Author: Melissa Dowland
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The Colors of Autumn
Our first fall in the Rockies has provided some magical moments in a golden landscape. Read more…
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How To Love This World
Last weekend we took a long awaited canoe-camping trip to Shoshone Lake in the southern part of Yellowstone. It’s touted as the largest backcountry lake in the lower 48 states. It can only be reached by foot or non-motorized boat. We chose that route: a paddle across Lewis Lake then up the three mile long Read more…
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Exploring the Beartooth Mountains
We finally escaped to the Beartooths for some camping and wildlife-watching after three busy months of unpacking and family visits. Read more…
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The Soul of the Land
The experience of twelve educators in Yellowstone reflects transformation through nature, friendship, and learning, capturing moments of wildlife and connection that resonate deeply within each participant. Read more…
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Early Adventures: Melissa’s Take
Mike gets up much earlier than me, and that’s his blogging time. By the time I’m ready to face the world, he’s already shared our adventures! However, with a bit more time on my hands these days, I’m looking forward to contributing more to the blog. Here’s my take on some of our early adventures Read more…
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Farewell Eastern Columbine
I’m glad the Covid-19 shutdown began in March. April is the best month to be home. Twenty-five years of gardening – not the traditional type of gardening; Mike’s gardening is more like an attempt to create a mountain cove forest in the side yard – has led to a beautiful array of native wildflowers. April Read more…
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A Kaleidoscope of Butterflies
On many trips I’ve led, especially ones where we see large groups of wildlife, someone asks about the collective noun for whatever species we’re observing. Whether it’s a romp of otters or a symphony of swans, it’s always fun to look that up and/or make it up (because “symphony” is not the legit collective noun Read more…
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A Monarch Pilgrimage
Each breaking wave, each rush of the sea on the slope of sand, reminds me why these places of pilgrimage matter. They matter to me because in the long view, I do not.~Terry Tempest Williams In mid-January, I had the privilege to take 12 exceptional North Carolina educators to Mexico. We had two primary goals: Read more…
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Across the Plains… Again!
Caminente, son tus huellasel camino y nada más;Caminente, no hoy caminose hace camino el andar.Al andar se hace el camino,y al volver la vista atrásse ve la senda que nuncase ha de volver a pisar.Caminent, no hay caminosino estelas en la mar. Traveler, your footprintsare the only road, nothing else.Traveler, there is no road;you make Read more…
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Plants, People, Privilege?
soft-soled sneakers step through messy mud, slip on stained stepping stones, dealing death-blows to decades of root work, rhizomes, winter rosettes of limp leaves no longer lifelike, lingering bereft, half-buried, burdened by compaction and lack of traction and human tracks from soft-soled sneakers, sealed over brown feet, belonging to bodies of brown men marching mindless of Read more…
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Roads End Naturalist 