ShareWe all have too much shit! With two or three perfectly functional rain jackets in the closet, we go out and buy the latest and great. When the newest fly fish rod comes out, promising to improve your cast by 10 yards, and your accuracy by 10 percent, we go buy it. If a new [Continued...]
ShareNow that photographic proof confirms the return of grizzlies to the North Cascades, it’s easy to lose let our other resident bruin slip from our minds. But black bears deserve our full attention. These beautiful beasts inhabit every bit of our state, including many of our most urban neighborhoods. Geographically, Washington is the smallest of [Continued...]
ShareFor a Northwesterner, getting away from the late winter rains can be a requirement for continued sound mental health. My work as a Communications Expert (?) with the Olympic Region Clean Air Agency provided the perfect opportunity for me to escape south into the sunshine this month. The annual National Air Quality Conference (NAQC) – [Continued...]
ShareA cold, sunny weekend brought a lot of grins to the ruddy faces of a dozen friends who gathered at Hay Canyon Ranch to ring in the New Year. Enjoy the pictures here: [Continued...]
ShareHere in Western Washington (and most likely, all of the Pacific NW as well as the rest of the Pacific and Mountain time zones) we’ve enjoyed a morning treat for the last week. A treat that will continue through most of December. Venus has been the star of our cosmic show to date. Prominent in [Continued...]
ShareWhen two sets of tracks converge in the woods, and only one set leads away, there is little doubt what happened. While hiking on the Pacific Crest Trail near Government meadows on a sunny November morning, I discovered the unmistakable tracks of a snowshoe hare in the 10 inches of fresh snow that blanketed the [Continued...]
ShareFirst installment of some of my favorite wildlife stories and essays. This one deals with coyotes. One story stands out in my memory. I don’t remember the exact words—they don’t matter—but the story sticks with me: Long before European settlers touched foot in the Pacific Northwest, back during the earliest days of human on in [Continued...]
ShareThursday, Donna and I headed up out of the Cle Elum River Valley to spend a few days in the high Alpine country of the Tuck and Robin basins. We hit Tuck by 11:30 a.m. Thursday, and Robin an hour later. But the high, granite basin which nestles Robin Lakes (6,200 feet elevation) was quickly [Continued...]
ShareCommon sense has been water-boarded into oblivion. Worse. Basic intelligence has been drowned in a cesspool of throw-away water bottles. American consumers complain about having to pay $3 per gallon of gasoline, but happily shell out $1.50 for 16 ounces of bottled water (which equals $12 per gallon of WATER). We are a conflicted population, [Continued...]
ShareStart up the Suiattle River Trail and continue on past Sunnybrook Camp. Stay left at the next junction, and after climbing through some of the most spectacular hillside meadows in the North-Central Cascades, you’ll find yourself on Miner’s Ridge, between the old Miner’s Ridge Lookout (6,210-feet) and Image Lake (6,050 feet). That hasn’t changed in [Continued...]
