Hollis

LATEST ARTICLES ( 441 )

• Mysterious Stones of the Laramie Mountains

  

  A story of granite, grus, and tors.If you wander the summit of the Laramie Mountains as dusk falls, chances are you will spot mysterious creatures silhouetted... Read more

  Posted on 20 September 2021 OUTDOORS

• Green and Red; Stipules and Suckers

  

  In the foreground is skinny Spike, the hawthorn. Behind is Flash, the maple (red canopy).Since my last report, there has been only a little change in the trees... Read more

  Posted on 14 September 2021 OUTDOORS

• Where on Earth Did Western Nevada Go?

  

  Does the Siberian craton include part of Nevada? (source; text added).Nevada geologists claim that their state is diverse. I think they're right. Read more

  Posted on 07 September 2021 OUTDOORS

• The Snowy Range, 2 Billion Years in the Making

  

  Medicine Bow Mountains and the Snowy Range rise above the Laramie Plains.In the early 1980s, author John McPhee was gathering information for a book, Rising fro... Read more

  Posted on 26 August 2021 OUTDOORS

• Frank Tweedy's Traveling Plants: WY to NYC & Back

  

  Frank Tweedy. Union College Special Collections (used with permission); date unknown.Readers of this blog may remember Frank Tweedy of the US Geological... Read more

  Posted on 17 August 2021 OUTDOORS

• Tree-following: Red and Green

  

  Both trees I'm following this year are red and green, but in different ways. Last month, Flash the maple was covered in green leaves and red samaras. The samara... Read more

  Posted on 14 August 2021 OUTDOORS

• A "Peculiar" Miner's Candle

  

  Miner's candle; southern Laramie Mountains, Wyoming.In 1869, botanist Benjamin Hayes Smith of Denver, Colorado Territory, collected a plant with a tall... Read more

  Posted on 17 July 2021 OUTDOORS

• Christmas in July and a Surprise!

  

  Hotwings Maple indeed!Flash, the maple, is looking very Christmasy, with a canopy of green leaves and red samaras (aka keys or whirlybirds).The big surprise is... Read more

  Posted on 13 July 2021 OUTDOORS

• Two Great Basin Shrubs—each Showy in Its Own Way

  Mountain mahogany in flower, field assistant for scale; Kingston Canyon, Nevada.Like the Great Basin itself, many of its shrubs strike people as drab. Read more

  Posted on 19 June 2021 OUTDOORS

• Tree-following: First the Good News

  

  When I returned from my trip, I found that in just two weeks, Flash, the maple, had gone from no leaves to all leafed out, and its flower buds were opening!But... Read more

  Posted on 14 June 2021 OUTDOORS

• Is There Beauty in the Great Basin?

  

  "I begin to think the Great Basin, like many other great things in this world, a great humbug ... very interesting to the geologist and geographer, but... Read more

  Posted on 03 June 2021 OUTDOORS

• Danny's Rock Tree

  

  Tree-following (kinda).I'm on the road, so instead of reporting on my followed trees, Flash and Spike, I introduce you to Danny's rock tree, next to an... Read more

  Posted on 11 May 2021 OUTDOORS

• Herbarium: The Quest... (a Book Review & More)

  

  In the early 1980s, Barbara Thiers, Director of the William and Lynda Steere Herbarium (NY Botanical Garden), and 15 other prominent botanists were asked to com... Read more

  Posted on 26 April 2021 OUTDOORS

• Tree-following in April—Peak Laziness

  

  My trees, Spike and Flash, have done nothing that's obvious to humans. I give them water during warm spells, hopefully they're putting it to good use. I check... Read more

  Posted on 14 April 2021 OUTDOORS

• Mapping the Laramie Plains II: 3rd Dimension Captured

  

  Two views of Sheep Mountain[s]: 1895 USGS map and 2011 photo looking northwest from Sodergreen Lake.To refresh your memory, and for you who missed Mapping the... Read more

  Posted on 09 April 2021 OUTDOORS

• Mapping the Laramie Plains I: in Pursuit of the 3rd Dimension

  

  "... almost every hill and cañon can be determined at a glance!" From first Laramie, Wyoming Sheet (USGS 1895; public domain).In the spring of 1893, Albany... Read more

  Posted on 27 March 2021 OUTDOORS

• Tree-following: Let It Snow!!

  

  Two days ago, I took a few photos of Flash and Spike, the trees I'm following this year. As you can see, there's nothing left of the little bit of snow that... Read more

  Posted on 14 March 2021 OUTDOORS

• Tree-following 2021: Flash and Spike

  

  This year, I'm following two trees that moved into my yard last summer. After I paid a modest fee to Rooted in Laramie, two Tiger Tree employees showed up,... Read more

  Posted on 14 February 2021 OUTDOORS

• Chokecherry Farewell

  

  Purple-leaved chokecherry, August 2020.Yesterday afternoon, I went to LaBonte Park to bid adieu to the chokecherry tree I followed this year. But I forgot my... Read more

  Posted on 14 December 2020 OUTDOORS

• Tweedy's Pussypaws' Tortuous Taxonomic Journey

  

  Tweedy's pussypaws has long challenged plant taxonomists. Should they abandon Darwinian evolution for an alternative? Photo by Hike395.Tweedy's pussypaws lives... Read more

  Posted on 16 November 2020 OUTDOORS