The buffalo move like cloud shadows on the prairies around us. Heads down, they graze slowly. We are enveloped by a herd. The boys, Ian (10) and Teo (8), are transfixed with wonder. The Hayden Valley of Yellowstone is bright and clear. White clouds punctuate a too blue sky. [...]
A bald eagle wings southeast across blue skies on the north shore of Yellowstone Lake. We are just inside the east park boundary. Ian (10) and Teo (7) are playing in a snow field just over a pass. Being from Atlanta, they have almost never seen real snow up [...]
Wyoming. Two brothers, 7 and 10. Rolling plains ahead. 350 miles to Yellowstone. No electronics. Boredom. Someone said there is no sibling rivalry without parents. It is either a Darwinian or biblical battle going on in the back seat. So I wonder if the boys will kill each other, [...]
I grew up in the forest. I was a feral child. Alone, but connected to the earth in some ways I didn’t understand. So the forest became a haven, a parent and a teacher. That was the way it was, until I fell in love. I fell in love [...]
Night in Chaco Canyon Coyote willow in the wash Saltbush on the flats Grace notes of a vireo Red sunset on the rocks Ancients in their kivas Certain desperate stars Ragged upon the world The black cold desert night While the Lyrids play An effervescent game Who will ever [...]
I am on a desert walkabout. Places like Hovenweep, Canyons of the Ancients, Arches, Great Sands, Chaco. I try not to hike the main trails. It’s not that I don’t like the sights. It’s that I don’t like lots of people. Not personally. Just en masse. It’s the back [...]
The grass is yellow. It is spring and there have been no rains. The endless vista washes up against the bare Sangre de Cristo mountains. Normally this time of year, they would be sprinkled with snow like powdered sugar on a cake. Ahead of me are the great sand [...]
One of the joys of life is waking up and asking the question, “How did I get here?” I am laying on a cot next to my new grandson, Ian, in a jungle treehouse. The tin roof begins a staccato bong, bong, bong which turns to a cacophony of [...]
Adventure is what you get when you can tell others that you survived poor planning. Tragedy is the other outcome, and is usually reported by someone who finds your body. Apologies to the dinosaurs, but disaster rarely appears out of nowhere. It is a result of a series of [...]
Is it possible for the forest to speak to the clouds and sky when it is thirsty? This is what I’m thinking, walking up the mountain in the morning. It’s winter. Cold. Gray. Diluted with old snow. Another season in time. I am pulled by habit and looking for [...]
