“Here, take a look,” whispered Ricardo. Peeking through the lens, I was six years old again. There was the bird I had been yearning to see, a quetzal as resplendent as I had read about—a vivid dream from my distant past. He sat on a tree branch, preening his feathers, cocking his head and looking […]

Glacier National Park is one of the last, virtually pristine wilderness areas left in the Lower 48 states. The rugged peaks, forested valleys, and alpine meadows offer refuge to a diversity of flora and fauna found in few other locales. To experience it, I choose to leave the roads behind, step onto the trails, and […]

When a glacier retreats, it leaves behind a land scrubbed clean of life. On barren rocks and humped moraines of leftover rocky debris there is no soil — only a fresh slate upon which to build a new world. From the 1300s to the 1850s, Earth experienced a Little Ice Age. Glaciers advanced on terrain […]