A Change of Latitude

After almost two weeks in the cool, scenic landscape of northern Michigan, we are back in central Missouri. It is warmer here and the autum...

Elk in Michigan

North American wapiti, more commonly known as elk, are generally associated with mountainous regions of the West. However, before white set...

Falling Water

As we left the cabin this morning, on our final day in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, a light rain was falling. The Porcupine Mountains we...

The Precambrian Peninsula

The western third of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, including the Keweenaw Peninsula, does not lie within the Michigan Basin. Rather, from...

The Porcupine Mountains

About twenty miles west of the Keweenaw Peninsula, the Porcupine Mountains rise above the south shore of Lake Superior. Volcanic in origin,...

Roughing It

We'll be roughing it for the next three nights; well, not exactly. We have rented a fully furnished cabin on the south shore of Lake Su...

Pictured Rocks

The Pictured Rocks, which tower above Lake Superior east of Munising, are likely the most photographed natural feature of the Upper Peninsul...

South of Superior

When we arrived at Whitefish Point this morning, a raw, northwest wind raised whitecaps on Lake Superior where an ore ship, similar to the E...

Mackinac Island

Mackinac Island is an erosional remnant, carved from Devonian limestone by the forces of ice, wind and water. It sits in the Mackinac Strai...

Sleeping Bear Dunes

Stretching along the northwest coast of Michigan's lower peninsula, massive sand dunes rise above Lake Michigan. Protected as a Nationa...

North by Northeast

It was a mild but overcast day as we drove northeast across the till plains of the American Midwest. Despite the low clouds, intermittent f...

The Michigan Basin

If we could scrape away the Paleozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic deposits from the Continents, we would find that the ancient, Precambrian basem...

Maria Visits Newfoundland

After lolling about the Caribbean for a week and then passing west of Bermuda, Hurricane Maria has been racing northward and is expected to ...

Hooked on Competition

Competition has always been the engine of the American economy and we have long been entertained by the competitive nature of sports. But, ...

The Big Chill

Thunderstorms rumbled across Missouri overnight as the leading edge of a potent cold front dropped through the State. This morning, that fr...

Nature's Nightlight

Torn from Planet Earth by a violent collision, more that 4 billion years ago, the moon's cratered face attests to its traumatic childhoo...

The Nature of Terrorism

Terrorism is the use of fear to control others and to influence their behavior. This tool has been used throughout human history, by warlor...

Vancouver Island Earthquake

Along the Pacific Coast, from southern British Columbia to northern California, three small tectonic plates lie between the Pacific and Nort...

The Energy of Autumn

Rescued from the intense sun and oppressive heat of summer, we humans and our wild neighbors become more active as autumn envelops the Heart...

A Miocene Supernova

The Miocene Epoch of the Tertiary Period stretched from 22 million years ago (MYA) to 5 MYA. During that time, ancestral apes and early hom...

Common Mullein

Driving through the American countryside, especially across semi-arid grasslands of the West, one readily concludes that common mullein is n...

Weather and the Seasons

We humans define the seasons by the solar cycle or by our own, somewhat arbitrary calendar. According to the first, more natural definition...

Front Range Upslope

As I packed my truck yesterday morning, it was sunny and mild in Littleton, Colorado. However, I noticed a swath of low clouds across the e...

Sharptail Ridge

South of Metro Denver, the terrain gradually rises toward the Palmer Divide and has been sculpted into a maze of ridges and mesas by the tri...