Rio Buenaventura

​My dory has been unnamed for 15 years as I tried out various combinations of places I cared about. Buenaventura, good fortune, finally made its way to the bow.

In 1828 Jedediah Smith entered this region on a trapping and mapping expedition. He was following a major river that he called the Rio Buenaventura, a river that he expected would cross the Sierra Nevada to the Great salt lake and providing a transportation link to the east coast. He knew it existed because it was on the map.

Of course, this was the Sacramento. Smith found plenty of beaver, shot at any Grizzlies they saw, which usually didn’t work out well, and scared the daylights out of some Native Americans. But no mythical river highway.

The winds have been kind. 25 miles today. We will try to go longer tomorrow.

Otter today. Many eagles, heron, and pelicans.

At dusk, two young deer, male and female waded into the river on the far bank and proceeded to swim across the river right in front of our boats. They made it. Guessing the grass is very green over here.