Following the flow

Be sure and wave and tip your hat to the pioneering spirit of adventure and challenge if you see three young adults paddling a birchbark canoe down the Columbia River today.

Dan Blessing, Marc VanGrinsven and Greta Arnquist resumed their journey down Washington’s mighty Columbia this morning after a two-night stay with East Wenatchee residents Bob and Coleen Derry, whose granddaughter is VanGrinsven’s friend. The trio hope to complete their paddle down the entire length of the Columbia by the end of the month.

Actually, the 1,200-mile paddle from the river’s source in the Canadian Rockies to Cape Disappointment on the Washington coast is only about a third of their river adventures, and the easier part at that, Blessing said.