Sunday morning there was a chill in the air. An actual, honest-to-god, chill in the air! The black coffee smelled and tasted so good in that crisp air and my flannel shirt felt so comfortable.

This summer has been unbearable. It's been too hot to move. The humidity has been thick and heavy hanging around with no relief.

Forests have been shut down because of crazy people.

Guide trips have consumed whole seven day weeks with no sign of relief.

The "tubber" and swimming hole hatches have been abounding.

Summer has been unbearable.

But, Sunday morning...

There was just enough of a change in the air to get you going and really get you excited about the day. The roads led us up and around into Pisgah, to views we hadn't seen in a while and rivers our feet hadn't touched. We picked a little stream close to a trail head but arrived before any hikers or any other anglers. It was calm and quiet and just what we needed.

The most beautiful sight of all was all the little rainbows! Ranging in size from too small to even bite the fly to eight inches, all bubbling up all around us. All so ambitious you had to stop and admire their tenacity.

For me, the best fishing trips are not the record breaking ones or the "exotic" ones, but rather the ones that make you sit back, slow down, and simply admire everything that's around you. I try my hardest to make every fishing trip, every hike like that, but I'm easily distracted by all the noise.

I needed a cool, quite day if just to block out the noise.