owen
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The Miracle Flight
Sid squirmed in his royal blue faux leather seat. He was waiting for the airline attendant currently strapped into the flight seat near the cockpit. Sid looked up at the attendant and then down at the tray table in front of him. The bumps seemed light to delay meal service. He barely secured two vodka…
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The Case for Closing National Parks to Cars
I grew up living near Yellowstone Park with respect for National Park Service employees and what they do to protect our sacred lands. My father was a seasonal worker at the park, and that is what brought him to Montana, where I was born. I have a deep appreciation for the park, its geology, wildlife,…
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On My Travels to India
On Christmas Day of 2023, I was in a Forest Service cabin somewhere in Colorado, trying to keep warm while tending a fire. A good friend of mine—a local Coloradoan—and I skinned up some 6.5 miles to a cabin with plans to ski a nearby ridge. But the weather had different plans. Howling 50+ mph…
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The Darkness of Tinted Windows
“You like it darker? Fine, so do I.” A line from Stephen King, but also a line in a boardroom somewhere with automotive corporation executives. New cars on the roads have something increasingly dark in common: The windows. Cars are coming off the dealership lot with darker factory-tinted windows. The front driver and passenger windows…
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The View in the Water
“… Without error or mistake,” is how Alfred Castner King describes the objects we see before they are distorted in a reflection. Mountains, Cliffs, pines, the sky, clouds, and all of nature’s objects reflect on the water’s surface. The accuracy of the image ranges from a perfect copy to completely lost, depending on the stability…
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Selections: Reflections by Alfred Castner King
Reflections On the margin of a lakelet, In a rugged mountain clime, Where precipice and pinnacle Of countenance sublime, Cast their weird, austere reflections In the water’s glistening sheen, I strolled in contemplative mood, Both pensive and serene. As in a crystal mirror,In that lakelet’s placid face,I saw the mountains upside down,With all their pristine…
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Living Offline
” Not connected to or controlled directly by a computer.” That is the definition of off-line in Merriam-Webster’s 5th printing of its Dictionary and Thesaurus – my trusted reading companion. Offline, without the hyphen, is how we use the word today. It’s an exploratory journey flipping through the pages of a printed dictionary or thesaurus.…
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Dead Trees
At a young age, I was on a speedboat with a friend’s family when I saw the impressive walls of the Bighorn Canyon for the first time. Amazed a canyon like this could exist so close to where I live, I thought, “This is a treasure hidden away and known only by few.” How had…
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A Glacial Marvel
On a cool morning in August 2024, I sat on the edge of Phantom Lake, writing in my mini spiral notepad about glacial landscapes, reflecting on them as the origin of life. Glaciers cling to the sides of peaks, melting into small black and gray streams that flow into alpine lakes, creating a landscape that…
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Last Best Place
Last Best Place is home to reflections on wild lands, humanity, and the unseen. It’s where historical research, reflections on the present, and commentary about where we are converge to explore our place in the natural world. Wild Lands – The Earth is in a constant state of change, shaped by forces both natural and human. While…