Trying to stay afloat

by Danielle Switalski
| July 21, 2010 2:25 PM

I first learned about the power of an eddy when I did a story with Plains Mayor Michael Brinson concerning the increasing amount of land that was eroding away by the town's sewage cleaning ponds due to a strong eddy.

I never thought I would again have to deal with the topic of eddies until I do a follow up story on the town's unwavering attempt to stop the erosion.

This weekend I learned differently. The sun is finally beating down on Plains where it is hot enough to get into the refreshing waters of the Clark Fork River and I decided it was time to embark on my first floating adventure here in Mont. I've floated before, years ago, in Wisconsin and thought it wasn't difficult. Step one: get in the tube. Step two: Sit for while. Easy peasy.

Once again, the great outdoors has crushed my naïve self into thinking it is easy to get along with. I swear, when it comes to the outdoors simply walking around is dangerous for me. However, I have also learned that every time I venture out of my comfort zone, i.e. my apartment, a lesson awaits me.

I couldn't wait to hop in the river on Saturday afternoon after spending all morning outside in Thompson Falls baking in the sun, wearing too many layers as I slept too late and idiotically threw on a sweater. I made it to the river in the late afternoon, tube in one hand, flip flops in the other. I was told to bring my flip flops in case I had to get out and walk on rocks. I plopped myself in the tube with a big splash ready to lazily float for an hour and half in the cooling river.

My friend had already made her way out to the current as I tried my hardest to splash and kick myself there, nervous that I would never catch up.

No matter how hard I tried to paddle, I couldn't seem to get to the middle of the river and my tube continued to turn in circles and instead of going out to the middle, I was edging closer to the rocky bank. I figured since I was still fairly close to the edge I would hop out of the tube, and swim to either the side of the river where my friend paddled, waiting for me or start over and swim my tube to the middle of the river and improvise a way to pull myself up into the tube.

Neither option seemed to work out as planned. As I tried to swim to the side I got caught in the eddy and it pushed me back to shore, overcoming what I thought was strong swimming. I hopped out thinking I would touch ground, but fully submerged myself into the river, frantically trying to grab onto my favorite pink flip flops. I finally made it to shore and decided to walk barefoot on the rocks to meet my friend, battling the current of the eddy while simultaneously trying to not land smack on the ground.

This strategy I would not recommend. My perseverance finally paid off and I caught up to my friend. She asked if I wanted to give up and just swim by the shore for a while, but I was determined to float the river. This time I plopped myself in the tube and let my friend swim us both out into the proper current. I breathed a sigh of relief when I finally made it to the end of my float, as I prepared myslef for another dip in the rive r through the duration of the float.

I learned that if you can get your paddle right, which I'm assuming all of you already have down pact, floating the river really is a cheap and relaxing form of entertainment right outside our front doors.

The lesson has been learned that eddies are not only bad for river banks and for me, but if I work as hard as the town of Plains has to beat them from eroding their river bank, I too can overcome the strong current.