Marsh skullcap (Scutellaria galericulata) is a marsh-dwelling, purple-flowering herb in the mint family present across much of the northern hemisphere. It thrives in wetland habitats and is known for its...
Posted by | August 20, 2026
Bird vetch (Vicia cracca), also called tufted or cow vetch, is a climbing perennial in the pea family, with one-sided racemes of blue-violet flowers and branched tendrils that let it...
Posted by | August 16, 2026
Arctic gentian (Gentiana algida) is a low, white-flowered perennial of Arctic tundra, alpine meadows, and stony slopes, ranging from Alaska and the Yukon across northern Asia and south into the...
Posted by | July 18, 2026
Cassidy over the Harding Icefield I've never hiked the Harding Icefield Trail in good weather. Neither Cassidy nor Elliott had hiked it at all. So when a window opened in...
Posted by | July 17, 2026
Narrowleaf arnica (Arnica angustifolia) is a low, yellow-flowered perennial of Arctic tundra, rocky slopes, cliffs, and seashores across the circumpolar north, from Alaska and Greenland to Fennoscandia and Central Asia....
Posted by | July 16, 2026
Cassidy, Elliott, and I planned to spend a couple of days backpacking at Hatcher Pass before the climbing team came down for our annual climbing trip. We spent one very...
Posted by | July 14, 2026
Our last day to do something outside before heading back to town, and the weather was finally changing. We didn't quite know what to do with our limited time, with...
Posted by | July 11, 2026
These caves are running out of time. Every year, I follow the trail of dead ice farther up the valley. Each one I find is gone in a handful of...
Posted by | June 26, 2026
Day one of three in the Alaska Range. We followed the Gulkana moraine past where I'd been before, found the season's first saxifrage, and let the trip have no plan...
Posted by | June 23, 2026
Our party at the Windchimes near Mt. Prindle In early June, five of us took off for Nome Creek for an overnight trip to Mt. Prindle in the White Mountain...
