Exploring Nature by Sheila Newenham
It’s past peak fall color, they say. This is my peak fall when the leaves crunch underfoot, the trail is decorated in a colorful mosaic, the crisp air smells of earthy, musky, decomposing leaves and the branching structure of the tree canopy is revealed. That … Continue readingFoggy Fall Morning
I’d half expected the falls to be dry. It’s hardly rained in northwest Georgia this autumn. But nature always delights as she often reminds me. The tiered unnamed falls cascade in a soft veil to join the creek and meander among the fallen leaves. The … Continue readingCloudland Canyon Waterfalls
The first snow of the season was a few days ago. Just a couple of inches, not enough to bury the last of fall’s glory yet. Today will probably be the last of the frosty fall mushrooms and leaves. It’s been a prolific fungi season. … Continue readingA Frosty Fall Day
Serendipity: an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident. accidental discovery Planned In October, I went to Estes Park, Colorado, the hotbed of elk activity, to photograph the rut. There weren’t many elk around, and Moraine Park was empty. Unplanned Later, I was in Northern … Continue readingTule Elk Rut
It’s my fourth trip to Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP), though it’s been nine years since my last visit. Usually, the town of Estes Park is overrun by elk in the fall. They’re on the golf course, at the school, downtown, and, of course, in … Continue readingA Lake of Rocky Mountain Elk
Pack Your Patience It’s 7:45 on a Monday morning, twenty minutes after the sun pierced the horizon and started to lighten the sky. The eleven-mile, one-lane Cades Cove wildlife loop is at a stop-and-crawl from the outset. I can’t see the front of this train … Continue readingCades Cove Wildlife Loop
Reportedly, one of the “Top 25 hikes in America,” Sitton’s Gulch Trail in northwest Georgia follows its namesake creek three miles to a stunning waterfall. I don’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t this. The trail is covered in fallen leaves predominantly brown and … Continue readingSitton’s Gulch Trail
Waubonsie State Park is not what I expected. I didn’t expect to fall in love with a 2000 acre park in the southwest corner of Iowa. But that’s what happened during my first ever Artist-in-Residency. From the moment I entered the park and saw its … Continue readingWaubonsie Artist-in-Residence
From the roadside three-quarters of a mile from Kehoe beach, I can hear the rhythmic crashing of the waves. There’s a High Surf Advisory for the coast at the trailhead. The warning posted notes “breaking waves 15-20 feet possible in the surf zone” and there’s … Continue readingKehoe Beach Trail
I’m pedaling a bicycle in the middle of a dark, two-mile-long, old train tunnel somewhere in the Bitterroot Mountains of northern Idaho. There’s a headlamp on my handlebar providing the only light. It’s cold, dark and damp. Water drips and runs from the walls and … Continue readingBicycling the Route of the Hiawatha