Trek One.
The sun broke through the midmorning clouds revealing a baby-blue sky. Josh and his dad instantly felt the heat on their necks. Their hand-crafted canoe had nicely handled the humble, Class 1 ripples behind them and now they enjoyed tracking the boustrophodonic path of the river as it slothfully meandered between giant granite rock cliffs.Josh squinted from the bow, looking upward, and pointed out to his dad a golden eagle soaring above the cliffs. He smiled back in acknowledgment. The eighteen foot craft was sleek and honored the silence playing in this piece of wilderness. They made the next corner and Josh's eyes grew wide. Their quiet approach had allowed them to close the gap within feet of a drake and hen mallard drifting aimlessly downstream ahead of them. The raindrops remained beaded on their feathers. The colors reflected an amazingly bright incandescent hue. Now aware, the couple exploded into flight, breaking the covenant of silence with whistling wings and boisterous quacks. Gravity called two curly feathers back to the bubbling water.This was their Great Adventure; their Big Trip; their Dream Vacation. Enough planning. Enough waiting. No more procrastinating. No more wondering if they could make it. Three months to explore the wilderness of God's creation by water and land; and all the time in the world to discover what they were made of.