“Water is fluid, soft, and yielding. But water will wear away rock, which is rigid and cannot yield. As a rule, whatever is fluid, soft, and yielding will overcome whatever is rigid and hard. What is soft is strong.” -Lao-Tzu Across Wyoming’s sea of sagebrush, two cargo vans full of students approach the Wind River […]

In June, a small team of PBT interns set out for the highest point in the Platte Basin watershed. We had big intentions of catching 5-star media to fill in cracks for the Grays Peak scene in the upcoming PBT documentary featuring Mike and Pete’s 55-day, 1,300-mile journey across the watershed. Grays Peak is the highest point in the Platte Basin […]

On August 21, 2017, the total solar eclipse swept its way across the Continental US sending the path of totality right through the heart of Nebraska. Thanks to our camera technician, David Weber, several of our permanent time-lapse cameras were able to capture this once in a lifetime event. Below is a compilation of those time-lapses […]

A swath of freezing rain was coming to glaze the central United States in a sheet of ice. The storm even earned itself a name- Jupiter. Fresh produce was clearing the shelves of the grocery stores, residents kept the salt or kitty litter close at hand, tarps and towels were tied over windshields, and fuel […]

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 […]

The day started how one would expect when setting off for an exciting first day of outdoor field work. It was pouring. Skin-pelting water bombs and shoe-soaking waves,­ pouring. Mariah, Ethan and I loaded up our gear into the back of the truck, stared up at the sky, willing it to cease fire, then set […]

Recreational airboating and “jeeping” — driving down the channel when water is low – are how many Nebraskans enjoy their local rivers. But some riverside residents say they’re concerned by the noise and what they see as disregard for the environment and private property along the river.

Let me introduce you to our latest permanent time-lapse cameras located in the high country of the South Platte River Basin, 50 miles southeast of downtown Denver. These two cameras are capturing change over time at the Cheesman reservoir and spillway. Cheesman Dam became the world’s tallest dam at 221 feet when construction finished in […]

When the sun rises early, so do we. A couple Saturdays ago the PBT team spent the morning watching the sun creep over the snow-covered peak of Mount Lincoln, above Montgomery Reservoir. We were exploring the headwaters of the South Platte River, in some of the farthest-west territory of the Platte River Basin, a region […]

The Platte River Basin is expansive and diverse. One of my favorite parts of this geography is Phantom Canyon, a small preserve nestled into the land where the mountains meet the plains, in the Laramie Foothills of northern Colorado. Driving in, we nearly always spot pronghorn moving across the land, their soft brown eyes and […]