while there in the valley, after the storm (Jordan)

Looking down into Wadi Dana from Dana Village in Dana Biosphere and Nature Reserve, southwestern Jordan
December 2016

"We were penned in verminous houses of cold stone; lacking fuel, lacking food; storm-bound in streets like sewers, amid blizzards of sleep and an icy wind: while there in the valley was sunshine among spring grass, deep with flowers, upon flux in milk and air so warm that men went uncloaked."
-TE Lawrence, from Seven Pillars of Wisdom, describing Wadi Dana.

a walk in the woods - sequoyah national wildlife refuge - oklahoma

Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge
Near Vian, Oklahoma
December 2015 - ©trryan

Rocky Mountain High

Hiking in Estes Park
September 2012

The Sacred Way: Sunrise at Medicine Wheel

To encounter the sacred is to be alive at the deepest center of human existence.  Sacred places are the truest definitions of the earth; they stand for the earth immediately and forever; they are its flags and shields.  If you would know the earth for what it really is -- learn it through its sacred places.  At Devil's Tower or Canyon de Chelly or the Cahokia Mounds,  you touch the pulse of the living planet; you feel its breath upon you.  You become one with a spirit that pervades geological time and place.

- M. Scott Momaday

Bighorn Medicine Wheel

photographed July 2011
50th Birthday Roadtrip

Big Horn Mountains, Wyoming

©trryan

Sundown at the French Broad River

French Broad River
Buncombe County, NC
©trryan - September 2012

Bull's Eye

Charlotte Contemplates Her Next Move
Biltmore Estate
Buncombe County, NC
©trryan September 2012

Honoring the Beauty that Owes Us Nothing

"There's so much humanity in a love of trees, so much nostalgia for our first sense of wonder, so much power in just feeling our own insignificance when we are surrounded by nature...yes, that's it: just thinking about trees and their indifferent majesty and our love for them teaches us how ridiculous we are - vile parasites squirming on the surface of the earth - and at the same time how deserving of life we can be, when we can honor this beauty that owes us nothing."
 -Muriel Barbery, The Elegance of the Hedgehog

Cherokee Dawn

Cherokee Dawn
a morning walk in the land of my ancestors
Biltmore Estate, Asheville, North Carolina
©trryan September 2012

I awaken to the silence,
Softly it wraps around the world;
Dreams still float upon the air,
Not yet ready to loosen their memory.

Quietly I step outside,
The sleeping world unaware that I am there;
Above me the sky is still dark,
Stars still glimmer, but the moon is low.

All about me the air is hushed,
Breezes gently ruffle my hair; caress my cheek
First morning song of the lark gently wafts across the valley,
Seems for me she sings alone.

In the east there now is a faint luminescence,
A hint of pearly tones etch the edges of the tree crowned hills;
Strong and tall they await the coming,
Of a new day, filled with promise.

More light gently flows westward,
Now across the valley I see a vision;
The hills are wreathed in a living mist,
It moves, touches each thing in it's path.

The sky now is filled with glorious colors,
blue, cerise, lavender, the hues of dawn;
Mists slowly ebb backward into the forests,
Retreating, going home to await the night once again.

My prayers are now said,
Sage smoke still spirals to the heavens;
I touch the ground gently in a gesture of gratitude,
As Grandfather Sun now has risen over the hill tops.

The wispy mists now are gone,
No longer can they be seen anywhere;
Birdsong echoes from hillside to hillside,
The morning well greeted.

Day has come to Cherokee,
Peacefulness surrounds the Great Smokies;
Was it mist I truly saw,
Or was it old ones, keeping watch through the night?

-- Unknown

Something of the Marvelous: Kasha-Katuwe - Tent Rocks

Kasha-Katuwe - Tent Rocks
June 2012

In all things of nature - there is something of the marvelous.

-Aristotle

Amidst the Stillness of Days in the Desert: New Mexico's Ghost Ranch

Ghost Ranch 
Abiquiu, New Mexico
June 2, 2012

I believe that spiritual resistance - the ability to stand firm at the center of our convictions when everything around us ask us to concede -- that our capacity to face the harsh measures of life - comes from the days of quiet listening to the land, the river, the rocks.  There is a resonance of of humility that has evolved with the earth  It is best retrieved in solitude amidst the stillness of days in the desert.

-Terry Tempest Williams

Traveling the Dirt Road with the Rain Crows

After the dust trail settles behind

nobody knows where I go

No street lights, no stop signs, no guard rails -- on a dirt road.

So this is what my future looks like

towing a line with a job and a wife

the same old day and the same old nights

I'm going to take the dirt road.

-From the Rain Crows "Dirt Road".  Vocals by Julie Zickefoose

My favorite song on the album!  Press the arrow below to play and then go buy the CD!

The Rain Crows inaugural CD was my salvation for the sixteen hours of driving between Oklahoma and New Mexico.  This dirt road through Ghost Ranch is the place where spirits dwell.

Amarilla by Morning

April in Western Oklahoma

Prairie Easter

Gloss Mountain, Major County, Western Oklahoma

Swamplandia

this vanishing land

Central Florida in January

this vanishing land

is a magical place where

fall and spring collide

A Winter Morning's Walk in an Urban Jungle Still Dressed for Fall

Stinchcomb Wildlife Refuge in Urban NW OKC

Field Notes: The Definitive Answer to that Age Old Question.....

Ursus Americanus scat in blackberry season

The Ledges - Swift River Reservation

Petersham, MA - August, 2011

Yes, a bear "does that" in the woods!  And I believe this takes "poetry of place" to an entirely different level.

Thanks to Julie Zickefoose for the ID and to Debby Kaspari for a very "eventful hike" in the Massachusetts' woods where every snap of a twig in the deep, dark forest held promise of meeting the owner of this!  Hiking with a heart beat!

If Edvard Munch Could Bark

Montoya Hill
Ojo Sarco, NM - May 2011
©trryan

Little Kings

Elk Mountain Summit
Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge
Near Medicine Park, Oklahoma
©trryan - April 2011

Featured Hike: Oak Creek Canyon Trail - Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area

Oak Creek Canyon Trail
Red Rock Canyon National Recreation Area
Outside of Las Vegas, NV
May 2011

Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area
Red Rock Canyon was designated as Nevada's first National Conservation Area. Red Rock Canyon is located 17 miles west of the Las Vegas Strip on Charleston Boulevard/State Route 159. The area is 195,819 acres and is visited by more than one million people each year. In marked contrast to a town geared to entertainment and gaming, Red Rock Canyon offers enticements of a different nature including a 13-mile scenic drive, more than 30 miles of hiking trails, rock climbing, horseback riding, mountain biking, road biking, picnic areas, nature observing and visitor center with exhibit rooms and a book store.

The unique geologic features, plants and animals of Red Rock Canyon NCA represent some of the best examples of the Mojave Desert. In 1990, special legislation supported by the Nevada congressional delegation, changed the status of the Red Rock Recreation Lands to a National Conservation Area (NCA), the seventh to be designated nationally. This legislation provides the funding to protect and improve the area. Red Rock Canyon NCA is enjoyed by the local population as well as visitors from the United States and many foreign countries. One million visitors each year enjoy the spectacular desert landscape, climbing and hiking opportunities, and interpretive programs sponsored by the BLM.


The BLM is the largest administrator of public lands in the West. It adheres to the policy of multiple use, thereby providing recreational opportunities, protection for cultural sites, and the management of natural resources, including wildlife.

Oak Creek Canyon Trail From Sunset Cities.com: Oak Creek is a hiking trail located about 2.5 miles south of the Red Rock Canyon Visitors Center on SR 159. Note, this trail is accessible from the Scenic Drive also. This hike is slightly longer and also takes you into Oak Creek Canyon. It's a great trail for hiking, horseback riding and photography. The hike is about 4 miles long, fairly level most of the way, with a limited amount of steep grades. It takes you from the Desert Scrub ecological zone to the Pinion Juniper zone. The contrast is interesting. As you walk up the trail, you can actually see the environment change. On an average weekend you might meet 6 to 10 people along this trail. It takes you to the base of Mount Wilson, then Oak Creek Canyon and then Rainbow Mountain.

Oak Creek is a good example of the type of stream found in the Great Basin. It is snow fed and starts deep within the canyon. As it makes its way to lower elevations, it waters a variety of environments and sustains numerous plant and animal communities. Eventually it disappears into the desert becoming part of the subterranean water table.

If your interest is photography, bring a lot of film. There are countless photo opportunities on this trail. Outstanding vistas, both to the north and to the south, the sheer cliff face of Mount Wilson, the jagged cliffs of Rainbow Mountain, the twisted forms of the Juniper trees, Oak Creek and Oak Creek Canyon. Even the rocks along the trail are worth the attention of your camera.