ALDO LEOPOLD’S UNDERWORLD TROUT

I had hiked down a heavily switch-backed trail that ran among sagebrush and young mule deer. The Big Lost River flowed past my feet. Its surface was alive with cutthroat trout eating bugs.

Completely alone, I had no reason to hurry. The Tao of Trout Fishing in America says that hurry never brings the future faster than it will come on its own.

Aldo Leopold knew this as he dropped the reins and watched his farm rewild.

I carried A Sand County Almanac in my pack when I fished alone. The book was good company — especially Round River. Leopold was not a very good trout fisherman, but he knew his Ecology.