One dark, chilly morning, Lois and John came to pick us up for our trip. As we drove to the National Lakeshore, the heat on our seats was turned up all the way. When we finally got there we dragged Matty’s boat down to the landing. Soon every one and every thing was in a canoe or kayak. Judy, Mark, George, Lois, John, Bill, Jean, Peg, Bob and us. We raced to the kayaks and headed off down the river. At first Matty and I had a little trouble with trees and heading backwards. We all switched off in the canoe and kayaks. We dropped some trash at lunch. 4 bags! We ate our lunch, then kept going, but the fish weir salmon trapper gate was closed. So we headed on a portage of 100 feet to the reloading area. Then we canoed and kayaked some more. Then Gracie spotted something blue. She went over and pulled it up… it was a swim diaper! We paddled to the end and we hopped into the water for a swim and after going under once we were out of there! We saw some great wildlife too, including great blue herons, fish, turtles and toads. At the end we ended up with 4 more bags of trash! What a great day!
By Gracie and Matty Failor (ages 10 and 8)