by Allison De Jong Imagine you’re hiking along a trail in your favorite Montana mountains. It’s spring—there’s still snow beneath the Douglas-firs and the larches have not yet leafed out. You come to a rushing stream, but instead of immediately crossing the bridge to...
by Allison De Jong The first time I heard a pika, I was hiking along a talus slope on the Bass Creek trail in the Bitterroot Mountains. I would have imagined the short, shrill sound to be some kind of bird call were it not for my husband’s excited whisper—“Listen....
by Hilary Wood I had been hiking all day, making good time despite the soft snow and constant wind. It was well below zero and twilight grey by the time I started across the frozen surface of the lake toward the dim outline of my car and its high-powered heater....
by Christine Wren Lately, I’ve been watching the sun, paying attention to its path across the foothill canyons near my home. It turns out that changing daylight is the answer to a question that’s needled me for awhile—just how do certain animals know when to...
by Peter Lesica and Annie Garde Winter might seem like a pretty dull time for a field botanist. No flowers, no leaves, no green except for the conifers. Ho hum. The serviceberries, chokecherries and mock orange that are so familiar by their flowers and fruits in the...
