The lake is a mirror to the universe. I can not tell where the sky begins and the water ends. There is no boundary. The sun dips below a reef of clouds and the world turns orange. The earth turns and Venus rises as it’s twin reflection sinks. We [...]
It’s been a while. Maybe two million years. For me personally, about sixty years. What, you ask? Since I’ve sat in a tree. Which is where I am right now. As a species we used to sit in trees. Mostly for safety and to escape nighttime predators; the lions [...]
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 [...]
I am camped on the Colorado outside of Moab, Utah. The river winds past willows just a few feet from my tent reflecting the red rock canyons. Unfortunately, I learned too late that across the river and upstream several hundred yards is a radioactive uranium mining tailings dump. The [...]
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 [...]
