“My mind is never empty or idle at the joinings of streams.” These words come from Wendell Berry, in his beautiful essay “A Native Hill.” But the sentiment is mine, also.
The entire budget of Glacier National Park — a million acres and more than a hundred year-round employees and several hundred seasonal employees — is less than the salary of a single good NFL quarterback. All while bringing in far more revenue than they c … (read more)
Last week we pulled our snowshoes out of storage and took them out into the woods for a walk. We did this partly because we could. We also did it in memory of our dog Coda, walking our lower loop trail that was always his favorite.
Living in Vermont, I take for granted that I can go on a walk among trees and fields any time I want. For the past dozen-plus years, our dog Coda has taken somebody in the family on a walk at least twice a day, year-round. When we lived in Middlebury, alt … (read more)
Standing at the edge of the Trinity River by the Rush Creek boat ramp, I watched the recently risen sun struggle to push a few beams of pale yellow light through the cotton-ball clouds rolling through the foothills of California’s Trinity Mountains.
Stepping out the front door of the National Park Inn, our eyes were drawn at once to the impressive peak of Mount Rainier straight in front of us.
I’ve been thinking about dams lately. I especially been thinking about their removal.
It was the third and final morning to hunt with my uncle Jerry during New Hampshire’s muzzleloader season. We were working the hardwood forests on and around his land, across the Connecticut River from (but still within sight of) Vermont’s Mount Ascutney) … (read more)
It was one of those 2024 autumn afternoons in Vermont that has been so common this October. Bright foliage. Beautiful blue skies: not pale winter blue, or grayish slate, but that deep azure we might not even accept as real if presented on an oil painting. … (read more)
Sugar Hill Reservoir in Goshen — more commonly referred to by the name of the structure that created it, Goshen Dam — has always been one of my favorite Vermont waters to paddle a canoe and cast a fly, especially in autumn.
It was my garden and yard that kept me off the local trout streams the past few weeks, along with several trees that came down on our property during Hurricane Debbie.
The boat hadn’t even left the dock for our 7 a.m., eight-hour tour of Glacier Bay in Alaska when we began to spot the sea otters. Not just one or two shy otters seen from far off, but dozens of them swimming casually past within a few dozen yards of our b … (read more)
It’s 5 a.m. on Aug. 2 — my second morning at Eaglerock Cabin in Alaska’s Ernest Gruening State Historic Park.
If we had noticed a weather alert with wind gust warnings of 70 mph — as had the folks in the RV two sites away from us who decided to vacate the campground for a few hours — we wouldn’t have stayed in the tent.
When the day began, we had no idea that our greatest danger would come from marmots. Bears perhaps, or winding mountain roads. But marmots?
