Rec Sports Highlight

My spring break was spent in the breathtaking Boquillas Canyon leading an expedition-style canoeing trip down the Rio Grande River. With two other [KMB1] incredible trip leaders and 13 wonderful participants by my side, we traveled downstream carrying everything we would need for the week in our boats. As the days on the river flew by, I continually learned more about the landscape, myself, and my favorite part – the people around me. There are countless moments I could share from our time together on the river, but I’ll settle for giving you insight into a few.

Just before we embarked on our journey downstream, a park ranger approached us. “The wind will be rough today but will die down after that,” he shared. We didn’t think much of this at all until a few hours later when we realized he was not kidding, as we were paddling into Boquillas Canyon against some mighty strong winds.

Each set of canoe partners were fighting their own battle to make forward progress. When we finally reached camp, we realized the challenge was not over yet. Setting up tents and cooking dinner in the canyon that was doubling as a wind tunnel came with its own unique problems to solve. That night, with everything we needed to do accomplished, we sat in a huddle with our backs to the wind as we ate pad thai for dinner. We looked back on our day that wasn’t even over yet and laughed together because we knew it would be such a fun memory. We had banded together to accomplish hard tasks in the face of a challenge, and this was only night 1 on the river.

Another moment that felt monumental among our crew came the next day when we approached our first bigger rapid of the trip. Everyone was getting the feel for paddling a canoe, and I could see the group’s comfort level growing as we put more and more miles behind us, which was exciting. The rapid had a fairly strong current, some rocks to avoid, and a strong eddy, which are all things that can cause a canoe to flip, but the other trip leaders and I had confidence in our group. We assessed the way the river was moving together and then went for it. Each pair of paddlers took their own attempt at moving their boat through the rapid smoothly. Out of our eight canoes, some were successful while others went for a swim. This wasn’t a monumental moment in my mind because of their paddling skills; [KMB2] they were killing it! It was profound because as I stood at the bottom of the rapid and coached them through it, I saw them work together and cheer one another on like a team that had known each other much longer than we had. I was amazed at the bonding that happens when we step out of our comfort zones into an unknown space together.

The last story I will share is from our last night spent riverside. We had paddled our miles for the day and made it to camp in the early afternoon, which meant we had lots of time to relax in the river and spend time together. During dinner, we took turns telling our favorite moments from the day. Most things shared were centered around conversations had or connections made. This stuck out to me because it highlighted how much of an outdoor trip hinges on the people we get to share it with. We then explored our campsite looking for and identifying any animal tracks that we saw. We even found a black bear print! After nightfall, we sat in a circle looking up at the phenomenal stars and talking about the constellations we could identify. The joy that I found in this evening was that we had an abundance of time to appreciate each other as well as the beautiful place we were in.

There are so many untold stories from this week spent in the wild; however, the takeaway that I’ll leave you with is that a group of people who were not connected in any way beforehand walked away tied together by a beautiful experience. Strangers became a tight-knit community as we paddled down the Rio Grande and lived between the Boquillas Canyon walls even for just a few days.