Jeff's Blog
A Mountain of Stories
When asked whether I could interview him, the old-timer quipped, “Well sure, but you’d better hurry. I’m 95 years old, you know.”
Unexpected Opportunities
The release of Tahoma and Its People has triggered a happy lahar of unintended (and mostly terrific) consequences. Giving book talks via
2020: What a Wild Year!
When we look back on 2020, most will probably remember it as the year that lasted a decade. The COVID-19 pandemic. Record-breaking unemployment. A reckoning
A Second Edition of Tahoma and Its People? Already?
Also bound for Tahoma’s second edition is the proposed upgrade to Mount Rainier’s lahar detection system. The U.S. Geological Survey plans to install 17 lahar monitoring stations that will improve the agency’s volcano monitoring and lahar detection capacity. With 1.2 million people and over $40 billion of property values in the river valleys leading away from Mount Rainier, there’s much at stake.
Guess Who We Ran into on the Wonderland Trail!
At this time of year, I often get an itch that needs scratching: to hike the Wonderland Trail. Unable to hike the entire 93-mile loop this year, Dimitri and I day hiked the eastern portion from Fryingpan Creek to Box Canyon. Imagine our excitement to see three rare travelers on the trail!
Living Things Large and Small, Seen and Unseen
In recent years, I’ve become interested in those things rarely seen. Did you know, for example, that over 300 species of insects live inside a decaying log, chewing and drilling until it’s completely decomposed? On a recent field visit with an intern, I enjoyed a full day of searching for the little things that often escape notice.