Above 11,000′, along Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park, you will experience high-elevation alpine tundra, where summer only lasts a few weeks and vegetation must quickly garner all the energy needed to survive the long, brutal winter. It’s important to know how delicate this terrain is and how quickly it can be damaged…
Ghost Rock formed by erosion of the Navajo Sandstone layer of the Colorado Plateau. The bright white color is due to a lack of significant iron oxide (hematite) coatings on the sand grains, often caused by natural bleaching processes where groundwater removes the iron minerals from a layer of sandstone. The rugged Utah landscape almost…
Sometimes our peace is interrupted by a storm. Here, a thunderstorm moves in on the canyon as viewed from the North Rim Lodge observation deck – Grand Canyon National Park. The lodge was destroyed in the Dragon Bravo Fire in July 2025 with only a portion of the limestone masonry left standing, and the North…
Entrada Sandstone, which formed during the Jurassic Period when this area was a coastal dune environment, is rich with the mineral hematite (iron oxide) and gives this bold landscape its distinctive red color – Arches National Park. I am drawn to the varied landscapes of the Colorado Plateau. The colors are vibrant, especially when a…
Atlantic Ocean overlook near Blackwoods Campground – Acadia National Park. When I look out over the granite and basalt igneous rock that makes up Acadia’s shoreline, I love the rugged appearance and wild nature of the coast. It would not be an easy journey to walk very far, so we just made ourselves comfortable at…
High alpine lakes capture the last remaining melting snow near Trail Ridge Road – Rocky Mountain National Park. I hear a song coming on: “He was born in the summer of his twenty seventh year, coming home to a place he’d never been before…” It’s hard for me to not begin singing that song whenever…
Jagged mountain peaks form an impermeable wall. Thankfully, I do not need to hike over those peaks to get on the other side – Mt. Rainier National Park. (Sunrise, Washington) ≡Canon R5/RF24-240 123mm f/9.0 1/320sec iso-100
Safe passage through the rocky shoals to reach the ocean is obtained by staying between the channel markers: red triangle to port (left), green square to starboard (right). Sometimes its good to have reliable markers to help guide your journey – Biscayne National Park. (Homestead, Florida) ≡Canon R5/RF24-240 162mm f/7.1 1/400sec iso-100
Wouldn’t you just love to know the stories held within the walls of these rugged buildings? (Capulin, New Mexico) ≡Canon R5/RF24-240 198mm f/22 1/640sec iso-1250
A half-mile wide and rising several hundred feet above the water, the massive Holgate Glacier reaches the ocean – Kenai Fjords National Park. In a world that moves quickly, sometimes it’s good to remind myself that very great things can travel just inches a day. (Seward, Alaska) ≡Canon R5/RF24-240 198mm f/36 1/125sec iso-250