Basically, I just want to post those cool snow photos. I don’t remember exactly when this was any more, but it was one of those occasions where the tiny rivers around where I grea up in south-west Germany have enough water to paddle them. It’s usually after heavy rain, but in this case there had been lots of snow that had started melting. I remember this being a super fun paddle: there were no tricky features, just really cool waves to surf. I was paddling an Eskimo Salto.
I have only paddled this river once. It is really special to me because when I was nine, I hiked it from where it joins a bigger river (the Prims) to its source with my dad, in three days. It was my first proper outdoor adventure, and trips like that weren’t routine in my family. I don’t know what gave my dad the idea on that occasion, but I remember reading Robinson Crusoe by a campfire, roasting veggie sausages and unsuccessful fishing attempts. I didn’t even have hiking boots.
I was lucky in that the guys I paddled with never made me feel awkward for being so much younger than them, and being the only girl. We were there to paddle, that was it.