Blog discussion on photographing, exploring, and protecting our western public lands

ALL FOR A FEW HAMBURGERS

I walk alone, off trail, off road, away from all human activity, across Oregon’s public lands desert. Across vast flat plains dotted with sagebrush, over mountains, buttes, rims, through canyons, draws, and gullies, along rivers, ponds, streams, and springs, I have shuffled along for countless miles directly across the spaces of the vast open landscape. Looking down as I carefully navigate and plot the location of every solo footstep, I have monitored and cataloged the appearance and condition of the ground, the soil, the foot tread, and the vegetation. And after years of examination through all seasons of the year and throughout the entire public lands that I have traversed, there is one fact that jumps out like the world’s most obvious truth.

Mark DarnellApril 16, 2022Comment

Marshall Medoff invents the Sustainable Future

Marshall Medoff has invented technologies to replace the use of fossil fuels and plastics in our world. The fact that some of the biggest energy players on the planet are investors should give a clue to the legitimacy.

Mark DarnellJanuary 23, 2019Marshall MedoffComment

Powder Trip

Just finished a day of soft, deep, flotation on Mt. Bachelor. That is to say, an epic day of powder skiing in a raging snowstorm.

What is it about performing this type of sliding across a landscape that tickles the neurons like nothing else?

Mark DarnellJanuary 23, 2019Powder Skiing Comment

Teach Our Children

Something is missing here. We teach our children to be responsible for their things.

Mark DarnellJanuary 23, 2019Teach our Children Comments

Journey to Oregon High Desert Wilderness Study Areas

The hunting knife in my left hand, poised for use, the trekking pole in my right, poking ahead through brush, my head was on a swivel as I solo hiked off trail up a narrow canyon with rimrocks looming 30 feet directly overhead. I whistled and sang to cope with the fear. This was the perfect place for a cougar attack. Surely the rare cougar attack that killed one person and injured another yesterday in Washington State was just a fluke. But I couldn’t seem to believe any rational arguments at the moment. What was so damn important that I was putting myself in this situation so far from any help? A simple photograph?

Mark DarnellJanuary 14, 2019JourneyComment