“Our approach to St. Matthew Island was tantalizing, as a draping fog slowly lifted to reveal a vivid green jewel with thousand-foot cliff faces, craggy and crowded with seabird nests.”
All in Natural World
Antarctica: All That Ice! (Part Two)
“Under the ice are vast mountain ranges and sprawling plains, crushed to elevations measurably depressed by all that massive weight on top.”
Antarctica: All That Ice! (Part One)
“To use one word—ice—to describe the predominant feature of an entire continent can lull a person into a terrifically limiting frame of mind.”
Alaska’s Alsek River
“…I joined a group of strangers to descend the Alsek River—a remote river at the upper end of Alaska’s southeastern panhandle.”
Up North
“We come today to the north shore of Lake Huron, near the eastern tip of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Waves lap in a relaxed fashion onto the cobblestone beach just a few feet away.”
“The Old College Try”
“Last night, Checkpoint 13 thwarted me—again. It is my second try at the Land Navigation night test in the woods and hillsides surrounding Hall Lake…”
Green for the Gray
“Being a big believer in listening to those quiet whispers in your soul that serve so well as guides, I found myself driving yesterday to Frederick Meijer Gardens for a bit of Gray Tunnel Relief”
This is 'that' day
“This is that day, the one you know is coming for weeks, the one when you know it’s over. You are on your road thinking about the day when you realize: the color is gone.”
How Is It Possible I Feel Cold?
“I understand the wisdom of wearing multiple layers in the mountains, where the full range of weather can crop up any time. But in my sweet, safe, predictable lower-peninsula Michigan? In August? It just doesn’t somehow seem right, or fair, to feel cold.”
March Forth!
“That sun! I could sense that the dull deadness of winter is passing away. For the first time in months, it offered up a tease of warmth.”