I try to not let the flood of the news cycle inundate me — the boisterous bullying, the disregard for decency, the embarrassing imperial silliness; this isn’t great. Beyond my advocacy for science, natural ecosystems (including those with humans), and public land, I typically keep my political views away from TrailOption, but I am weary and sad at the moment. I (we) can still find solace in the natural world that surrounds us, and cartography, photography, and writing, as we continue our journeys, if we can, keeps some of the anxiety at bay. So, I keep going.
Excursions
I recently posted a story of a traverse through Monitor Valley in central Nevada. As I place less emphasis on High Points, I have continued with a series of traverses from Hamlin Valley in southwestern Utah, to Hart Mountain and Sheldon wildlife refuges in southern Oregon and northern Nevada. I’ll be catching up on those stories in the near future.
More distant travel in 2025 found me below the equator in Antarctica — almost a year ago now — in the austral summer (February) and Zambia in the late austral winter (August and warm at that latitude in Africa). I have a nice collection of photographs from the 7th continent and have only just begun culling the 1000s of wildlife images from the river parks of Zambia. Coming soon, as they say.
Desna and I just returned from the Rio Grande Valley in central New Mexico where we were astounded by the flights of Sandhill Cranes and Snow Geese, among a wide variety of other avifauna, at Bosque del Apache and Bernardo Wildlife Area. The experience of that natural, sonic and visual spectacle remains ever hopeful. I can't wait to dive into the piles of images I know have stacked on my hard drives.
Research Recces
I spent much of the fall of 2025 working on landform descriptions for archaeological survey projects along the Carson Range in western Nevada, continuing our documentation of distributary delta patterns in western Utah, and testing for buried sites along the margins of Yosemite National Park. While some projects have been curtailed or truncated due to funding cuts and federal shutdowns, I have tried to keep moving on research papers, several of which are in peer-review at the moment.
I have some opportunities for field studies in the Redwoods of northwestern, coastal California in the months ahead. That will be a new experience, for sure. I will also be presenting a poster at the Society for California Archaeology in Palm Springs in March, and collaborating with colleagues at Far Western in leading a field trip for the Society for American Archaeology in late April. The SAA meets in San Francisco this year, and we’ll be leading a geoarchaeological excursion to look at coastal environments above Point Reyes, up to the Russian River outlet.
Upcoming
I need to plan a Second Friday excursion for February. It has been amazingly and wrongly warm and dry through January, but I am hoping for some actual winter storms to send me further south. In March I will be in the Mojave as my fieldwork will overlap with getting to Palm Springs for the SCA meeting. I might have the good fortune of the spring bloom, if the seasonal moisture of southern California bears its promises.
I have been trying to be more active on various socials — typically ‘@trailoption’ — without falling into the darkness. I look forward to hearing from you. As always, imagery, maps, etc, are best absorbed slowly with a big screen and little scrolling. Please visit and share the links at trailoption.com.
Our public lands remain vital to our sense of place and to our scientific inquiry of landscape process and ecosystem health. this is where we live, breathing the air, drinking the water, eating the produce, building the future, challenging our strengths, and accepting our weaknesses. These are only compatible if we understand our place in this vast landscape, do we have the honest to live here? It is amazing and beautiful, and it deserves better.
Be kind, and keep going.
Please respect the natural and cultural resources of our public lands.
That bear giving some serious side eye. 😅🥰
I love all the pictures--the lightening is a great lead-in.