I have always been drawn to the outdoors– be it hiking in the Rockies, fishing at a lake, or socializing with neighbors on warm summer nights. I feel my best when I’m outside. Although I have always enjoyed communing with nature, I never felt compelled to study plants and animals. However, since I have begun […]

Mountain ranges demand our focus. Canyons tug at our gaze. Massive sunsets crowd our view. Fields of flowers catch our eye.   But what about the mountains of lichens on a twig? The canyon grooves set in bark? The gradient of color in a leaf? The fields of pollen drenching a lily?   Nearly every […]

This past summer I got to be a bum for 60 glorious days. I traipsed 11,107 miles around the western half of the United States and into northern Saskatchewan in my maroon Jeep Grand Cherokee, stopping whenever possible to backpack, mountain bike, rock climb, canoe and camp. It was a trip that had been in […]