It was Saturday morning, 68 degrees, and sitting in my canoe staring at Ocoee Dam #2 thinking to myself "Dear God... Don't let me F*** this up" right before launching myself into Grumpys after 30 seconds of warmup and 30 days of paddling downtime. Yelling "Yeeeeeehaaaa" as I drop into two holes (one unplanned) and work my way down to Staging Eddy where the rest of my group that put in at the rails are waiting. The river took pity on me that day as we made our two suicide bombing runs down the Ocoee in less then 4 hours total and it being the last operating weekend for the Ocoee this season. What a wonderful day.

After having such moments you look back and reflect why we do this to ourselves. What is it that drives us to hurl ourselves down class 4 rapids in a small amount of plastic with a stick with the hopes of making it down in one peace? Is it the adrenaline, the excitement, the beauty, or just our will? 

I always feel more alive in those defining moments when I am outdoors then I do in most of my life. 

What are some of your thoughts? Comment on this post!