Landscape photographs of the 2023 annular solar eclipse over the Ruby Mountains in Nevada.

Some classrooms don't have walls....

Rafting and kayaking the MIddle Fork Salmon River after the 2023 blowouts.

Kayaking and Rafting the South Fork of the Salmon River

A Tahoe crew spends the final week of guided backcountry ski operations at Mistaya Lodge outside of Golden, BC, Canada.

Kayaking the Owyhee rivers as spring snow melts raising the river level.

My stomach was in turmoil thanks to an abundance of stress the weeks before leaving for a trip I had put together--a ten day sea-to-ski trip that would take five friends into the bays of Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska. Multiple times a day during the weeks prior to heading north to Alaska, I'd check NOAA's weather and watched what appeared to be typical: coastal rain at sea level with multiple feet of snow accumulating every week. I was afraid I'd asked my friends to throw down their hard earned cash and time away for a trip where we'd be stuck on a sailboat drinking below deck for ten days with shit weather falling outside and avalanche conditions so high that we'd never bother to get off the boat. Not only that, but, Patagonia and Alaskan Brewery sponsored our trip and National Park Magazine and I signed a contract for a Winter 22/23 article! It wasn't looking good when we arrived in Seward and made our way to meet the captain of the Madrona, the 35 foot sailboat that would be our home. Nathan Straubinger, who owns Resurrection Bay Sailing Charters with his wife, Kate, was busy getting final preparations in order while the biggest snowflakes I'd ever seen fell on the myriad of neighboring boats tied in their slips: trawlers, sailboats, tugs, etc. We carried our Alaskan Brewery cases and some groceries to the Madrona that evening before the light faded, then, hit up the local taqueria for dinner, followed by a night cap of bourbon, and finally a fitful sleep on the boat.

La Jolla, California, Tidal Pools - Using Neutral Density Filters at High Tide