Walt Amses: With a little help from my friends

Editor’s note: Walt Amses is a writer and former educator who lives in Calais.
Wading in a local river last week, hoping the water temperature was finally favorable to entice a trout or two, my left foot began sliding on pebbles while my right was adhering nicely to whatever the rocky bottom had to offer. I’d gotten used to confidently striding across riffles and slippery stones thanks to perhaps the best gift an aging fly fisherman could hope for: a set of crampons that — once