Tag Archives: Thoreau

Quiet Angler

Posted on April 8, 2024 by rivertoprambles

“… I might go a-fishing. That’s the true industry for poets.” — H.D. Thoreau To catch and release the wild fish, he is quiet on approach and works to keep himself small inside the landscape. He enjoys the solitude and … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged art, books, coming-up, fly-fishing, gratitude, headwaters, nature, poetry, roc-the-eclipse, solar eclipse, Thoreau, upper Genesee River, writing | 17 Comments

More Than Fish That We Are After

Posted on October 19, 2022 by rivertoprambles

I’ve returned to fly-fishing the local rivers and smaller streams, my first solo outings on the water in quite some time. These were modest outings, casting bamboo and smaller graphite rods, catching and releasing a few nice browns that rose … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged autumn, fishing, fly-fishing, nature, poetry, prose, streamers, Thoreau, trout, writing | 19 Comments

Another Glance at Greylock

Posted on May 20, 2022 by rivertoprambles

As a kid I spent a decade growing up on a hill near Albany, NY and had a backyard view of both the Catskill Mountains, to the west, and the Berkshires to the south and east. You could say that … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Bersksires, culture, fishing, Greylock, Melville, mountains, nature, Thoreau, Time, travel, writing | 22 Comments

Thoreau’s Cape Cod

Posted on October 16, 2020 by rivertoprambles

The kids arranged a pleasant cottage rental for us on Cape Cod. The large pitch pines and pin oaks standing by the roadside in the Town of Dennis caught the pre-dawn hooting of a great horned owl and staged the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Atlantic, Cape Cod, desert, freedom, hiking, history, minke whales, national seashore, nature, Nauset, Pilgrims, Provincetown, sea, shipwreck, Thoreau, travel, Wellfleet, writing | 22 Comments

Pilgrimage

Posted on December 18, 2019 by rivertoprambles

Walden, written by Henry David Thoreau, has been a favorite book of mine for nearly 45 years. I’ve long appreciated this record of a life well-spent and, thus, have long resisted the temptation of visiting the book’s post-glacial centerpiece near … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged American Revolution, Authors' Ridge, Concord, Emerson, freedom, history, Massachusetts, pilgrimage, Thoreau, Transcendentalists, Walden Pond, walking, writing | 15 Comments

Fishing the Lost Terrain

Posted on May 6, 2019 by rivertoprambles

I’ve got this notion of a “lost terrain” and think I might discover it through my wanderings. Hiking with a walking stick or fishing with an artificial fly, I imagine there’s a special place that’s close at hand, mysterious but … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged fishing, hiking, home, landscape, lost terrain, nature, photos, poetry, Thoreau, wildness, writing | 14 Comments

A Small Stream Fantasy

Posted on March 19, 2019 by rivertoprambles

At last the upstate temperature had risen into the 50s, and snow-melt rushed down from the hills. In this topsy-turvy world of climate change, the New York weather might now be warmer (again) than the winds of Barrow, Alaska. Oh, … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged community, dreams, environments, essay, fantasy, freedom, nature, poetry, reality, sense of place, small stream, Spring, Thoreau, wild, writing | 12 Comments

Over the Brow of Winter’s Hill

Posted on January 9, 2019 by rivertoprambles

Tim and I got out on New Year’s Day, resuming our tradition of hitting the brow of winter right between the eyes. Eighteen Mile Creek was new to both of us. We’d known about it, and were thankful that our … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Eighteen Mile Creek, Genesee River, John Bartles, music, nature, Oak Orchard, poetry, skunk cabbage, steelhead, Thoreau, traditions, trout, winter fly-fishing, writing | 20 Comments

Alternative Programming

Posted on January 19, 2017 by rivertoprambles

It was a pleasant January weekend. Although the air temperature on Sunday rose no higher than the freezing point, the Morning Star lent a blue dome overhead and even managed to push some brightness into the Pine Creek Gorge where my wife and I enjoyed a … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged brook trout, fisher, fly-fishing, hiking, MLK(Jr.), mountain stream, nature, otter, Pennsylvania, photography, Pine Creek Gorge, poetry, The Wild Trout, Thoreau, Twin Pine Tavern, writing | 18 Comments

Winter Hike, a Witness on the Hill

Posted on January 13, 2015 by rivertoprambles

1. It’s too cold to fly fish. I’ll forget about the car. Turn off the computer, phone, and all blinking and beeping gadgets, and set sail for a hill walk in the neighborhood. I’ll dress well for the January snow and … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged beauty, centralization, country tales, coyote, deer, Greenwood, Muir, natural balance, natural history, naturalist, nature, technology, Thoreau, village, winter birds, winter hike | 8 Comments