Foreshadowing? Fishing in Wyoming last winter.
I revved up Lightroom the morning with full intensions to pull three images for this post. Three. That should sum up the year, right?
I was wrong.
2013 was a hell of a year. Sometimes I get to thinking too much in my head and wish I had done more. Squeezed more in. Traveled and adventured just a bit more. We all do that, I guess. Looking back through the past year’s images, I feel a little bit better.
And so damn fortunate.
The past year was one large adventure unto itself. I started the new year in the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming, working on special assignments for a newspaper. I then journeyed to Montana’s Missouri River to spend the season working with Headhunters Fly Shop, a crew I will always view as one of the best in the business and remember with mighty fine memories.
After the season, I headed out to Seattle for two months, and then traveled down to Austin to work on a few projects throughout December.
Quite literally on the first day of 2014 I will pack the Subaru once more and depart for the newest adventure – working in Vermont as Orvis’s outdoor copywriter. I’ll continue to work full force freelance as well, and am looking forward to new territory, new friends and new adventures.
And, as with all adventures, there have been ups and downs – some of them rather spectacular.
Thanks to everyone who has made this year truly awesome. Memories are filled less with places and more with people, and I feel like I made a new family on the Missouri this summer. I’ve met all manner of people along the way who have effected me in ways I could not have imagined. New friends were made on the river, in the fly shop and on the road. I learned, I stretched, I broke and built.
I spent a week with the U.S. military and ran an obstacle course and did PT with new recruits.
I was part of a gang of “river pirates” in one of the best fly shops in the world.
I learned to tenkara fish with Yvon Chouinard on a gorgeous Idaho River.
I learned to ice climb in Jackson Hole, and shredded up Jackson Hole Mountain Resort on the back of a maintenance snowmobile.
And 2013 was the best year, hands down, for freelance work. I’ve been lucky enough to work with editors who will send me off to chase forest fires with wild land fire fighting teams and listen to my rampant ideas of charged fishing conservation features.
Here’s a brief look at some of 2013’s highlights:
Fly fishing the Puget Sound on a magical foggy morning.
Fishing with Yvon Chouinard. With flies he hand tied.
Cold spring days on the Missouri.
Hanging with the Headhunters crew… (faux) fights and drinking and all. Love those guys.
Quiet days on the Missouri.
Fun with shuttle sheets. We did not actually shuttle a Lamborghini from Key Largo.
Magic summer nights doing late-night shuttles.
The Fourth of July with Headhunters.
So thanks, all, for an amazing 2013. You all made this worthwhile. I look forward to meeting more of you in the coming year, and hopefully fishing together on some newfound rivers.
