Matthew Dickerson: Connecting through, and being shaped by, the outdoors

Over the past few months, I’ve had the delight of getting to know a long-lost cousin. The reacquaintance has taken place by Zoom. It’s been virtual not only because of the pandemic, but also because my cousin lives in the Vancouver area, which happens to be on the other side of the continent and in a different country. An in-person meeting would have been unlikely even without the pandemic. Instead, we chat via a larger family video conference for an hour or so every weekend, with my father, three of my aun … (read more)

I’d seen signs of it for years. One Christmas morning early this millennium when our kids were young, we arrived at the family cabin in Maine for our annual gathering with relatives to find that the lake had not yet frozen over. That being the first time … (read more)

My good friend David O’Hara introduced me to the term “fish porn.” At the time, we were collaborating on our 2014 book “Downstream: Reflections on Brook Trout, Fly Fishing, and the Waters of Appalachia” (Cascade Books). Contrary to what some might imagine … (read more)

The parking lot was quiet and nearly empty. The woods were even quieter. More than mere quiet, the woods were still. The stillness was both palpable and restorative. It was late morning, middle of the week. Several previous evenings of occasional snow flu … (read more)

It was the first morning of the new year. I was searching through my e-mail folder for something — I don’t even remember what — when I stumbled on some correspondence from Pete Diminico. Having recently heard the sad news that Pete had passed away on Chri … (read more)

Today — the day this column is published — is the final day of Advent 2020. If the world doesn’t end tonight, tomorrow morning it will be Christmas. In the Narnia stories of C.S. Lewis, Father Christmas makes an important appearance, delivering gifts to t … (read more)

This fall I fell into a trap. The trap was only metaphorical. It was a trap of noise and busyness. And I didn’t so much fall into it, as I felt pushed into it. Though, if truth be told, it was my own doing.  Normally, the fall deer season is an opportunit … (read more)

My father, on “good” years when his work permitted it, would get away in the autumn on short deer-hunting trips to Western Maine, about a four-hour drive away from our house in Massachusetts. “He’s out harassing wildlife,” my mother would say when he was … (read more)

The rain came rolling in on Thursday with a forecast of three days of precipitation. After a summer both dryer and warmer than average, the state needed rain, so I didn’t complain too loudly despite the risk to my fishing plans. By Friday, however, it had … (read more)

When I visited Alaska in 2003 with my father for a six-day wilderness float trip, bookended on both sides by day-and-a-half-long visits to a wilderness fishing lodge, I thought it would be a once-in-a-lifetime trip. Alaska is neither inexpensive nor parti … (read more)

I was working on an article about a couple Vermont trout streams for a national fly fishing magazine. The story required some photos, which meant I needed another angler to go fishing with me and be the subject of those photos. Since I also wanted some tr … (read more)

My wife Deborah and I recently moved from an in-town dwelling in Middlebury back to an in-woods dwelling in Bristol. In the house we just left, it was hard to look in any direction without seeing another house. In the house we just moved back into, it’s h … (read more)

I was sitting in an alpine meadow beside a small river in southwestern Wyoming when the familiar yet mysterious sound triggered the childhood memory from Maine. It was definitely the sound that made the connection. The two landscapes themselves bore littl … (read more)