In my defense, I admit to having a vague curiosity about them, those fly-fishing guys I’d seen standing stoically amidst the gently winding streams that ran below the mountain roads I drove. I’d catch glimpses of them with their legs crooked against the push of the current weaving spider webs above their felt hats. Their chests were always bloated by fishing vests of infinite pockets, each one busting with spools of line, tuffs of cotton, floatant gels, and sectional boxes of exotic hooks.

It has always struck me as a complicated way to fish. All that equipment to shoulder, all those pockets to fill—and those feathered hooks. Their elaborate dressings delved into entomology (bug science), in which the ideal hook mimicked the coloration and habits of a particular insect, its subspecies, and all the variants along a specific stretch of river. Fly fishing seemed to take an extraordinary amount of effort to do what I could with a spinner reel and a carton of fresh nightcrawlers. So, you now understand that my participation in this ecclesiastical form of fishing was not by choice.

Simple Plans
It began innocently enough. I was set to drive the new ’09 Forester 2.5X, Subaru's redesigned compact SUV, specifically the environmentally friendly, Partial Zero Emission Vehicle (PZEV) version. I had heard the canned spiels about the Forester: how it handled better than last year's model, how it was larger with a more luxurious interior, how it had more carrying capacity and road clearance. To me, that was the brochure-speak of dealership linesmen. To get a real sense of the Forester, I needed to climb behind the wheel, run it out, and shake it down.

Since Subaru continually boasts of its rugged full-time, all-wheel-drive system, I didn't want to waste time tooling around the city or running along the highway. There's little doubt the revamped SUV would excel under those circumstances. I wanted to see if this third-generation Forester lived up to its heritage or if all the refinements had downgraded the reputable runabout into a simple, high-riding station wagon. More importantly, given the state of the economy, I needed to go camping cheaply, and this was a good excuse to try something different.