Sage Hill Wildflowers
California poppies on Grass Mountain, Zaca Ridge, Figueroa Mountain 3-26-2016 Around these here parts, in a mild climate with little to no snow, the wildflower blooms mark one of the few striking...
View Article‘Akaka Falls, Hawaii & Cliff Climbing Goby
‘Akaka Falls on Kolekole Stream on the Big Island of Hawaii plunges 442 feet. ‘Akaka Falls may be one of the most remarkable waterfalls in the world. Not because of its impressive height nor natural...
View ArticleA Wander In Hawaii Turns Up Ancient Rock Shelters
The dry wash described below lets out into this small cove on the lee side of the point. “Where you off to?” she asked. “I saw a big crack in the Earth just down the road that looks like it … Continue...
View ArticleScotland, Shifting Baseline Syndrome & Your Local Wilderness
Glen Sannox as seen from Cir Mor Saddle, Isle of Arran, Scotland. Such scenic sweeping grassland is not natural, but in fact the result of human agency. “The British Isles, a Roman outpost located at...
View ArticleTarantula Mating Season, Santa Barbara County
No photos on this blog have ever been staged, but in the interest of honesty I’d like to note that this tarantula, found walking a few yards away, was placed atop this branch in order to allow a better...
View ArticleWidow’s Tears Falls, Santa Ynez Mountains
“Out around Glen Annie and Cathedral Oaks if you look toward the Front Range after a pretty good rainstorm you can sometimes see a tiny little set of falls that has a vertical drop of circa 100.’ It is...
View ArticleSan Ysidro Tank
A cave’s eye view of San Ysidro Canyon in the Santa Ynez Mountains; the Thomas Fire burn scar and initial regrowth evident. Total rainfall county-wide for Santa Barbara measures in at 95% of normal so...
View ArticleSmithy’s Pool
The Santa Ynez River was once hailed as “the most productive of all the little steelhead rivers of the south” in California. (Native Steelhead of Yore) Sitting in the public library some twenty years...
View ArticleThoughts on Rare Lily Ojai Fritillaria and Indian Fire
Earlier this year in March, out scampering around in the Los Padres National Forest, I stumbled across a rather impressive stand of a rare wildflower, Fritillaria ojaiensis or the Ojai Fritillaria...
View ArticleThe Mood Altering Stream Orchid
A stream orchid (Epipactis gigantea) growing near the Santa Ynez River in late May of 2019. Stream orchids grow where constant water is found at seeps, springs and perennial streams. The plant is known...
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Carrizo Plain Elk Under Full Moon
Tule elk graze Carrizo Plain. Two photographers perched before one end of Selby Rocks outcrop shooting the moon rising over the broken spine of white sandstone. We drove past, along the meandering dirt...
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