Category: NatureWritingChallenge

The sounds of chainsaws shattered the silence of the desert landscape at Joshua Tree National Park while the stench of human feces rose from the ditches along the pull outs at Yosemite National Park. It was a great start to 2019. Across the nation, at Wildlife Refuges, National Forests, National Parks and federally funded Public …

Each new year, we find ourselves full of hope and optimism. When the clock strikes midnight, we look ahead to wonderful times with friends and family, as well as ourselves. In those few few hours, days and weeks of the new year, we have a pep in our step and feel motivated to make the …

Born and raised in the rainforests of the Pacific Northwest, anytime I explore a public lands location that doesn’t get feet of rainfall each year feels, I feel incredibly strange. I am used to endless green, to rivers constantly flowing and to signs of life around every corner. I am accustomed to seeing towering trees …

The first taste of wilderness is an unforgettable high, forever altering the chemistry of your brain. Surrounded by seemingly endless nature, your perception of life, the universe and everything becomes forever changed. For most of us, that initial high we get from the great outdoors becomes our addiction, leading to us searching over maps and …

This post was written and posted in one hour for #NatureWritingChallenge. Join us for this weekly writing challenge!  All we knew is that we wanted to hike in snow. After a weekend of snow dumping down in the mountains, adventure was filling our blood and we were becoming drunk off of potential wanderlust. Reports of …

This week’s #NatureWritingChallenge topic was to write about the Best Reasons to #OptOutside this Black Friday. The following is my interpretation of the writing prompt, written and posted in just one hour. 

Sometimes, random encounters with a stranger on a Public Land can become incredible memorable, inspiring a story that gets retold more than you mean to. For this week’s #NatureWritingChallenge, I decided to share one of my frequently told stories about a stranger I encountered in a National Park. Unlike many stories I tell a lot, …

I was recently asked what my wishlist for Public Lands would be, and since we are just days away from the 2018 mid-term elections, I wanted to give a thought out and carefully crafted response. However, this question was posed as a #NatureWritingChallenge, meaning I only had one hour to write this. This is what …

The entrances to National Parks are like gateways to another world, granting access to breathtaking landscapes that are mostly untouched by human interference. The provide entry to lands full of wondrous wilderness and wildlife, where adventures await all who are fortunate enough to enter.  While there are no bad entrances to National Parks, each of …

I have been called a fair weather hiker by quite a few people. For awhile, I denied this, hoping I could convince myself and others that I would be outdoors in rain, snow, sun, wind, whatever. I have tried, and I often fail to shake this label off of me. For as much as I …