clubs of its kind in the country. Its activity is not confined merely 

 to what a foldboater can do on open water. During the winter, 

 when lakes and streams are under lock and key, the members are 

 busy at classes held in the Seattle Y.M.C.A. They learn naviga- 

 tion, the fastest methods of assembling boats, how to repair a 

 hull that's been ripped on a sharp rock (a tire repair kit does the 

 job in jig time) and they learn that discretion is the better part 

 of valor, especially when the water is white. 



Basic training is usually over by the time the ice goes off the 

 lakes. Then the club members go in for the practical side of 

 the sport. A gang will assemble on the banks of the Yakima 

 River just outside of Cle Elum, in the eastern foothills of the 

 Cascades, about ninety miles from Seattle. The boaters and 

 boats are unloaded at the starting point, and by a system of 

 shuttling, the cars are left at the spot where the trip ends. This 

 gives the maximum amount of boating per trip. 



At the outset, the Yakima dawdles through a wide valley and 

 the boaters drift on lazily. There is an idyllic shaded sandbar 

 near the head of the canyon which is an excellent place for a 

 noon siesta and a swim. 



An afternoon spent in the upper Yakima Canyon is a top test 

 of a foldboater's endurance. The river gets progressively more 

 frisky; first there are riffles, which change to rapids; the rapids 

 turn to "haystacks," and the foldboater often finds himself 

 perched in the air six feet above the trough. Then down he 

 plunges, to plow on to the next wave. The peaceful foldboat has 

 become, willy-nilly, a hot rod. 



The party pulls to shore at Ellensburg, where the cars have 

 been parked, and the caravan makes its way to Lake Kachess to 

 camp out and spend the next day paddling or sailing or using a 

 half-horse motor to chug around the lake and look at mountains. 



It's amazing that so much fun can be had with a boat that 

 comes out of two tidy bags weighing only 65 pounds. The thing 

 is assembled in half an hour or less once you have the knack of 

 it it will take longer the first time, floats 500 pounds of people 

 and gear, slides over submerged rocks like an otter, takes to 

 mountain water happily as a trout and to shoulders lightly as a 



36 



