Skeena Swim Blog
Tuesday, August 11: Brian talks about the arrival in Kitsumkalum and their experiences on the lower Skeena
[Listen to the audio file of Brian’s blog entry]
Hey, you all. This is Brian calling in. Standing beside the main stem of the Skeena with a 24 foot canoe in front of me offered to us by Roy Henry Vickers. The boat’s name is Many Hands. We did a gear exchange yesterday, and floated this boat down from the Kalum River confluence to just upstream of the Shames River confluence.
Last night we were welcomed graciously into the Kitsumkalum community. Ali actually, after swimming twenty five kilometers, dragged herself up a portion of the Kalum river and put on an extremely dramatic crossing, ferrying from one side of the kalum to the other to meet this incredible crowd of people who were there cheering her on and drumming. Songs were exchanged, and we all shared a feast and our hopes for the Skeena river and celebrated the swim and all the communities along the river that have welcomed us.
Today we push off downstream and we’re back to our small crew and it feels nice to be on the river again with these people who have travelled together from the headwaters.
To be down on this lower river landscape is just incredible. It’s huge. The river is huge and the views are huge.
Andrew just got this incredible footage of clouds boiling off a ridge downstream. It’s clear now but it feels like there’s rain everywhere around us. These valleys are steep and close and filled with snow and clouds.
Got a fire going and dinner’s on the way. Thanks for checking in with us. Ali kicked ass this afternoon. Swam for three hours and covered thirty kilometers. We’re drifting at ten kilometers per hour. We got htis canoe going up to 19 kilometers an hour on flatwater, so once we get our rhythm down we’ll start having a lot of fun with this.
I’m supposed to let the girls at Mr. Mikes know that one of our crew is… [Disconnected]
