I was reading a sweet piece this morning on Substack about the importance of rituals.
It brought me right back to river trips and how the rituals of a multi-day adventure are important for so many reasons:
Safety: when we check and double-check our rigging, our PFDs, and when needed, our helmets, plus our upcoming plan to run rapids, and charting mileage for camps, it’s all based on ritual, which underlines the importance of those safety procedures.
Packing: on river trips, you leave a camp in the morning and end up quite a ways down river. If you leave something at camp, ooooops, it’s gone forever AND you might be missing something vital. SO, packing your bag the same way, making sure all your tent pieces are stuffed and stowed, making sure you have all your gear on: shoes, PFD, sunglasses, hat. Where’s your water bottle? Check, check, double check. And a final slow sweep is an excellent idea.
Cooking: you have a limited amount of ice in those coolers, so you don’t open them 50 times to get out ingredients. You sit down with your recipe, and using attention and care, create the list you need for appetizers, the main meal, and dessert. You go to the cooler ONCE, pull out ingredients, and go to the cooler once more to stow away anything leftover or no longer needed. You also assemble for lunch.
Sylke adds: “I am thinking about the camp sweep ritual before we set off in the morning. Did anything get left behind? Any micro-trash we missed? And for me, that’s also a moment to say “Goodbye and thank you” to the place that was home for one night.”
There’s a peace of mind that comes from eliminating mistakes and avoiding chaos. That’s the beauty of ritual; it’s beyond routine because you add in awareness and care.
Ready to try this for yourself?
Sylke Laine and I have TWO spots left for the Salmon River Slowdown. It’s six days of unplugging from your technology and the busyness of modern life in order to deeply settle into wildness, a gorgeous flowing river, tight community, stillness, and quiet.
Join us? CLICK HERE for details and to register for one of the two remaining spots.
Warmly,
Angie