Outdoors

Washington With Bones – Part 2B: Hurricane Ridge

Leaving Marymere Falls, we headed back out toward Port Angeles to visit the destination we didn't have time for the day before - Hurricane Ridge. It's a commonly visited spot, at the end of the main National Park access road out of Port Angeles, but it's popular for a reason, and even though it represented…Read more Washington With Bones – Part 2B: Hurricane Ridge

Washington With Bones – Part 2A: Marymere Falls

Before I get into this update, a note: Now that we were fully immersed in this trip, things got busy - so I'm going to break days into individual locations and hikes for the sake of utility and the ability to do each part justice without making these posts overly long. As is typically the…Read more Washington With Bones – Part 2A: Marymere Falls

Washington With Bones – Part 1: Arrival, Olympic

There's one advantage to getting up at 3am to catch an early flight from the US east coast to the west coast. Time zones work to your advantage in this direction, so you can make this trip and still arrive before local lunch time, leaving plenty of time to get a half-day in to start…Read more Washington With Bones – Part 1: Arrival, Olympic

A Week In Washington With “Bones” – Campervan Adventures Across Three National Parks (Intro)

I had the blessed opportunity to take a week off from doom-scrolling and posting to the internet last week. We spent the time off grid, out of range of the mobile towers, exploring Olympic, Mt. Rainier, and North Cascades National Parks, and all the various State and National Forests that surround them (Olympic, Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie,…Read more A Week In Washington With “Bones” – Campervan Adventures Across Three National Parks (Intro)

Weather Prediction via Persimmon Trees (?)

There's lots of folklore out there around how to use natural phenomena to predict the severity of the upcoming winter. For example, mast seasons for oak and other nut-bearing trees are often described as indicators of harsh winters to come - this is good news for squirrels who have a bumper crop of acorns to…Read more Weather Prediction via Persimmon Trees (?)

Calvert Cliffs, MD (Sept 1, 2025)

This past week has been absolutely gorgeous through the Mid-Atlantic. An early glimpse of fall, the temps have been low, the humidity non-existent. There's a hint of a chill in the air, and certain trees seem to suddenly have gotten the cue to start changing color (though, this is almost certainly more due to water…Read more Calvert Cliffs, MD (Sept 1, 2025)

Sounding Rocket Launch, TOMEX+ Experiment from NASA’s Wallops Island, VA Facility

Last Wednesday night, on Aug 27, NASA successfully launched The TOMEX+ (Turbulent Oxygen Mixing Experiment Plus) mission from the Wallops Island launch complex on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, and I got to watch it from home! Building on the success of the original TOMEX mission launched in 2000, TOMEX+ used a trio of sounding…Read more Sounding Rocket Launch, TOMEX+ Experiment from NASA’s Wallops Island, VA Facility

Small Wild Spaces: Greenwell State Park, MD

I've been limited in my ability to do "big" trips lately (probably since backpacking in the Smokies), but have been doing a lot of exploration that's fairly local. Greenwell is an interesting little State Park in Southern Maryland, an old farm that has been (largely) allowed to return to a natural state, but also serves…Read more Small Wild Spaces: Greenwell State Park, MD