Lakes have been on our minds, for reasons both seasonal and otherwise. So before summer gets away from us, an issue devoted to life by the water.
Stories worth reading. Stop indexing the internet.
Once More to the Lake by E.B White
Wisconsin Supper Clubs
“Childhood memories may be haunted but the relish tray abides” [County Highways]
“Lake Tahoe” from Roughing It by Mark Twain
The Lake Effect
“At Mountain Lake, where the Dirty Dancing lift was filmed, the lake drained into the earth in 2008 and never came back. The bartender still plays the movie above the liquor bottles and recites the lines five seconds ahead. Tourists ask why they don’t just fix it.” [Oxford American]
The Lake Monsters of America
“Fish Man-Goat Terrifies Couples Parked at Lake Worth” [Atlas Obscura]
How the Most Popular Sailboat Ever Was Invented
“The Sunfish taught millions of Americans to seize the breeze” [Smithsonian]
What to Bring
Everyday Mountaineering Hemp-Tech Shorts
Tom Bihn Monster Truck
Finisterre Portell Wool 1/4 Zip Fleece
Mephisto Hurrikan
Sentinel Basecamp Chair
Lapo’s Nigroni Water
Foris Outdoors Fishing pants
Viyella Long Sleeve Cotton & Linen Sport Shirt - Blue & Buff Plaid
What to Read
Ninety-two in the Shade by Thomas McGuane
A Good Day to Die by Jim Harrison
The Survival of the Bark Canoe by John McPhee
Memories
I grew up going to Pinecrest Lake in the Sierra Nevada every summer. I was seven or eight when I caught my first fish, a rainbow trout near the dam. The line zigzagged through the water as I reeled it in.
My grandfather showed me how to hold the fish so the spines wouldn’t stab me. Then he took it and smacked it against a rock. I can still hear the sound. He showed me how to gut it, and we ate it that night. I’ve eaten a lot of fish since, and none of it has tasted as good. — TS
That McPhee book is amazing, one of my favorites
I just came back from a trip to Key West, and rode my bike around all the old haunts from McGuane/Harrison era Key West.