Here, you’ll find unfortunately true tales of an accidental naturalist’s misadventures in the wild, as well as shorter, inspirational reflections of nature
“The greatest joy in nature is the absence of man.”
-William Bliss Carman-
Every time I hike along the shoulder of a mountain or even just walk in a local forest preserve outside Chicago, I recover a part of myself. I gain a fragment of my self that I had lost to civilization. In the world made […]
It was late summer, Y2K. A shabby B & W female, a stray, loitered in my back yard. Sometimes I feed the strays, especially in winter. More often, my neighbor Jill, a lusty, wig-toting woman with a feline way, nourishes them. She harbors five cats in her carpetless home, kind of like a cat half-way […]
Deadlier Than It Looks
Know what a ringtail is? I didn’t either, until New Year’s Eve, 1998. That’s when one checked in to my pitch black hotel room on the floor of Zion Canyon in Zion National Park. A ringtail is a southwestern relative of the raccoon, though the only resemblance in my book […]
I’d just finished a day hike down Thunder River Trail and was looking for a place to park my truck and camp. Drift smoke from a few fires farther east along the rim swaddled the lower reaches below Steamboat Mountain. I decided to camp randomly. Whatever the next road was, I’d take it. The next […]
Water falls over the cliffs, bashing itself against the granite again and again, dropping down into plunge pools dozens of feet below. It does not die.
Water drops from the highest sky, yet doesn’t shatter.
Not imprisoned in a skeletal shape, water sculpts the bones.
Water assumes no form, and so it’s every form. Unborn, it dies not.
Ice […]
It was so hot…
‘96’ upside down is . . . 96. Put down that dirty mind! 96 is also the designation of a BLM road a few miles east of Hall’s Crossing at Lake Powell. You access 96 off of Utah Highway 276.
You’ll drive down to Hall’s Crossing on July 4th, and find […]
North Rim, near Crazy Jug Point
NORTH TIMP POINT, NORTH RIM, GRAND CANYON
That’s my byline. Sitting under a juniper, my back suffering death by a thousand cuts from cheatgrass. Swallows, ravens cut darting arcs overhead. Ants lay trail up and down my arm, scurrying across this very ink as I jot this down. Horseflies strafe. Swifts […]
Cedar Mesa, Above the Valley of the Gods
I moved 5 hours from the nearest city, 11 miles from the nearest town (Dolores, pop. 1,500), and one mile from the nearest paved road. Until recently, my nearest neighbor was a ¼ mile away. But noooo, that’s not far enough.
In order to meditate properly, I […]
The Final Step Up the Grand Staircase
After camping out in the Pariah Plateau Wilderness north of the Grand Canyon, I decided to strike camp in a hurry, in anticipation of the next adventure. I’d chance the twenty-some mile drive down House Rock Valley Road before the rain got too bad. I’d planned to […]
Colorado River, from near Dutton Point
Woke up this morning to a smattering of rain under gunmetal skies. It’s Memorial Day weekend in Arizona. I’m at Timp Point on the North Rim of Grand Canyon, to be specific and exact, which is redundant and repetitive.
Last night, I scoped out the Bill Hall Trail and […]