Young Mountains


Yesterday, RW and I hiked in a couple of hours to this beautiful lake in a gorgeous little cirque that featured jagged little picturesque peaks in the round.  The North Cascades are still growing and you can practically see them waving their stony fists in the air, reaching closer and closer to the sun.  We had the place to ourselves and we made the most of it!  You’d have loved it.  Oh!  I almost forgot!  The lake was flanked by a larch forest!  I strolled about for quite a while, petting the needles on those trees.  They’re soft as kittens and one of my favorite sorts of conifers.

We love fishing these kinds of lakes.  The trout that inhabit them are starving little things that can’t afford to pass up any food that lands in the water.  As a result, a girl and boy will bring in a fish on nearly every single cast.  They aren’t big fish, like I said, they’re starving, but they put up a lovely little fight with their tenacious spirits, and once held in hand a lady can fully appreciate their coloration, speckles and softly flashing sides before she removes the hook and sets them free once more. 

Additionally, alpine lakes are a great place to fly fish, there’s hardly anything to snag with a back cast!

Farley did a bit of swimming and managed to get water in his ears.
I inspected, quite closely, dozens of beautiful little cutthroat trout.
Gorgeous wonderful fish.
I watched RW do his business.
He was born to fish.
I’m convinced of it.
I basked in the landscape
and then laughed out loud when RW caught two trout at once!
He’s really that magical — a mythical beast of sorts.
We stayed until the sun dipped down beneath the overhanging peaks that wrap around this lake and then hiked back to the truck and made the trek back into town.
And then we fell asleep in each others arms 
and everything felt right with the world once more.

*Disclaimer*
I have to apologize for the quality of some of these shots — super bright, mid-day, neon sunshine lighting for most of them.  Ick.

Summer is………….

1.  Mosquitoes (there were plenty when I took this photo).
2.  Watermelon juice sliding down my arm and into my elbow-pit.
3.  Fishing Rainey Creek.
4.  My favorite fishing cover up shirt buttoned to the neck to keep the aforementioned mosquitoes out!
5.  Being at the lake, taking a dip in cold water, watching the pollens rise up off the conifers and take to the wind.

What is summer to you?


PS  Did I mention fishing?????……….

Les Poissons Les Poissons

A gentle drizzle.
An overcast sky.
Dressed in Gore-Tex and pink rubber boots.
The hugest fish I’ve ever had on sat still in the depths, steeled himself against the bite of my fly as I set it deep in his lip, shook his head once, snapped my line and stole my best streamer.
The glide of my canoe through water and the feel of a paddle in my hands.
Being with my man.
Driving home in the dark, following RW’s truck tail lights across the Fort Hall Reservation.
Satiating our appetites with BLT sandwiches at our tall farm table in our cozy kitchen.
A hot bath.
=
A priceless evening.