Rain Dance

There are two silver linings in this 10 day fog monsoon that has been rolling through the Northern U.P. One is that the mosquitos have been kept at bay. I swear I'm not naive to think moving back to the U.P. would not present some bug problems. I was fully prepared - it goes with the territory. Expected, but numerous and annoying none-the-less. Kind of like the fleet of Subarus in and around Marquette proper.

The other is that the creek is now flowing at spring snow melt levels. The bug damper and 18 inch rise in water flow gave me enough incentive to go on my first exploratory river hike last night and it did not disappoint.

Nelson Creek: 4

Dave: 1

As a resident of East Lansing, spontaneous fishing excursions consisted of a 1.5 hour drive to the nearest decent trout water to try my luck at hatchery trout along with the 5,000 other guys from the Lansing and Grand Rapids areas. Certainly better than not fishing at all, but wild brookies in your backyard is a welcome change indeed - just the right medicine after a day at the library.

Like most Yoopers right now I'm ready for God to turn off the water works, but in a few weeks I'll welcome instructions on performing a good rain dance.