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Luke Andraka

@im.looking.for.birds

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Username says it all, I'm looking for birds
ebird.org/profile/MjI0MjQ2Nw/world

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Love your friends so much that it hurts when they’re gone

Never thought shotgunning a cold Coors would be the cure to hiccup crying.

Thank you to Clayton and Brandy for hosting such a beautiful weekend: full of laughter, beers, shotguns and tears. My heart is full of love and full of friendships

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Tribute to Luke

Some say there are “thin places” in this world. Places where it may be possible to experience heaven on earth.

It could seem odd to mention heaven in a tribute to Luke, since he didn’t think of himself as a religious person. But I believe he was more in touch with his spirituality than he realized.

Luke knew his soul would wither if he kept his feet firmly planted in the mundane.

Instead, Luke searched for those thin places.

The search carried him across the country and around the world. Kayaking in Madagascar, Zambia, Mexico, Colombia, and Ecuador. Climbing in the USA, Thailand, and Mexico. Spelunking in West Virginia. Mountain biking in the Rockies. Ice climbing in the Midwest. Luke pumped more adrenaline into his sharp mind and sturdy body during his 31 years than most people produce in much longer lifetimes.

Luke hiked, biked, rafted, kayaked, and climbed to the places where paradise and people are barely separated. While there, he may have experienced that fleeting moment when a gossamer curtain parts, removing the barrier between the spiritual and the physical, providing a glimpse of the divine.

Maybe you’ve experienced a thin place.
Maybe you felt your heart swell and your soul rejoice with a surge of emotion while floating on a river. Marveling at a sunrise. Sitting on a mountaintop or in a sanctuary. Singing. Biking. Holding a baby. Laughing. Hugging. Playing. Maybe you were fortunate enough to be there with Luke. If so, sharing that moment with you filled him with joy.

Luke, it’s almost impossible to believe you’re gone.

We miss you. We love you.

We’ll see you in the thin places.

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It was so good sharing life for the brief period we did Luke. Ive been missing you, and schemeing our next adventure. Now it looks like I'll be missing you for longer yet.

Rest easy up there, in between exploring what we cannot currently and embarking on adventures I can only imagine.

💜

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When I got the message that Luke passed away, I threw my phone and choked. It’s been a hard year for losing loved ones from our little paddling community and this one is very near and dear to me. I spoke with our fellow paddling partner Axel a few minutes after I received this extremely sad news, who had almost immediately called from Chile after receiving my message. I mostly garbled words while stifling the full on bawling that would wait until after that call.
It’s crazy because I only really spent a short time with Luke over these last 2 years, but we seemed to be constantly in touch, and one day on a good river mission should count as a month. On one such day, he saved my life on the Río Septentrion last month. On that same trip, he kept the dinner fire going for Axel and I in a driving rainstorm with the river misting our backs in a box canyon. On another day Luke and I got mad at each other and started to yell. 90 seconds later we were laughing and hugging it out. He brought a chess board, binoculars, and studied – birds, other fauna, flora, geology – before our missions so as to better appreciate the natural splendor of the Sierra. Around the campfire, Axel was teaching him Spanish between games of chess so that he could speak fluently with the local people. He was an ideal paddling partner for me.
At the end of the last mission he invited me into his home for birding and a lovely dinner with his wife Wren. I could see that they were kindred spirits: birding, canyoneering, biking, paddling, friends, family, work ect. With their lovely partnership they magically fit it all in.
On Friday he will be cremated along with stories and images from those of us that loved Luke and treasured the time that we were gifted to be with him. @im.looking.for.birds @wren.like.the.bird_

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⚡️The Rain Dance 🌧️
When Bobby suggested a rain dance, I scoffed at the notion. But in hindsight our progress was immediately blocked by a procession of dancers near Iglesia San Lorenzo when at least one of us asked the universe (while standing inside the “Foco Tonal”) for heavy monsoon rain. Sometime after that on our way west towards the Pacific rampart of the Sierra del Tarahumara, a new plan took shape as Cumulonimbi erupted all around us. In truth this Río Septentrion was never my plan A or B, although an outsized portion of @rockycontos “Whitewater of Mexico del Norte” guide book is dedicated to the 2 failed attempts and the flash floods that caused them. When we arrived to find the Septentrion literally frothing at the mouth this story seemed ripe for allegorical interpretation. #magicalrealism #coppercanyon #aychihuahua #firstdescent

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Rocky Road …
#aychihuahua #ríooteros #sierramadreoccidental #monzónmexicano #expeditionkayaking with Bobby the Boater, Luke and Axel

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Hiding in plain sight was a whitewater treasure that anyone could see from “El Chepe”. Below that famous Copper Canyon railway, Luke, Axel, and I spent a week paddling 75 km and 1400 vertical meters of Chihuahua’s Río Septentrion / Cerocauhue into Sinaloa.

Back in 2006 a wild flash flood event ended the first attempt soon after it started. The Oil + Water Boys, Soup, Joe McClay and the venerable @rockycontos recovered from that sub-optimal, middle of the night deluge just in time to pull our good friend Seth, trapped in his bivy, out of a raging river.

On our 5th night on the water, this wild river surged on us and put our backs to the wall in a box canyon. We had the 2006 story in mind and did everything we could to keep our camp and gear above the rising water.

This time the river mercifully dropped and let us pass. With relatively few portages, incredibly many rapids, the fine folks of Témoris, and Témoris Station just making everything easy for us, I will probably say too much about this mission.

Between the paddling chess, birding, spanish lessons and esoteric discussions about everything but boofing made the mission a glowing success. A thousand thank-yous to the team that wouldn’t have been complete without Bobby and Cheyenne.

Thanks also to the fine folks and friends of @alpacka_raft for providing beta on another mission that is still on my radar. And for that I will be back. 🕺

For more information on everything whitewater in Chihuahua please visit @sier.rarios

#chihuahuamexico #sierramadre #firstdescent #monsoon #mexicanwhitewaternorte @aurarogers @tylerbradt @seth_sky_1111 @fencelinecider_taproom

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🌞🏞️⚽️ july 🎇🍅🐈

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🌞🌊🐈 june ‘26 🧉🎂🌻

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SKIBLADES ARE THE FUTURE LONG SKIS OBSOLETE EMBRACE MODERNITY REJECT TRADITION

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Paddling, birding, eating and making new friends in Ecuador 🇪🇨🇪🇨🇪🇨

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Some favorite pics from our adventures in Colombia

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