Payne sets sights on 'Chasing Thoreau'

Local long-distance kayaker Jim Payne has found a new way to celebrate historical figures — by chasing them on the water.

In his latest, and fourth, book about his kayak adventures, Payne copies a rowboat trip that the famous American naturalist and philosopher Henry David Thoreau took in 1839 on the Concord River in Massachusetts. The result is “Chasing Thoreau; An Adventure in Paddling and Philosophy,” published last month.

“It turned out to be a voyage on many levels,” said Payne. “The outdoor adventure, of course, dealing wild waters, and no place to sleep. Then there was the social adventure of meeting unusual people. But I was especially excited by the exploration of ideas. Events kept happening on the journey that brought Thoreau’s theories to life.”

Since 2017 is the bicentennial of Thoreau’s birth, Payne’s engagement with his theories is particularly well-timed. “People know that Thoreau was an early spokesman for environmentalism,” says Payne. “They are less familiar with some of his other views. For example, he questioned consumerism, the way we devote so much energy and attention to getting fancy clothes and nice houses.”

Payne, who has lived in Sandpoint for the past 32 years, began his hobby of kayak adventuring late in life, making his first trip — on the Potomac River — at age 57. Since then, he’s voyaged and written about several dozen waterways, including the Columbia, Hudson and Mississippi Rivers. He’s also made trips abroad, on England’s Thames River, as well as rivers in Holland and Chile. He does his voyaging with very little preparation and no special training, believing that spontaneity and mishaps add to the excitement of a journey.

“I think I may have stumbled onto a new theory of education,” he says with a twinkle in his eye. “If you want to learn from your mistakes, you need plenty of ‘em.”

Payne will be at Vanderford’s Books this Saturday, June 10, 12-2 p.m. for a signing of the new book.