A New Year Dawns

New Year Dawns Blog

Much like each new day is a day of new possibilities, a new year holds an endless stream of possibilities. When I think of a new year, like many of you, I think of the changes I can make to better myself and the world around me. Then I look at nature and wonder, what does a new year mean to nature?

Read More

Stepping Outside My Comfort Zone

Clark the Mountain Beaver outside his comfort zone in Joshua Tree NP

It sounded exotic and interesting, and it was definitely outside my comfort zone. Which is exactly why I wanted to go. Joshua Tree National Park! A vast desert spread across Southern California where dirt and sand drapes across the landscape like a large woolen blanket. A place where the Mojave Desert meets the Colorado Desert.…

Read More

Silent Reflections: A Tranquil Moment in Grand Teton NP

Karen B. Shea's shadow below the Tetons

A raven is my companion as I sit beside Jackson Lake eclipsed by the magnificent Teton Range. Ripples upon the lake are the only known movement, until the honk of two Canada Geese turns my gaze upwards to catch them flying overhead. Their ruckus causes the raven to take flight. For now, it is only…

Read More

A New Day Dawns

The wee morning hours are singular moments of life awakening—each in its own way and on its own terms. Subtleties that, within hours, will meld into a community of motion that turns into day.

Read More

My Valley Home

I sit before this vast wilderness soaking in the untamed beauty that surrounds me. Rising majestically from the ground before me is Open Door—Matriarch of the Valley. Her green rolling hills give way to granite cliffs that give way to a vertical incline speckled with trees that gives way to a shale face that touches the sky.

Read More

A Robin’s Call

Clouds blanketed the sky with the hint of rain to come as this new day beckoned to me for a leisurely walk. As I ventured out into the morning air, a disturbance quickly caught my attention. Two robins, perched upon a split rail fence, shouting their warning call for everyone to hear.

Read More

Nature’s Bounty

I sit in a forest of green listening to the morning songs of birds’ unseen and the distant drumming of a determined woodpecker. These simple pleasures are a gift from Mother Nature.

Read More