Backtrack eight years. Only in my second year of kayaking, we’re scouting an un-run rapid and I can’t see the line. All I can see are hazards and the impossibility of staying upright in the shallow, multi-tiered rapid. Jump forward eight years later and I’m back at “the portage” at the end of an intermediate run. This time the line is obvious. Time and experience have an amazing way of changing how we see things.