Waking up with a Steelhead River

When your cell phone rings your bell loudly at 5am and the fun of last night is pounding the hell out of your head, you begin to question why in the hell are you getting up

The bed in the camper is warm and the cold of approaching fall is the only thing waiting to meet you as you fling the door open, still half asleep as you greet the still pitch dark morning sky. 

You drag your tired butt into your smelly waders and boots and wait eagerly as the coffee perks and you throw down a few Advil to make last night go away.  Nobody ever says "I wish I would have had one more beer", do they?

Soul saving coffee washes down whatever granola bar/muffin/gas station hotcase gutbomb/doughnut you can find as you speed to the run that you feel asleep thinking about the night before.   The tinge of nervousness takes hold as  you're almost to the parking area and you peer ahead looking for anglers who may have drank less and woke up earlier and thus...beat you to the jump

So you win and get the honor of the first pass through the water you want to swing.  Geese are flying low to the deck and there's so many it's hard to see where they are coming from until they're on top of you. 

The river itself is low in correspondence with the season.  Fish have been pouring over the dams in high numbers as they drive themselves to the rivers of their birth.  Your headlamp illuminates your fly box and you settle in on a small traditional that says to you...it's the one

Out of the East they first rays of sun are cresting over the hillside and you become a part player in the awesomeness that is waking up with a Steelhead river