Eternity

[spinner1]

I have fished this stretch for over 20 years and had never seen this magnificent rock draw. Other years the leaves obscured my field of vision. It appeared to be one solid rock ledge that was impregnable. Recently I fished the stretch in the dead of winter and this virtual "road not taken" was almost magically there before me.

There it was on the other side of the waterway. I sat down on the stream bank for a good long while and admired the steps that father time had cut in the rock ledge with the help of mother nature. I was fairly certain that this path to the future and the past had never been traveled before by any human due it being so far back in the middle of nowhere. It was a true metaphor of life there before me.

I had walked by this exact spot 100 times in the last 20 years and had not seen this wonder that time had created. The snow was drifted there and the path still looked precarious. The stream was deep and I would have had to walk back down stream quite a ways to get to the other side. The rock ledge down stream was closer to the water and made the trek across a swim not a wade. This made the crossing impossible that cold dark winter day.

I sat there and thought about life and its detours and wrong turns. I took this picture and went on my way fishing. As I fished upstream I was a bit melancholy that I was unable to at least walk to the head of the draw and look over the summit into eternity.

I thought about revisiting this place on a warmer day and take my chances and see what was on the other side. I looked back down stream to the place in the snow that I had sat on the bank for such a long time. Today was a fine day to keep fishing. I decided to not look back and continue forward not back. My sadness was replaced with a smile and on I trekked.

[Catspaw]

Hey spinner 1
A beautiful picture and a better story. Thank you for sharing this.
Peace.
Mark
ps Len...that you?

[spinner1]

Len...yes......

in frigid wisconsin

[Catspaw]

Right next door in frigid Michigan but the last few days have not been kind to our 2 feet of snow as there is mostly bare ground which I guess is better than ground bear.
I must get over to the driftless; unfortunately Chicago is between us. I have not fished there since 1973. After moving to Waupaca County in 1974 I got my trout fix nearly every week there and as we were having kids, the family thing was good.
and
I still like that story.
Mark
ps I have been a member of FAOL since 1998 but got tossed in the great computer glitch in the early 21st Century, and then was booted again last year through no fault of mine(my story and I'm sticking to it.). So I see I am still a Junior member..o well... c'est la vie!

[sagefisher]

Len,

I really enjoyed the photo and story. I agree with your last paragraph, you decided not to look back and continued forward. But still, you never know what is on the other side, maybe another stream or just a nice patch of woodlands or a small meadow, or ...............? If you ever go there, take a picture and let us know what is there.

Larry ---sagefisher---