I'll start with today:
Went up to go hiking under the falls after work (from home) and saw a guy fishing at the bottom of the trail. I was hoping I wouldn't get locked in because it was getting late, but I had to stop and just watch. He was fly-fishing and after a few minutes, I saw him catch one! A surprise for me, since I usually see people fishing in my hikes and I never see them catch any. Maybe it was because it was late and nobody was around, or maybe he knew what he was doing. Well he called me over as he was releasing what he caught and we chatted it up a bit, and while doing so I saw him catch another one!
He talked about how fly fishing was the real way to go, and how he makes his own flies; in this case in particular he made it look like a mayfly emerging from the water.
It was great to see someone fish like that, making it seem so effortless. He mentioned that he caught 4 in the past 15 minutes and around 11 in the past 2 hours.
Sunlight was fading and I knew we had to go so we started our way back up, and talked along the way. Neat guy, this Derrick. From Ireland, judging from his accent. Good thing I met him too because on the way back down we DID get locked in, but he somehow knew the combination of one of the locks. No wonder he didn't seem to fret about the time while he was fishing. Well, it was nice of him to walk back up with me then if he didn't really have to.
So what's so special about meeting this person? Not much I suppose but it fits in with my recent phase of restructuring my life. I should say re-balancing. Work has been quite mechanical just recently, and despite me loving the art of it, I feel like I have put a lot of what I really value in living, aside. Yeah it's happened before and will happen again, but I am glad that I am still able to recognize what's really important in my life and get to getting it back on track when I get derailed.
So here's a guy who was fishing because he, too, was trying to escape the sometimes unavoidable trap of this modern lifestyle. "Just taking the rod out to his church under the woods," he told his wife.
So what will I do now? Well, I'm gonna keep on hiking. I'm trying to hike more in the wee hours before I go to work. It's a shame I cannot get home early enough to hike a good hike, and a shame that I sometimes don't wake up early enough to go before work, but today was a good day, and I'm gonna keep trying. I miss the solitary peacefulness up there. I'll take birdsong over traffic sounds any day.
Cool day. Then after shaking hands and going our separate ways, he looked back and said, in his Irish accent, "Hey, you should take a special girl out here for a nice hike, y'know!"
o_O um, yeah, i... try? I thought that was a bit out of the blue, but hey, thanks for lookin' out! I did not say those things btw, but i thought them. ^_^
The End.
I was told by the owner that in Yemen, there are some who can scry the future with the patterns left in the cup. All I saw was that I needed more. :d I must find some here in LA.
[What does it say?]
There's a story here somewhere...
I think my box of grass is liking the April showers we've been getting as much as I have. I went out to look for worms to put in the box, but I don't think I was early bird enough. Perhaps tomorrow.
Click pic to view slideshow
Horsefly? Yes. Because as soon as you get above the clouds, you're greeted by another type of cloud: that of a million blood-sucking horse flies. Relentless beasts, that prolly haven't fed on human blood in a while. At least it seemed that way. And if you slowed down for even one bit, they get more aggressive, attacking your face, making us keep an unforgiving pace up the already tough climb.
It's like the forest was trying to shoo us away. Luckily we met a guy that shared some of his bug-spray with us. We were already at the top, but it was still a welcome reprieve. They still swarmed, but at least they stopped biting.
Aside from that, the hike was pretty cool. Being under and inside the clouds was nice. The view above them was awesome (in between shooing flies.) (Towel was extra handy for this) Brawny the dog was a trooper. I wish he was a pet frog, or praying mantis though. Or pet giant spider web. Or pet blow-torch...yeah! (not really. only you can prevent forest fires.)
Mileage: - About 12.2 miles
Casualties:
- Maybe 7 flies. (not in one blow) (they feel like tiny raisins when you brush them off)
- My feet. 3 blisters. Yeah, pretty steep going down. Might need new shoes.
- Our sunny disposition.
Highlight of the hike:
- Getting back to the parking lot and sitting down with a can of cold cream soda.
- 2nd highlight: Peanut butter and jelly sandwich mm. Crunchy.
Started at 8am in chantry flats, got back to the lot at 5pm. Decent hike. Wouldn't do it again, at least not when the flies are around. -_-
Why is it that I always do these extreme hikes with Mel? Good times.
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