Yellowstone National Park sits in the caldera of an active supervolcano, which last erupted 640,000 years ago. Minor blasts occur once in a while, but the next most recent kill-everyone-in-Wyoming-sized eruptions were 1.2 and 2.1 million years ago. If you can calculate averages and harbor any fear of dying, you might not want to visit […]
That summer, unprecedented snowmelt in the Sawtooth Range brought the Boise River flooding to the doorsteps of Garden City. The trunks of poplar trees and the backs of benches protruded from the high water, curious afterthoughts in a landscape submerged. “We were sitting on the grass right there a week ago, tripping on acid,” said […]
The road over the Cascades cut between steep slopes of evergreens—here healthy, there snags, trunks scorched with fire. Turkey vultures circled overhead as Snoqualmie Pass (during blizzard season, basically the Pass of Caradhras) went by like a radar blip. Abruptly the land flattened, the mountains gave way to steppe—the desert of Eastern Washington, thorn scrub […]
A monolith towering over the town of Squamish, the Stawamus Chief formed in the subterranean volcanic chaos of the Cretaceous Period. One hundred million years of erosion brought The Chief to the earth’s surface, and the retreat of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet (which met the Laurentide Ice Sheet at the Rocky Mountains) left its granite slopes […]
Bow before my superior GIMP skills!
I’m thrilled to announce that Inside Upnorth: The Complete Tour, Sport and Country Living Guide to Traverse City, Traverse City Area and Leelanau County has been published! I contributed content on breweries, beach trails, cideries, wineries, restaurants, and outdoor adventure at the tip of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula. Over the summer of 2016, I had the […]
On a bay of Lake Michigan, there’s a city where it snows in May, one week before the streets bloom pink with cherry blossoms. The masts of a hundred sailboats line its marinas; its every other building is a brewpub. This sounds like somewhere “all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, […]
The windows of my fourth grade classroom offer an unobstructed view of the Twin Towers. From 610 Henry Street, we look across the East River and watch our country smoldering. This—America’s greatest symbol in flames—is the first clear memory. There are earlier recollections, but this supersedes all that came before it, and casts a shadow […]
After the OSU course, I ride north—Corvallis to Portland, Portland to Seattle. I was last here eight years ago, with teenage angst and a stupid earring. That was the summer I did construction work (i.e., cleaned up after construction workers), and wrote a fantasy novel at 826 Seattle (now known as the Bureau of Fearless Ideas). […]
The trees are so tall out here. I know this is because of the fog and the moderating effects of the California Current, as well as the lack of a need for those energy-intensive winter survival mechanisms (like polyol production and extracellular freezing) born of a longer growing season with milder temperature extremes. But in […]
