“All I ask is that you step with me into the boundlessness where constancy, quietude and peace, infinite emptiness reign.” Dialogue from the Hungarian film, Werkmeister Harmonies, directed by Béla Tarr. [Click on the image to enlarge]
My brother, Terry, recently brought my attention back to a 25 mile stretch of highway , U.S. Route 550, from Silverton, CO, to Ouray, CO, that I traveled and photographed in the Fall of 2012. The name, Million Dollar Highway, refers to the rumored cost of $1,000,000 per mile to build it in the 1920’s when a dollar bought a lot more than it does now. https://thenatureseeker.com/million-dollar-highway/
The route was originally surveyed and built as a wagon road in the 1880’s to carry incredibly rich silver ore from the Yankee Girl Mine located on the north slope of Red Mountain down to the smelter. While narrow gauge railroads were built to serve mines all over the Colorado Rockies in the late 19th century, defying gravity and the elements to extract gold and silver, the geography surrounding the Yankee Girl defied the best railroad surveyors and engineers of the day and no tracks were ever laid
I drove the high altitude 25 mile stretch, 11,000 ft. at the highest, from Silverton to Ouray behind a Colorado Highway Patrol cruiser, keeping me from being over anxious. The speed limit was, and no doubt still is, 25 mph because of the steep grades and narrow pavement with no guardrails. [All photos 
Max Vollmer, Click on any image to enlarge]
Welcome to 2026! Instructor POV is starting off the new year with one of our own. Karl Vollmer: level 2 sea kayak instructor trainer, advanced river kayak instructor trainer, chair of the PCC (Program Coordination Committee), chair of the river kayak program development committee, database manager, and general paddling powerhouse.
Paddle Canada: Hey Karl, thanks for taking the time to be a part of our Instructor Series. We’re excited to hear all about your experience as a Paddle Canada Instructor so let’s dive right in. Give us an intro about yourself – what do you do and where do you do it?
Karl Vollmer: Thanks, I’ve been in Nova Scotia for almost 20 years now. I have an IT desk job by day, but spend my weekends and evenings on the water, and in the water. I work for Ontario Sea Kayak Center, Cape Lahave Adventures and Cloud 9 Adventures as a sea kayak guide and instructor. My true love is river kayaking. I run https://whitewaterns.ca and https://whitewaternb.ca. I have spent the last 15+ years trying to aggregate and make available all of the river beta and water level information for free to the community as a way to remove barriers to whitewater paddling in the Atlantic provinces. I’ve also recently picked up River SUP’ing which is a new challenge.
PC: What was your first paddling experience and what inspired you to become an instructor?
KV: My first paddling experience in memory is going over a lower overhead dam in a canoe as a small kid with my father. That experience has inspired me to have a better understanding of water and how it works. It has also driven me to help other people understand so that they can be safe, and have an amazing, positive time on the water. Being on the water in a Canoe, or Kayak or on a Sup should be a safe, positive and fun experience. I work as an instructor and guide to help make that happen for people.
PC: How do you approach teaching brand new paddlers?
KV: Play. Recreational paddling to me is about being able to play, have fun, and experience the world, and places from a different perspective. I love being on the water, and having fun, so I try to enable that in the courses I teach. Creating a safe, inclusive but challenging environment where people can be themselves and find joy in a silly game, or accomplishing a challenging landing is very important to me.
Music, the universal language. This is so much fun. Who is the woman in black and grey with red lipstick? [Click on Full Screen icon in the lower right corner to best appreciate the video]
In an opinion piece about human dignity from The Guardian, January 14, 2026, titled Donald Trump Is waging war against the human conscience, columnist Osita Nwanevu had this to say about Plato’s Symposium. ” . . . It is a tale about universal aspects of the human experience philosophers have examined in the service of understanding what it means to be a human being.
[Continued . . . ]
“This year marks the 250th anniversary of the American answer to it – the idea that human beings are equal, possessed of a universal dignity that entitles us to basic rights and a chance to flourish and prosper, whoever we may be. That idea has always had flag-waving enemies. And today, the latent belief of the nativists vying to make America great again is that there is nothing especially interesting or consequential about the American project.
[Continued . . .]
“Against the demands and best aspirations of civilization – western or any kind – they tell us the human being is a creature that yearns for nothing more than blood and soil, which is, of course, just mud. The lust for mud has taken up many guises in our history and has been many given names of late – neo-reaction, post-liberalism, fascism. But the name familiar to most is evil.
[Continued . . .]
“As many who have taken to the streets in protest have noted, the Trump administration’s assaults on liberty here at home are the kinds of abuses that spurred the revolution we will commemorate this year . . . The American project must and will succeed. Its enemies stand for too little. Our lives are worth too much.”
Note; The whole piece is well worth reading.
Ash bowl, ceramic vase, resinous Douglas fir section, weathered juniper, crinoid fossils, canine teeth, braided cotton thread, limestone with fossilized seashell and quartz crystals.
[Photo Max Vollmer, Click on image to enlarge]
Need to relax and reflect? You could walk the Chehalis Western Trail outside Olympia, WA, where this photo was taken by my daughter, Yukyo, on New Years Day, 2026. The trail
[Photo Emily Vollmer, Click on image to enlarge]
Where to go? Toward an expansive horizon is always my first choice. In the case of Chaco Canyon Road, the southern exit from Chaco Culture National Historic Park, it was 40+ miles of dirt road across the Navajo Reservation with the warning sign declaring, “Road not maintained, may be impassable to passenger cars.” There are no structures, no signs of habitation the length of that road. There are steep drops into and out of arroyos that flood with cloudbursts, as well as deeply rutted mud slumps that require 4WD to cross even in dry weather. There are no guarantees. But being alone with the unknown is a great way to get to know yourself. [Photo Max Vollmer, Click on image to enlarge]
As I look out on the world, I see suffering, hardship, injustice, and violence borne of ignorance. But I also see courage, kindness, sacrifice, and generosity that grows out of our shared experience as humans. It has always been so. It will always be so. I choose to focus my attention and energy on what brings us together in community. Whether that be a community of two, or twenty, of two hundred, or twenty million.
Meredith Jane Monk (born November 20, 1942) was an American avant-garde composer, performer, director, vocalist, filmmaker, and choreographer. She was awarded the National Medal of Arts by Barack Obama.
Renee Nicole Good was a mother, poet, activist, citizen, and ultimately a victim of U.S. Government orchestrated racial violence. To honor her, I am celebrating women with the strength to follow their conscience, their passions, their dreams despite the risks associated with doing so. Without them the world would not be as rich and beautiful as it is. [Click on Full Screen icon in the lower right corner to best appreciate the video]