Seven days out from race day, we had no snow. It wasn’t looking good. We had a January thaw that removed most of our snow. A deep freeze turned all the remaining snow into ice. Then there was a blip on the weather forecast. A storm appeared. The first model runs showed 5-8″. Optimism! Following models showed as little as 1″ and as much as … Continue reading Let’s Loppet
When we think of a wild place, we envision a place far from the reaches of man. A place pure and untouched. A place rugged and natural. If you were to travel 10,000 years back in time, this place would look the same. How many of these places have you seen? Or have you even heard of? Alaska’s Chuitna River is one of those places. … Continue reading Save the Chuitna
When you’ve got a mean case of stircraziness, any chance to get outside is an opportunity you seize. (Yes, I know that stircraziness isn’t a real word, but if you felt it, you’d understand.) So we made a plan to head east on I94 and fish the Rush River. It’s been warm around here lately. Spring is slowly showing its lovely face. Days have been … Continue reading Winter Trout
Minnehaha Falls is a popular park in south Minneapolis. Springtime finds prom couples taking photos, summertime means crowds at the park restaurant and fall makes for colorful picnics and piles of oak leaves. The real attraction shows itself when the crowds disperse and the temperature drops. The water of Minnehaha Creek falls 53 feet from a limestone ledge to the pool below. If you follow … Continue reading Explore Before the Thaw
When you spend a full winter without a fish on the line, you can understand why I would question if bringing my fishing gear to Montana is worth it. My trip was meant for skiing and breweries. Adding waders, rods and reels, a net, boots and fish food to a compact car full of three people (including myself) and ski gear wasn’t on a list … Continue reading Winter on the Gallatin
The Thousand Year Journey: Oregon To Patagonia from Kenny Laubbacher on Vimeo. If there were a video that ever resonated with me, it is this one. I’ve shared it here before, but I feel the need to share it again because it rings so true with me. My post about 2015 was inspired by this video. To live a full, interesting and wonderful life, we … Continue reading Why Explore More?
Dreams can provide a look into your subconscious. Many people believe dreams show you how you truly feel. Between self-insight and overall absurdity, I enjoy my time in the dreamscape. I’m not one who deeply analyzes my dreams, but if something is obvious, I devote some thought to it. Cyclocross consumed my dreams the other night. I dreamt I was on my Niner RLT9 Steel … Continue reading CX Dreaming
Not more than 36 hours after getting home from Montana, I found myself driving east to spend some time with Rush River trout. This is the first year that the Wisconsin trout season opened at the first of the year. In previous years, we had to wait until March. I’m OK with an early season. Last year was not a good year on the river. … Continue reading Get To It
Or, Why I am Looking Forward to 2016. I started writing this post in the passenger seat of my Subaru on January 1 while speeding back to Minnesota from Big Sky, Montana. Now it is two weeks later and I’ve had more time to think about 2015 and the year ahead. We had a good year, 2015. A great 12 months. I fished in four … Continue reading 2015
We had a fake tree when I was growing up. My dad would bring the massive box up from the basement and he and I would remove its contents, matching up groups of branches by colored pain on their steel ends. Each branch was a series of wires, which could be shaped to make the tree appear more full. It dropped plastic needles on the … Continue reading Tree Hunting
Birch & Flannel 