Yesterday, it was a beautiful spring day in Colorado with a bluebird sky and temperatures reaching the 80’s.
Like many Americans, I struggled with the news of the senseless massacre in Uvalde, Texas. It sure seems that we, as a country, have not moved the ball forward in terms of school safety since April 20, 1999.
I decided to make the ninety minute drive to one of the two most beautiful canyons in Colorado. Watching courageous rock climbers and trying to fool wily trout in 11 mile canyon was therapeutic.
On the way home, I took the back way through Woodland Park heading to Deckers. Manitou Lake is about halfway to Deckers and very scenic. In the parking lot, Joe was taking off his chest waders with his drift tube resting against his Jeep. We had a nice chat and he too lives in Denver. He related that he’d caught quite a few rainbows using a small white Woolly Bugger.
Joe and the very young cowboy have much in common with loving to fish and multiple joint replacements to help us navigate rivers and streams.
I said goodbye and soon was casting my bugger imitation called a Baby Gonga. Just as Joe said, the fish couldn’t resist.
Walking back to the parking lot, I looked to the south and had another ‘WoW’ moment looking at the majestic, snow covered Pikes Peak. A WoW occurred earlier in the canyon as I stopped casting for a few minutes and looked downstream to take in the wonder of the beautiful river snaking its way between magnificent huge boulders one has to see to appreciate.
How cool to hear the rock climbers conversations as they artfully made their way to the summit.
The ride home brought more thoughts and prayers for those in Texas and Buffalo. The time is now to move the ball forward and get solutions in place. If we can send $400 billion plus to Ukraine, surely we can apply the resources to stop this madness.
I will write more about Baby Gonga and his plight tomorrow.
How fortunate to have the mountains, lakes, and the rivers as sanctuaries when cities are so chaotic.
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