Category Archives: Stories

I Don't Mess With Moose

About a half-mile up the creek from the Mill Creek Trailhead, the Forest Service sign warned of an aggressive bear in the area. I had heard that the bear had been feeding on a dead moose. I decided to take my chances with the aggressive bear. If it had been a warning of an aggressive moose, however...Read more

Gender Equity and Fly Fishing

Few co-ed sports or activities exist free of sexual tension. If social scientists are correct in their assertion that humans dwell on sex, in some form, six to 10 times an hour, few co-educational activities escape this human tendency for mischief, miscommunication and wanton reveries of the mind...Read more

Fish Tales: Confession from a Guide

A while back I marveled to a colleague on the complexities of matching up 20 fishing clients with 10 guides in less than 30 minutes. Typically the clients are guests of a CEO, ducking out of a convention or involved in a seminar where the "bottom line" is a code word for dropping a Wooly Bugger...Read more

Bass Creek Saga

When two four-legged animals come face-to-face on a precipitous trail at a blind spot, you have the makings of a high-country rodeo. Shadow, my black Lab, let out an alarmed woof. The mounted rider in the rear yelled, "Bear!" The horse reared, the rider grabbed the pommel with both hands, and I...Read more

Save Your Back and Pack Your Ass

Sore shoulders, aching backs and stiff knees leave indelible memories for wilderness travelers approaching their fifties. Young couples with children hang their backpacks up in the garage, while others hide them in long forgotten places. One solution in answering the call of the wild is to replace...Read more