Kayaker

Kayaker | Lake Wenatchee, WA | July 2019

Boaters moving away from shore always seem courageous. Watching them leave land to float across a fluid world — a dangerous alien environment — ranks high, I think, on a list of history’s heart-rending moments. Such as: A husband’s schooner disappears over the horizon. A warrior’s canoe rounds the farthest river bend. A girlfriend’s kayak drifts out of cell phone range. Those left behind beg, “Come back here.” But the mariner, even a weekend paddler, wonders, “What’s out there?”