve and to boat as much as possible, so one day I could achieve that which I thought was unattainable.  

Seive!



Matt Wallace attempts to go through the eye of a needle

To be honest, I can’t remember much about  my last trip down a familiar creek or river, but I can remember every detail about my first.  Likewise the same goes for first time I run a rapid I have previously been walking.  It something about taking that step into the unknown, that makes it memorable and exciting.  It is  trusting your abilities and rolling the dice, where one learns just where their limits are.  Stepping into the unknown and challenging a rapid or a river, inspires confidence in one’s ability; yet also has the ability to define the limits of which we feel we can safely play.

Dalton Creech sampling some Hair of the Dog

Don't put a Bridle on a Bull

Change or evolution is a slow process. It takes time.  I have seen many of my friends rapidly progress and become extraordinary boaters in the last few years that I have known them. Yet, I cannot see that same change  in myself. I still see myself as the same kid who was just stoked on kayaking the Pigeon and the Tellico Rivers.   I know the growth has taken place by the sheer number of rivers I have had the opportunity to run, that I never thought I would have the skill to paddle. Those runs that I once thought were for the “pros”  and “core” boaters are ever so slowly become more attainable.

Dalton Creech Bows Down

Ain't no place I'd rather be

Matt Wallace Trouble ahead, Trouble behind and you know that notion just crossed my mind



I never started kayaking for  a journey  to discover things about myself.  Yet I have seen more and learned more about myself from kayaking than anything else I have done in my life. Those small steps into what looks wrong, stupid, and foolish  that have allowed me to flourish and grow not only as a kayaker but as a person.   



Dalton Creech 96 for 96,  incredible!

 

All Photos by Bett Adams and Kirk Eddlemon