Blog
THIS LAND OF LIGHT: An Artist in the Midnight Sun
(paintings by Margaret Florence Ludwig) THIS LAND OF LIGHT: An Artist in the Midnight Sun To see the world like an artist, spend time with artists. Years ago, I was asked to contribute a chapter to a National Geographic Society book on the national parks of Canada. I...
Fog Visions
FOG VISION: Some questions only become clear when you are lost in the fog There is nothing to do but watch. Like an avalanche of clouds, the fogbank spills off the peaks of the Brooks Range and swallows us, cutting off the horizons as surely as a shroud. Moments ago,...
WEAVING WATER: The Aesthetics of Rivers
The light in the canyon at this hour makes the river flow like braided strands of the morning sky. It is early, too early, and I am up and sitting at the edge of the river watching. Behind me, the canoes are pulled far up on shore and turned over; in the dim light...
The Lost Arch: What is the Role of Mystery in Wild Places?
rThe Lost Arch: Guidebooks are fine but the best directions come scribbled on a napkin There were, by my count, 27 different hikes listed on the trail brochure the ranger had given me. The shelves of the park visitor center were crammed with guidebooks spelling out...
On Assignment: Fly Like an Eagle, or the Time I Almost Flew, Sort Of
(Photo of the author “flying” by Ken Kochey) We all have them: dreams of flying untethered to the earth, spreading our miraculous suddenly-sprouted wings to soar as gracefully as a bird, rising weightlessly on a puff of wind to escape our earthbound selves. And then,...
On Assignment: A Glacier, a Legend, and a Hummingbird
Being a writer is not always about the landscape. Sometimes, the greatest thing about it is the people you meet. How often, for instance, do you get to meet a legend? I was on assignment for my book TREASURES OF ALASKA, trying to arrange a helicopter to take me up to...
The Music of Moving Water
Before the wildflowers bloom, before the return of the first robin, the first signs of spring can be heard in something as simple as the song of a flowing river. Nothing. Not a chickadee. Not a woodpecker. No wind through the trees. Nothing. It is March and the forest...
The Moment It Clicks: A Swan Song
The Moment It Clicks: Photographic Stories #1: Trumpeter Swans We live in a world of motion. John Muir knew it: “Everything is flowing—going somewhere… pulsed on and on forever like blood… in Nature’s warm heart.” Like flowing blood, motion means survival to most...
On Assignment: The Hermit With a Horn
On Assignment Moment #6: The Hermit with a Horn “Wrangell- St. Elias National Park is a kingdom of peaks. Here four major mountain ranges converge. Nine of the thirteen highest peaks in the United States are found here, and more summits topping 14,500 feet than...
On Assignment: The Raw Feed
On Assignment – The Raw Feed Not all assignment moments are filled with northern lights, deep desert canyons, or wild grizzlies. Some are even more important. I was on assignment writing the National Geographic book TREASURES OF ALASKA with photographer Michael...
