It was the fourth day of my Mt Rainier National Park backpacking trip. As I sipped my coffee at the Yellowstone Cliffs campground, I studied the topo map to reacquaint myself with our hike for the day. We were to pass the Carbon Glacier, which...
We’d barely dropped from the ridge into our first flower-studded meadow along Mt. Rainier’s Northern Loop Trail when my hiking buddy popped the question – “What’s the wildlife goal this time?”I had to laugh; this woman knew me well. She’d trudged through parks in Miami...
Born in Seattle, one of my earliest delights was the rare glimpse of Mt. Rainier in her full glory, shimmering through breaks in the clouds. Family weekends, holidays and even commutes across the Cascade Range were punctuated by visits to Paradise, Tipsoo Lake, the Grove...
How do you approach a polar bear? I confess, it’s not a question I spent time contemplating until I began exploring my options for a polar bear expedition. Canada’s Churchill in northern Manitoba, otherwise known as the polar bear capital of the world and possibly...
Let’s face it, birders can be a serious bunch. There are both written and unspoken rules that garner more than just glares if broken - God forbid you point or wear white boots. I’m pretty sure laughter is generally frowned upon as well. Yet it...
On land the town of Steinhatchee offers visitors little more than a food mart, gas station, and a smoked mullet stand, but on the river things are different. Marinas are well-equipped, the public boat ramp runs like clockwork and every accommodation is booked from June...
Bold blue and yellow flowers, as well as delicate pink and purple, peeked through brown grass. South Florida’s native blueberry offered small but luscious fruits. Young, new leaves promised renewal of a cowhorn orchid that was thought to have been lost to the previous year’s wildfire....
I wanted to visit Dry Tortugas National Park long before I understood what or where it was. It sounded exciting - a tropical island far removed from the rest of the Florida Keys and an oasis for marine and bird life. It sounded like my...
Our goal was to see 100 bird species in and around Everglades National Park by the end of the day - The Fifth Everglades Century Day by a core team of Floridians and Marylanders. We’d succeeded on our last venture, eking out a couple of...
My first post-Hurricane Irma trip to the Keys was in early December. There were still a few signs of the storm in Miami - walls crumbled by giant trees whose roots had gathered the surrounding earth and raised it to the sky in their sinking;...