Oregon Fly Fishing Blog up and running

We launched OregonFlyFishingBlog.com this week, in partnership with OneMuleTeam and The Caddis Fly Shop in Eugene, Oregon. Check it out — it’s our first foray into “pro” blogging. Give me any feedback or advice and thanks for reading.
 NOTE: This new blog will not replace Upstream in Oregon, but most of my fishing writing going forward [...]

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Photos: Marsh’s Free Museum — Long Beach WA

Back in high school my pal Adam always assumed I’d have an alligator baby. This crazy tourist trap in Long Beach, Washington Marsh’s Free Museum actually spawned the alligator baby image that ran in the Weekly World News and eventually became my mascot. It was like meeting a long lost relative. Here are the photos:

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Top reasons Astoria is my new favorite Oregon Coast town

We spent last weekend in Astoria, Oregon for the Fisher Poets gathering and got to know the town a little better. The place is currently my favorite Oregon Coast town for a variety of reasons:

Number One: The city is being watched over by the cynical, satirical eye of Astoria Rust. I had my first celebrity [...]

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Lots of bald eagles at Leadbetter State Park, WA

I’m way behind on posting, I’ve got so much stuff to write I don’t know where to start, so I picked this because it was the easiest. Last weekend, KP and I were in Astoria, Oregon and it rocked. On a side trip, we headed up to Washington to Leadbetter State Park and we saw [...]

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RIP: Print magazine outdoors writing

Sid Evans has left the building folks.
While I’m sure most of you haven’t read Field & Stream since Jr. High study hall, it means you missed the Renaissance of outdoors writing over the last few years, spearheaded by this magazine and Salt Water Sportsman, formerly headed up by David DiBennedetto.
F&S former editor Sid Evans promoted [...]

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Seafood, blues fest washes up in Twin Peaks-ish town on Oregon Coast

I travel to a lot of random stuff in Oregon because my fiancee is addicted to fests. So when the atmospheric inversion socked Eugene into 40-degree temps and impenetrable fog, we skipped town and headed for the sunny coast last weekend. We ended up heading to the Wine, Beer, Seafood, & Music Festival – Confluence [...]

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Bizarre number of Oregon blog comments deny climate change?

My life is currently mired in the climate change debate. I just finished Elizabeth Kolbert’s Field Notes from a Catastrophe. I spent the last week in Washington DC lobbying Oregonian members of congress on the issue. And I’ve been blogging about it — and some other blogs have picked up on the topic (WestFly has [...]

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Oregon Winter steelhead explode into my life

So if you follow the Mule, you’ve probably heard. I caught not one, but two wild winter steelhead last weekend. I’d talk some smack, but he gave me his rod and tied a nail knot for me. Also, I expect to do a longer post on this once the new for-profit fly fishing blog starts [...]

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New books: The Future of Nature, selected by Barry Lopez

The most important new book of 2008 so far is The Future of Nature, essays selected by Barry Lopez from Orion magazine. This book deals with the disconnect between man and nature [thanks to Alex and Amy who both sent me that story] and how that schism is allowing the most technologically advanced and self-aware [...]

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Wyden versus Smith: The office aura

As many of you know, I spent this week in Washington DC with Oregonian legislators and I thought it might be interesting to contrast the offices of our Senators, Ron Wyden and Gordon Smith.
Smith’s office is opulent, in an almost caricatured rich guy sort of way. Bronze statues, fireplace, high ceilings, huge mirrors, cloying cut [...]

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