Via Oregon - May/June 2021 - 36

V I A | M AY+ J U N E 2 0 2 1

all, and somewhere along the way to help, the
pressure became so great that it blackened an
eye and squirted a front tooth a quarter-inch out
of her head. I break down and hug my damaged
walrus, who innocently asks, " Can we go back to
the river? "
It's been nearly a year since that trip. We now
have our own boat, an ocean-blue Otter I christened the Didgeridoo II, after my father's vessel.
In a few weeks, we'll load her full of coolers with
too much food and head back to the John Day,
where Evie can transcend her trauma and make
the experience a happy one. Then we'll sniff out
another Oregon river and another one still. We'll
ease the bow into the current and let the river
take us where we long to go. ●
tim neville also writes for Outside and the New
York Times.

The river ﬂows past
the geological
wonders of John Day
Fossil Beds National
Monument.

ROBERTHARDING / ALAMY

the mercury dives 30 degrees. We take shelter
under a huge ponderosa pine just as marble-size
hail bombards the river, creating a dense, impenetrable mist. When the storm subsides, the light
turns to gold and we find our best campsite yet, a
grassy park with stately trees and awesome views
of columnar basalt cliffs.
The real beauty of a river trip may be in the
roller coaster ride of emotions that strips away
the trivial to make room for gratitude. One
moment you can be bouncing through a wave
train full of adrenaline, and the next you're hanging your toes off the stern, mesmerized by the
black wake flickering in the sunlight. On a river,
it is hard to get lost. Losing yourself is not.
We arrive in Clarno, where we load up the
boats in a hurry. When I finally make it back
to Bend, Evie comes running out to greet me,
now free of pain. She had a tooth abscess after

Via Oregon - May/June 2021

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