I wrote this when Yellowstone's wolves were still a novelty and they were referenced with two-digit numbers. I am posting it today for a friend's birthday. Mike Five layers of warmth under my Gortex shell serve as an effective barrier against the wind and cold, snow impacts the small amount of skin I have exposed, … Continue reading Yellowstone Wolf Watching
With some reluctance, I step from dock to boat, settle into a seat and try to rationalize my use of mechanized transportation. Time saved will give my hike more depth, it will give me more time in the canyon. Glancing at other occupants, I study their build, gear and manner, all suggest competence. They have … Continue reading Cascade Canyon
Hermit Trail—Grand Canyon I can sense but not see their number. Night introduces them as individuals, complementing the quiet serenity accompanying me on this trail. They seem to be comfortable with the cool, dark air, enjoying their brief respite from a reality of too much sun and too little water. More come into view, morning … Continue reading Hermit Trail–Grand Canyon
My time here will be brief. Arriving before sunset, I will leave with receding light. The known and the unknown, the unrelenting perfection of the Tetons, the randomness of wildlife—it all combines to bring me here, to bring me back. Stopping, I gaze at a carefully constructed pile of twigs and sticks, their apparent random … Continue reading Snake River Dam
This post is a deviation, I shy away from poetry. But, late one night I woke from a sound sleep with these words running through my head. Rather than rely on my groggy memory, I scribbled them on a scrap of paper, then drifted back to my dreams. . . . rain falls water flows … Continue reading Giving Back
The parking lot is full, an indication of this trail’s popularity. A gentle, forested one mile walk in Utah’s Uinta Mountains will take us to the lake. We will share the trail with a multitude of hikers, more than I normally associate with the outdoors, but one in our group has limited ability, we cannot … Continue reading Wall Lake–October 2006
Pictures, photographs, images—words describing a dimensionally-limited medium, one that constrains our senses and reduces our world to a flat, motionless image. Yet, given the right tools, an artist can weave emotion and imagination into her work, an artist can replace time and distance with depth. With proper framing and lighting a frozen image can become … Continue reading The Future of my Past
A fall trail beckons with color. A soft breeze sifts a motivational morning chill through light layers, warm blood flows under cool skin, legs drive me uphill, moving me forward, generating warmth. Winter lies ahead, summer, now part of my past, is blending with the pleasant memory of many seasons. Seasons define the passage of … Continue reading Living at the Edge
I want to be everywhere; I don’t want to leave anywhere. We are strangers. A confluence of diverse backgrounds, distant homes, variations in culture and different expectations, drawn together by the Yellowstone Institute—held together by the gravity of a common bond, a love of places wild. The narrow trail suggests solitude, focusing thought; not many … Continue reading The Confluence
My alarm was silent but I was awake. Awake, lying in bed and thinking, waiting to start my morning. Giving in, I sat up and took the first of what would be many steps on this day. I would walk into a Canyon full of memories. Mirrors are always part of my morning, but on … Continue reading TOGETHER IN TIME
“…those soft green leaves of the maple and the dogwood, are small, precious hints of the wild tapestry that once circled the earth, the patterns and paradigms that first breathed meaning into human existence. For many people those hints are what help transcend the tumult of daily living, they are the slim measure of miracle … Continue reading Going to the Sun
90 MAXIMUM. The sign, posted in Kilometers, allows motorists to traverse Alberta's Icefields Parkway at approximately 55 miles per hour. This stretch of road, featuring rugged peaks, waterfalls, glaciers, lakes, and white water, defines the Canadian Rockies. Contributing to the magnificence, surrounded by dramatic peaks, is a depression in a wooded slope. A small creek … Continue reading BEAUTY CREEK
Small clouds of dust offer a brief history of my passing, motion is my motivation. Decades of syncing a given pace to my pumping heart and expanding lungs allow me to move with confidence. I am hiking for tomorrow, pushing hard now so I can wander deep, deep into the wilderness that I need as … Continue reading RANDOM SYMMETRY
The trail is short, almost nonexistent; its lack of definition indicating the solitude offered by this nook in the Rockies. By walking on rocks when I can, the faint trail when I can’t, I avoid disturbing the meadow more than my presence requires. Time in this setting, time in similar settings allows me to recognize … Continue reading LAKE AGNES CHAPTER TWO
Few venture into this cirque, I have been alone on every visit. A not too distant headwall, a narrow valley and steep cliffs define the small glacier that once lived here; my walk through its legacy will take me to the headwall, to its birthplace. A cooling planet allowed snow to accumulate, compact into ice. … Continue reading LAKE AGNES CHAPTER ONE
My brief time on this planet, the perspective granted by my short life, moves the patience required for the birth of this lake beyond my imagination—in this instance, my understanding exceeds my imagination. Shaped by a mass of ice that bulldozed its way through this rock, perfected by the brush of more subtle erosive forces, … Continue reading Moraine Lake
Glacier is a hiking park, it is a place that overwhelms and envelopes anyone willing to wander from the road and expend the energy required to place one foot in front of another. Your feet become an afterthought, your eyes move you forward. Your senses control your pace as you surrender to the sculptured landscape … Continue reading Trail of the Cedars
With each step, I am closer to the river, farther from the rim. The drumbeat of my feet marking my progress, my heartbeat not yet matching my pace. In their own way, each marking my progress through time. I’ve been here before, I’ve done this before, the rhythm is steady. The rising sun reveals diminishing … Continue reading SOUTH KAIBAB TRAIL
Hummingbird hovers I watch him dart and flicker Yet see the flower
The South Kaibab trail twinges in my calves, a gentle reminder of slope rather than distance. An active mind and the irregular cadence of an unknown snorer disrupt my sleep. Five bunk beds fill this small two room cabin; ten of us enduring close proximity, giving up privacy for the privilege of time at the … Continue reading Phantom Ranch
