When fall comes to the north country, the crowds are thin, the temperatures cooler, and the fishing as exciting as ever. In what has become almost an annual trip for me, a float down the Madison at the end of September is an amazing way to bid farewell to the summer. I’ve got a relative…

It started innocently enough on Thursday August 7th in the dark of night. I sat on my back patio near the Big Wood River as the wind howled through the towering cottonwoods, strong enough that they bent, but didn’t break. There were a few trees down in the neighborhood the next day however. It blew,…