Entries by Steve Jones

Intergenerational Woodland Venture at Wade Mountain Nature Preserve

On Monday, November 25, 2024, Alabama grandsons Jack (17) and Sam (11) hiked the Devil’s Racetrack Trail with me at the Wade Mountain Nature Preserve near Huntsville, Alabama. The 935-acre preserve includes the 1,453′ elevation Wade Mountain summit. The racetrack loop circles a lesser peak at 1,050′. We covered just under four miles…not bad for […]

At the Cross Section of Nature and Holiday Festivity

I know the date is January 31, 2025! Thirty-six days after Christmas. Why am I posting a Christmas-themed Great Blue Heron photo essay? I published a full essay earlier this week focussed around a typical Nature-Inspired Life and Living theme. This essay has a mood that I want to persist year-round. Although this one presents […]

Blackwell Swamp and Rockhouse Bottom in Early October on the Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge (Part Two)

On October 6, 2024, a little longer than six weeks since my total right knee replacement surgery, I ventured to Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge to gently explore Buckeye Impoundment, Blackwell Swamp, and Rockhouse Bottom by automobile and dirt road strolling. Not yet ready for woodland trail wandering, I welcomed the fresh air, seasonal transition signs, […]

A First Circuit of the Lunker Lake Trail at Oak Mountain State Park!

I often wander forest trails alone, content to saunter leisurely absorbing the sights, sounds, and feel of Nature. I relished having friends to share a November 7, 2024 hike with fellow retired forester Chris Stuhlinger, Tom Cosby, fellow former Alabama State Parks Foundation board member, and Dennis McMillian, an old friend from Fairbanks, Alaska now […]

Mixed Forest along the Lower Slope of Green Mountain Trail

On October 25, 2024, fellow retired forester Brian Bradley introduced me to the lower mile of the two-year-old Green Mountain Trail, beginning at the Astalot Trailhead. Cognizant of my August 20, 2024 right knee replacement surgery, Brian planned sauntering approximately a mile to what I’ve come to call the Halloween Forest. We had no reason […]