With high anticipation, you make the final turn to bounce along the rough road leading to the parking area at the stream. As you wheel around the last curve and enter the lot, you realize you have one of two problems:
- There are one or two cars already there
- The parking lot is jammed
In the second case, you quickly do the mental calculus:
- Do hikers use this as a trailhead?
- Anybody ride horses around here?
- What about kayakers?
The answer pops into your mind, and you make the next decision: Stay or go? If you stay, do you go upstream or down?
And it’s the last decision that is common to either scenario. Even if there is only one other car there, you have to decide on a direction. If you make a mistake, you risk either fishing on top of the water that is stirred up or actually running into the other guy and having to make another decision regarding the whole stream space-time continuum (now… there’s a word I never thought I would work into an article on fishing).
So, here’s the proposal. Each of us should leave a card or a piece of paper in the dashboard that says “Gone Upstream” or “Gone Downstream”. If we did that, then the math would be easy, especially on which way to enjoy more space and not risk stacking up like a bunch of Legos. In addition to warning off other fishermen, this has the side benefit of safety. If they ever have to come looking for you, it would make your rescue quicker if the team knew which direction to search.
I am going to implement this strategy this weekend. Hope others do as well.
It’s a tough decision when there only a few other cars
When it’s a flock of cars, you are screwed no matter which way you go
Unless stated otherwise, this article was authored by Steve Moore