Exploring Nature by Sheila Newenham
I can’t believe the profusion of wildflowers we stumbled upon! Looking for a relatively close, new hike for this spring afternoon, I decided on the Mineral Point Trail. It’s a four-mile out-and-back along Lake Pend Oreille through forested habitat. The trail courses up and down … Continue readingMineral Point Trail Wildflowers
My thigh muscles are sore. It wasn’t the hiking or climbing, but the confrontation of fears, and a persistent gripping, using my leg muscles to anchor me as I moved through my fear of falling on loose footing and high places.I tried to come here … Continue readingGrouse Creek Falls
This morning, as sunlight begins to stream over the horizon and hazy shadows take form, I’m watching the puma Petaka. She and her two 15-month-old kittens are taking turns feeding on a guanaco kill. When one cat moves off to groom and nap, another moves … Continue readingThe Puma Petaka
First Sighting The warm light of the rising sun casts everything – the grasses, the guanaco, the puma – in the same golden glow. I know there’s a lion on the hillside 50 yards away. A guide with two guests are watching her as I … Continue readingPumas of Patagonia
Chilean Patagonia is made of mountains, glaciers, and sea-level fjords. It has the world’s largest flying bird and odd flightless birds. There are flamingoes and grey zorro foxes that aren’t actually foxes. It’s tectonic plates and salty lakes. It’s guanacos and sheep grazing the grasslands. … Continue readingChilean Patagonia
I was heading for the Vermillion Cliffs condor release site in northern Arizona. An internet search indicated this is a good place to see critically endangered California condors in the wild. When I’d mentioned to locals in Kanab, Utah, that I was going looking for … Continue readingCondors in Northern Arizona
Every winter, northern elephant seals haul out on the shores of Northern California to breed. The big males arrive first to stake their claims. January and February hold the greatest numbers of lumbering, blubbery seals on the Point Reyes National Seashore beaches. This year, the … Continue readingCalifornia Elephant Seals
Create your own nature experience wherever you are. I left a land I nurtured, loved, and watched come to life to start anew in the mountains of my heart. I’ve literally put down new roots. This is how I came to love this new place … Continue readingA New Start in Idaho
You Find What You Need Last fall, I went to commune with bears and lose myself in the wilderness. I enjoy the wild locations as much as the wildlife. This trip brought something unexpected but just as valuable. We’re watching bears from a jet boat … Continue readingBear Viewing by Boat
For over twenty years, I’ve been watching and photographing bears in the wild as a benign part of the landscape, largely ignored by these impressive animals going about their lives. The two following videos illustrate that. These two bears couldn’t be concerned less about the … Continue readingA Dangerous Bear