A Big Otter education

A couple of times a week I would drop down the ridge behind my childhood home into the lowlands that led to Big Otter Creek. Having made the journey dozens of times with my older brothers, I was confident in my footsteps.

Alone now, each trip took a slightly different route. Would I drop into the slop and plow a straight line toward the deep bend where the two tall pines shadowed the pool? Would I follow the neighbor’s fence to where it crossed the creek at a set of frothy rapids?

There was no path of least resistance. Every trip took me in a slightly different direction. Each step was met wit...