Wild Side Easy

Kayak Mothership Cruise. Three weeks in Southeast Alaska aboard the charter yacht Ursa Major, with wildlife watching, plenty of paddling, and a trip to fabled Lituya Bay. Charter yacht Ursa Major motors into Saook Bay, Baranof Island. She parks briefly mid-bay to toss out shrimp pots. The water depth is 160 feet. Crab pots are […]

2002 Santa Cruz Kayak Surf Festival

One weekend a year, the board surfers yield famed Steamer Lane to kayak surfers. Santa Cruz, CA. The March 22-24 Santa Cruz Kayak Surf Festival began with wind-whipped waves and penetrating rain. The swell was moderate, a good test for the field of competitors  that arrived from as far as Jersey (off the coast of […]

Paradise Park, Mt. Rainier National Park

Wildflowers at Paradise, Mt. Rainier. Mid-August, 2000. “Gardens of Eden . . . . filled knee-deep with fresh, lovely flowers of every hue, the most luxuriant and the most extravagantly beautiful of all the alpine gardens I ever beheld in all my mountain-top wanderings.” -John Muir, writing about a 1888 visit to Paradise Park and […]

Indian Henry’s Hunting Ground, Mt. Rainier National Park

Wildflowers and mirror ponds at Indian Henry’s Hunting Ground. Indian Henry’s Hunting Ground is a huge bench with mirror ponds and an expansive sub-alpine meadow. Several ponds reflect the Mountain, including the pond made famous by the Ashel Curtis photograph. Find carpets of avalanche lily in July; densely-packed lupine in August. Most of the pictures […]

Florida Bird Photography

I was in Florida in February, 2000, to photograph birds and to kayak. South Florida stops included Ding-Darling NWR, the Venice Rookery, Myakka State Park, Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, and Everglades National Park. I kayaked at Ding, Myakka and the Everglades. I also visited Loxahatchee NWR, Merit NWR, Cedar Key NWR, Wakulla State Park, and St. […]