Category Archives: Uncategorized

Three Branches, Opening Day

Posted on April 8, 2021 by rivertoprambles

Opening day for trout in northern Pennsylvania offered excellent weather and an opportunity to reacquaint myself with the headwaters. For 35 years I’ve fished three branches of the Genesee (the East, Middle, and West) on the April opener for the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Amish, bait, Bliss Perry, brook trout, fly fishing, Genesee headwaters, heron, nature, opening day, poetry, The Wild Trout, Time, worm fishing, writing | 18 Comments

A Good Day For It

Posted on March 27, 2021 by rivertoprambles

The sunlit day was beautiful. I found myself fishing in the cold water (35 degrees F.) of a Pennsylvania river where the trout seemed few and far between. I did manage to capture and release a first brown trout of … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bamboo fly rod, birds, fly-fishing, Genesee River, Pennsylvania, poetry, technology, trout, wildlife | 15 Comments

Spring/ Sprung!

Posted on March 20, 2021 by rivertoprambles

I love all four seasons in New York, but spring… ah…. Two days ago I stepped out into the gray and misted dawn and listened to the first real song of the American robin. I accepted what I heard as … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged American robin, birds, environment, natural history, nature, On the Helderhill, poetry, Spring, tracks, Vernal Equinox, William Christman, woodchuck, writing | 17 Comments

The Pulse of the Run

Posted on March 16, 2021 by rivertoprambles

The deep woods hike in middle March was a tough climb through the melting snow, two miles up the Pennsylvania tributary, and back. I wrote of this mountain hollow in Beautiful Like a Mayfly, 2015: “The tributary flows through the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged birds, fishing, headwaters, hiking, nature, solitude, Spring, transitions, trees, tributaries, wakefulness, writing | 26 Comments

Pine Creek Anticipation

Posted on March 4, 2021 by rivertoprambles

Suddenly the sky was clear, and the temperature rose well above the freezing mark. Although the ice on local streams and rivers was only now beginning to crack and drift away, I drove to Pennsylvania eager to prepare for a … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged angling, anticipation, hiking, history, Izaac Walton, literature, nature, Pine Creek, reading, Sketch Book, Spring, Thomas Jefferson, Washington Irving, writing | 21 Comments

Winter Break

Posted on February 16, 2021 by rivertoprambles

The nasally, low-pitched notes of the nuthatch enter through my bedroom window (open even in winter and appreciated from beneath the comforters) and I sense my own reawakening. The white-breasted’s wha-wha-wha notes enter non-committedly, sliding in softly from the maples … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged birding, hiking, home, nature, photos, poetry, Spring, transitions, winter, writing | 27 Comments

The Phantom Bus and Other Observations

Posted on January 21, 2021 by rivertoprambles

So let us leave behind a country better than the one we were left with… From the stunning piece, “The Hill We Climb,” by Inaugural Poet, Amanda Gorman, 1/20/21. Amen. Walking slowly up the hill, I had the best chance … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged "The Hill We Climb", birds, changes, confrontation, fantasy, hiking, nature, phantom bus, preservation, ravines, science, tracking, travel, trees, wildness, winter walk, writing | 28 Comments

Two Ravens (Twa Corbies)

Posted on January 5, 2021 by rivertoprambles

The first days of the new year were an icy mess, although I still had a pleasant walk on the trail developed near the house. It’s been years since I’ve kept a feeder in the yard, but I still need … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged birding, birds, hiking, myths, nature, poetry, Raven, solitude, Twa Corbies, winter, writing | 21 Comments

A Glance at the Rearview Mirror

Posted on December 15, 2020 by rivertoprambles

As 2020 drives itself into the ground, a lot of us would say, Just let ‘er rip. Most would agree that the past year has been odd, to say the least, and, in some cases, down right tragic. From this … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 2020, cheer, Colorado, fishing, fly-fishing, holidays, Montana, national parks, photos, rearview mirror, Rocky Mountains, travel, Wyoming | 22 Comments

Looking for Survivors

Posted on November 21, 2020 by rivertoprambles

No, I wasn’t out investigating a local tragedy or searching the rubble in some post-apocalyptic nightmare, thankfully enough. I was simply on my autumn trout streams looking for survivors of a brutally hot and dry summer season that, reportedly, took … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged drought, environment, fishing, Genesee, literature, nature, poetry, rainbow, rivertops, search, survivors, trout, weather, Wings Over Water | 26 Comments