A teenage tree sits at the bottom of many steps
You can tell it is a teenager because it is not too big and gnarled
It is real cold.
It is real cold and the tree is alive and sits in that cold day and night
The tree hears the echoes from outer space
It is very quite and sometimes dark but never really dark and never really quite
Within a few hundred miles are caverns, the darkness is incomparable
Up the stairs the trees’ owner has an office.
A receptionist answers and makes you feel warm
Much warmer then the tree.
Inside are sentient beings moving back and forth
Busy little bees
No time for nonsense
Measured, refined, continuously improved
There is also a giant space on a hill connected to the building
Lots of things and beeping noises
And warmth where you least expect it
It looks confusing at first and second
It is an orchestra and the music is the sound of efficiency
Sometimes the music is loud and sometimes soft but the music never stops.
Boxes have lines on them your eyes can’t read
The are very important. In the big space the lines are more important then the things
Over the years the music is updated and no longer do they sing the oldest songs but those songs are never far away ‘cuase things can break

The composer has some new songs he is thinking of. They are shorter and more refined.
Some of the sentient beings took a trip nearby
There were hills and mountains and streams and water that dropped from the sky at 32º. It did not really drop it floated. I mean they… lots of them. I don’t know where they went. I did not see them after they dropped. I am sure they did not disappear
Cold defined everything.
Dangerous cold
Pneumonia cold
Even colder then that. Jump up and down cold.
The colder the better… real men
Suiting up. Ready for whatever this harsh place tosses out.
The colors are muted, the details and volume of touches are unfathomable
Everything is on the ground but the ground is in the air.. We are in a narrow valley the walls surround us dead leaves lay as a blanket all around.
Moss.
A stream defines it
Trees line the walls
Cold trees
Grey cold trees
They’ll spring to life when it gets warm
But now they are cold… I am really cold… freezing
So we take our rods and start learning.. in the cold. It is hard to concentrate everything is new and wild. Can I really walk on water without tripping? Cold water?
The fly casting is ok… I am sure that I would scare everything within as far as they can see. Maybe I will get lucky. It does not matter I am cold and it is so cool to be out here in the wild I am sure this will take me places I did not imagine.
Let’s take a hike
Let’s see this place
It is so cold we walk to get the blood going and the thermal clothes started
I see them. The prey. The hunter and the hunted not more then a shimmer.
They are busy reading the stream.
The water is never the same. It is moving fast and there are lots of things in the water.
I cant really see them
But they are there
Little things... the hatch… the bugs just beginning to arrive from a long sleep
We start climbing. It is beautiful. Nothing can describe this place. No words can connect you back to this place. You don’t even want words to connect you. You must feel it. Become a part of it. Breath it… it is cold. Refreshing.
We keep climbing. I hear the water running faster. We are confronted with giant cycloptic rocks. Put there by some super natural beings. The water falls over the rocks and splashes hard and fast.
Perfect for walking into cold but protected.
We cast
The fly starts its dance in the sky
It drops and sinks and we catch little trout.
Wild trout. They are scared and must be incredibly cold themselves. The hunter caught the prey. Steals a photo and lets it go. Safe to grow.
This place how I imagine heaven.
Except for the cold
We fiddle around and find a flask of whisky
Finally warm, finally in the groove
There is hope for a novice but not much credit from a seasoned fisherman. Casting into the waterfall a captured audience resting below waits. The noise above is good cover for a novice.
I instinctively know this is easy catching but what the hell. When a novice just be a novice and smile from ear to ear.
How can you ever give back as much as was given this day? Cult initiation. Hooked, Proselytize “the way of life”
Its cold, where is that flask?
It’s not cold anymore
One word, phenomenal
Real fisherman can’t handle our bliss. We need to get back to thinking and hunting.
How can you get that one… that tough one…? I ponder.
This place seems like is so remote and these fish have been waiting here all winter.
Only later I find this is a popular spot and these fish have already been caught by our team so why would they let us catch them again. These guys shut down when they are disturbed… I shut down when I am disturbed too!
We walk. Ponder, challenge
Get into it... one more shot to keep the warmth… enjoy the day
The wild, cold, expanse, with moving water that I can walk on and fish caught... wild ones, good company exercising innate hunting blood.
I am walking on water!
The day starts to fade and we leave.
Good food, friends, bonding.
Still not much credit for the pond in front of the falls… oh well no one could have expected much of the new guys.
Finally in my room thinking about the day. I can’t explain it. Can’t even describe it... the description would take away the deep focus, the imprint as it makes its way deeper to learning.

Back to the tree. Remember the little one in front of the steps. Look at it closely it has chrysalis’s on it. Life upon life. Connected in a circle of life.
The building at the top of the steps.
Something about bugs
Hatching
And then fish taking them
And the sentient beings letting them go ‘cept for a picture of course
That is a well refined business
That is a way of life
…and I have been lucky enough to be given a path that is well charted to follow and age gracefully.

... and the tree it will grow
... and the chrysalis it will return next season
... and the hatchlings too
... for as long as we care and conserve generation after generation.
One word … Orvis



A poem by a novice spending a day with the experts from Orvis.
I predict this novice will be out there again soon!