TR 2 - TENN, part 1

wrote in message i can't express my
disappointment at not being able to fish
slickrock with the boys from out west. i have only fished it two
times, but i consider it to be a mystical place--a place that tolkien
would have woven into some part of a tale or two.

Indian Joe offers---think I have fished Slickrock six or seven times in last
ten years--first time I dropped down from fat-gap trail and almost expired
on hike out after a full day of rock hopping in stream.
Remember it as worse than some back pack training runs in paratrooper
training. Got on wrong trail for an hour going up and had to drop back down
and start up again. Was so tired when I achieved van that I could hardly
untie my boots. Memory of second trip down includes hearing what I thought
was a hornets nest beside trail and finding instead under a bush a five or
six foot timber rattler. Guess he is still there as I did not interfere.
Next trip I hiked in by lakeside trail --Middleton in his book " On The
Spine of Time"
writes about hiking this route almost daily with his friend "Tewkbury".
Think this portion of his writing extends very much toward fiction. My
next trip was a streamside hike in with Fontenberry.---I was so worn out
after three days of claving that I stopped half way upstream to have sardine
lunch while Ken went of next waterfall to see large browns leaping the
falls. Sorry I missed that sight as the history of Slickrock is built
around the large browns that inhabit the pools there. Last fall I again
hiked along lakeside into steam with Jeff but found as I had grown older
the trail had almost doubled in length and the hills were almost twice as
high .
fish were few until I took rest to ponder hike out and Miller went
upstream to find a big pool of brookies.
best memories of year I kayaked over , caught a big rainbow { cherished
belief in area says. they are descendants of steelhead stocked long ago in
the lake ]---pulled kayak on bank and hiked upstream to second falls.Even
caught a few fish. If you have suffered thru all these words think you can
tell Slickrock is on of my favorite mountain streams----and I hope to paddle
over and camp for a couple of nights this fall---as Middleton says----"The
flyfisherman comes to a mountain stream and knows it as he knows a good
friend."