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Misadventures in sleep while in grizzly country
Sleeping in bear country is not really sleeping at all. Our family enjoys tent camping and we love the wildest parts of this country. The combination leads to an instant case of temporary insomnia — at least for me. I am envious of people who can sleep in tents while camping in bear country. I’m…
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Fishy people stories
We all know that some people have a transcendental ability to find and catch fish. This ability typically derives from an unteachable, instinctive feel for the water and how its piscine residents move and feed in it and is honed by years of dedication to the craft. These people are often referred to as “fishy.”…
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Beavers in heaven
By Bradley Thornton Riffee We crept up a beaver creek on a cool fall day filled with nothing but sunshine. The colorful leaves in all their glory brightened our world as we set out to find our native brook trout friends patrolling their mud-packed ponds. Dragonflies of October danced across an eastern breeze as we…
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On Break
I find little shame to admit That even with all the bustle of the year I can't but help to glance longingly backwards To the time where we were all --Just a little-- On break. Back when lights twinkled in windows And meals felt sumptuous And everything was just a little less January. On break.…
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The Beetle, the Hare’s Ear, the old man and the cutthroats
Years and years ago, while attending college in western Colorado, I drove up the shoulders of the Sawatch Range between Salida and Gunnison as far as my old VW Beetle would make it on a road it had no business traversing. After reaching a stretch of two-track I could no longer navigate, I pulled the…
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Stripers and steelhead
On the California coast between San Francisco and Santa Barbara, a number of streams still have runs of wild steelhead. On a handful of these mostly small drainages, you might get tight to a slabby adult during the winter steelhead season. And on perhaps three of these streams, you might actually be likely to get…
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Passing the time ’til it’s fishing season
What do you do to pass the time between fishing seasons? Mostly, I daydream, frequently. I catch myself staring out the windows to the snow-covered landscape and dream. I dream of heavy summer rainstorms that bring ants and other terrestrials off the vegetation and to the water’s surface. There big rainbows and browns can’t help…
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