Hollis

LATEST ARTICLES ( 455 )

• Shear Beauty Along the Highway

  

  Crenulated beds (chevron folds) with alpine phlox.Wyoming Highway 130 crosses the Medicine Bow Mountains west of Laramie. Immediately beyond the turnoff to... Read more

  Posted on 27 September 2014 OUTDOORS

• Fall Flower Selfies

  

  Sunflower selfie (Helianthus annuus).“Selfie” was the Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year in 2013: selfie noun, informal (also selfy; plural selfies): a... Read more

  Posted on 22 September 2014 OUTDOORS

• Ypsilon Mountain, Handiwork of a Master Sculptor

  

  Ypsilon Mountain above blue hat, part of the Mummy Range in northern Colorado.Abbott and Cook say “Ice is Earth’s master sculptor, and in Colorado, Rocky... Read more

  Posted on 14 September 2014 OUTDOORS

• Tree-following: Pilgrims from the East

  

  Being a dedicated Tree-follower, each month I report on my tree, a lance-leaf cottonwood along the Laramie River in southeast Wyoming, USA. Read more

  Posted on 07 September 2014 OUTDOORS

• Gray Day in Yellowstone

  

  Yellowstone National Park -- land of wonders both natural and unnatural.No matter how carefully one plans a vacation, sometimes things just don’t work out. Read more

  Posted on 31 August 2014 OUTDOORS

• Sweetwater River at the Devil’s Gate

  

  Devil's Gate in 2014.In the mid-1800s, hundreds of thousands of gold-seekers, pioneers, pilgrims and other dreamers took the Oregon Trail west. Read more

  Posted on 27 August 2014 OUTDOORS

• The Most Mysterious Mountains in Wyoming

  

  This is the final post in a series about a recent trip through the “Heartland of Laramide Tectonics” in south central Wyoming. By definition, this a folded land. Read more

  Posted on 17 August 2014 OUTDOORS

• Colorado Butterfly Plant and the US Air Force

  

  Last week’s plant quiz featured the Colorado butterfly plant, growing in Wyoming.Every summer for 28 years, field botanists have walked through riparian... Read more

  Posted on 11 August 2014 OUTDOORS

• Tree-following: Mid-summer Miscellany

  

  Let me (re)introduce you to my tree -- a lanceleaf cottonwood, Populus x acuminata.If this is your first encounter with tree-following, first let me explain. Read more

  Posted on 09 August 2014 OUTDOORS

• Hunting Pterosaurs by the Sundance Sea

  

  This post is part of a series about my recent tour of the Heartland of Laramide Tectonics in south central Wyoming. I spent a good amount of time among rocks... Read more

  Posted on 06 August 2014 OUTDOORS

• Mystery Plant + Three Clues

  

  Clue #1, the site:Clue #2, habitat:Mystery plants in foreground, coyote willows behind.The Mystery Plant:Several mystery plants; note red stems.Buds, flowers an... Read more

  Posted on 02 August 2014 OUTDOORS

• Redbeds

  

  glow in the evening sun at Alcova Reservoir.Geologists are of two minds about Wyoming redbeds. Many consider them “perhaps the most striking sedimentary strata... Read more

  Posted on 31 July 2014 OUTDOORS

• Urban Botany, Urban Art and the Instagram Effect

  

  There’s a scrappy little Virginia creeper growing from the crevice below the right rear heel of the giant prairie dog (click on image to view). Read more

  Posted on 27 July 2014 OUTDOORS

• The Great Unconformity is Greater Here.

  

  The juniper-covered hillside above doesn’t look terribly spectacular, but don't be fooled! A really long and puzzling story is told by these rocks -- the ones... Read more

  Posted on 24 July 2014 OUTDOORS

• Folded Land

  

  Google Earth view of the "Heartland of Laramide Tectonics" in south central Wyoming. Red rectangle encloses area of photo below. Click on images to view details. Read more

  Posted on 17 July 2014 OUTDOORS

• the Button That Would Keep Us There

  

  “Our mothers wore dresses -- slim at the waist, skirts flaring”I don’t read a lot of poetry, and much that I do read is soon left behind. But sometimes I’m luck... Read more

  Posted on 13 July 2014 OUTDOORS

• Cotton Trees

  

  This is my monthly tree-following report. June was all about cotton, specifically the cotton attached to seeds of cottonwoods -- or “cotton trees” as they used... Read more

  Posted on 06 July 2014 OUTDOORS

• Bitterroot in the Laramide Heartland

  

  Several weeks ago I took a vacation in the Heartland of Laramide Tectonics. It was short but wonderful. I came home infused with Laramide stories -- of a time... Read more

  Posted on 28 June 2014 OUTDOORS

• Welcome to My Yard, Leafcutter Bee!

  

  Four or five years ago, I was chatting with a friend in the backyard when I noticed a bee carrying what looked to be a perfect little green circle into a crack... Read more

  Posted on 22 June 2014 OUTDOORS

• Into the Heartland of Laramide Tectonics

  

  My destination ... where on (Google) Earth??? (click on image for better view)I leave soon for the “Heartland of Laramide Tectonics” of Lillegraven and Snoke... Read more

  Posted on 19 June 2014 OUTDOORS