I was sitting having a cigar on a warm summer night listening to my IPOD and watching the stars, when an old Chris LeDoux ...

Editor's note: As is often the case, this post/article is continued in the next post in the forums. Becoming a smallstreams.com member is free, and always will be. Why not join us in the forums and share your own fly fishing tales and read the rest of this story? -Gus

On our last visit, I had been telling you about my fishing trip into the backcountry of the Little Yosemite Valley and describing how I had managed to survive the hike and had even managed to catch a few fish the very first afternoon. So after all of the hiking and the fishing it is no surprise that I fell into a deep dreamless sleep content and happy with the world.

I woke to the sound of two of my three tent mates, through hikers who were on a 50 mile circular dash around the Yosemite back country, stirring to get their stuff packed so they could grab a quick breakfast and be off on another 10 or 12 mile stroll. I giggled to myself thinking that I could just roll back over and go back to sleep for a while and that all I had to do for the next two days was fish, rest and maybe fish some more …….. and oh yeah smoke a cigar and have a sip of bourbon while watching the wonderful scenery of Yosemite change color and texture with the various different phases of the day’s light. ...

Editor's Note: This is part one of a two part story that rbaileydav wrote... if you want to read the rest of the story, join us as a registered member of smallstreams.com!

You can’t be lost………………… if you don’t know where you are going. That is one of life’s truest statements and one of life’s greatest luxuries. I am not a “young un” anymore and to be honest, I am a hell of a lot closer to fifty that I care to admit….. read that as less than another calendar year, but when I have a chance to disappear into the woods with my backpack strapped on and no specific destination in mind that is a true luxury. I recently had a business trip scheduled for late in the week in Portland Me. I can hear you guys out there already, so yes I know my business schedule doesn’t suck all that much does it … regardless of how much I might pregnant dog about it. ...

Sometimes life throws you curve balls you can’t hit and the world just seems to be a joke I don’t get. My personal life has been in a shambles lately and I don’t seem to have the ability or capability to change it. I actually caught myself driving down the road on a beautiful early summer morning, headed out on a fishing trip, thinking about my marital options and solutions and realized that I was so very sad that tears were rolling slowly out of my eyes, of course I blamed it on the sun and the wind since the top was down but even I couldn’t convince myself that was really it, I was actually crying. Well after making a few indelicate and certainly not politically correct remarks about what lingerie I must be wearing and a stern “get your shit together” lecture I shifted my thoughts to my “home waters” which fortunately for me I was actually in route to. It had been way to long since I had visited my old friend and we all know that the special bond with your home water is something that always makes you feel better. As I came over the next hill top and dropped down into the valley I couldn’t help but smile at the towering ridges which shown in a shadowy blue relief against the mid morning summer haze. I could see the heat shinning through the distance, even though it was not quite yet June. My face actually broke into a smile as I crossed the river for the first time and realized that it was running at a perfect depth and with just a very, very light shade of color which those of us who fish her regularly, know always makes the fishing better than normal. ...