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A watery embrace

Fighting a fish on the upper St. Croix River

The wildness, beauty and joy of the upper St. Croix River really shines through in this piece from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel by Paul Smith, the paper’s outdoors editor.

We push off and begin a leisurely trip down the river. The banks are lined with alders, white cedar and an occasional white pine; the water is pocked with gray boulders.

The river here is Class 1, meaning “no worries.” Bartz paddles solo, Zeug and I share a canoe. We dwell around the deeper holes, casting with floating crank baits and soft plastics.

When the canoe scrapes bottom, we get out and pull. The water is 70 degrees Fahrenheit, a near match for the air.

“I think I’ll just stand here for a while,” says Zeug, standing calf-deep in a gurgling, natural Jacuzzi.

He wouldn’t have to move because of river traffic or bank-side voyeurs: over five hours, we don’t see another human being.

The description of their stop for lunch, which closes the article, is alone worth the read.

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-Drawing by Wade
I'm a writer and Web communications practitioner with a bias toward conservation issues--particularly regarding public lands and waters.

I grew up in Stillwater, MN and have primarily lived in St. Paul and the surrounding area for the past 10 years. The outdoors are a big part of my life, as are music, film, art, and my lovely wife and dog. More...

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Esker - Volume 2 - Nowhere Else But HereI have published two volumes of a chapbook titled "Esker." The most recent volume, "Nowhere Else But Here," was released in January 2010. It features writings from every day of June 2009 in an old Japanese form called haibun.

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