Category: Regular Contributors

Family & the Great Outdoors by Wayne Turner – a book review

by Maryann Gaug © 2016

In Family & The Great Outdoors, through four sections of short stories, Wayne Turner takes you on a 70-plus-year journey of his life spent hunting, fishing, and discovering himself.

Turner book front coverAs a young child, his father taught him outdoor skills, including hunting and fishing, near Chesapeake Bay in Virginia. The joy of the hunt included not only learning the ways of the game, but also bonding with his father, hunting dogs, and hunting partners. His stories bring to life the history and culture of a rural community in the 1950s. Continue reading Family & the Great Outdoors by Wayne Turner – a book review

Places for Autumn Color around Ouray

Article and Photographs by William Horton

A white aspen bole stands out among its siblings in a Colorado aspen grove in autumn.
A white aspen bole stands out among its siblings in an aspen grove along Last Dollar Road.

Your Ouray-Area Fall-Color Cheat Sheet is ready for download here. It is in PDF format and will print out nicely so that you can take it along with you on your leaf-color tours. For each location, you will find specific directions and notes, plus CAUTIONS you should keep in mind on your journeys, such as road and trail conditions, where to park, and navigation landmarks.

Continue reading Places for Autumn Color around Ouray

“The Christmas Mink” by Bob Good

RMOWP 2014 Contest Winner Best of Show, Writing  (Reprinted with permission from The Chaffee County Times, 12/19/13 edition.)

A time for memories – and magic moments for making more. This year will mark 75 years of acquiring Christmas memories, so presented the opportunity to write an article about the most memorable of those involving the outdoors. The task wasn’t too difficult. I have a deep storage bin. Continue reading “The Christmas Mink” by Bob Good

Time to Get Psyched for Glacier National Park!

Article by Maryann Gaug

My house and camper van are buried in snow and although the sun is shining brightly, it’s below zero out there. Time to think about our July 23-27 conference in glorious Glacier National Park.  Hmmm… glaciers sound cold, so think warm July days …

Part of the fun of traveling is the anticipation. Here are some ideas to get your travel, photography, and writing juices going. Continue reading Time to Get Psyched for Glacier National Park!

Rio Grande del Norte National Monument Celebrates First Anniversary

Article by Don Laine, photo courtesy of BLM

Rio Grande WSR
Rio Grande Wild and Scenic River north of Taos, NM

Those who attended the 2012 RMOWP conference in Taos, New Mexico will remember the picnic along the Rio Grande and the hike with Bureau of Land Management ranger Randy Roch. Some conference attendees also took time out to fish the Rio Grande. That area along the river was then called the Orilla Verde Recreation Area. But that was then and this is now. Continue reading Rio Grande del Norte National Monument Celebrates First Anniversary

Rocky Mountain National Park, The First 100 Years

Book review and photo by Jack Olson

book cover
book cover

RMOWP member Mary Taylor Young’s latest book, Rocky Mountain National Park, The First 100 Years, has just been published, and I highly recommend it to our members. This book will inform, educate, and entertain any reader. I suppose I have been to the park hundreds of times, but I still found something new to me on almost every page.  Continue reading Rocky Mountain National Park, The First 100 Years

Taking the Train to Glacier

By Jack Wendleton

Amtrack
Amtrack

Let me give you some information about Amtrak and howone can get to Glacier National Park by rail. Pat and I will definitely come to the RMOWP conference via Amtrak from Chicago. Maybe other members might want to travel to the conference by this mode of transportation. For us in Missouri the cost of train with sleeper and meals included will be less than the gas to drive. The train is the Empire Builder (Pat and I have taken it twice to South Washington. It’s a great train and food). Continue reading Taking the Train to Glacier

Travels To and Beyond This Year’s RMOWP Conference

Article and photos by Jack Wendleton

Ranch house at Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve
Ranch house at Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve

In planning my 3-week journey to the RMOWP Conference and beyond, I first contacted Jack Olson. He recommended that my first destination should be the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, which is 18 miles West of Emporia, Kansas. I did not, initially, find the idea of a National Park Service area dedicated to preserving tallgrass prairies to be exciting, and I admit that I was pleasantly surprised. The park includes a well preserved three-story stone ranch house, a massive barn, ranch buildings and prairie interpretive trails. Nearby, the well-preserved town of Cottonwood Falls with its historic courthouse and buildings add to understanding life on the prairies and the Flint Hills country of Kansas in the nineteenth century.
Continue reading Travels To and Beyond This Year’s RMOWP Conference