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The Essen Wildlife Refuge

The Essen Wildlife Refuge

Marty’s photo of the day #4721: I captured this somewhat grainy image with one of my motion-sensing cameras. For 28 years, my wife and I have protected our 25 acres as the Essen Wildlife Refuge. In the grand scale of Montana, our acreage is hardly anything. Nevertheless, people like us are sometimes castigated as greedy […]

Surrounded by wolves!

Surrounded by wolves!

Marty’s photo of the day #4306: Now that I have my brand new Ford Maverick truck, Deb, Nellie, and I are planning to head into far north Canada this fall. I took this photo the last time Deb and I made the trip. This is the 362-mile-long Campbell Highway, a gravel road that crosses the […]

Even sweet Nellie can be naughty

Even sweet Nellie can be naughty

Marty’s photo of the day #4243: Sometimes even sweet Nellie can be a bad girl. Because we live on 25 acres of protected mountain forest (affectionately called the Essen Wildlife Refuge), we have mountain lions, wolves, coyotes, porcupines, skunks, and other animals around that Nellie shouldn’t mess with. And the only safe way for her […]

Selfishness on the prairie

Selfishness on the prairie

Marty’s photo of the day #4235: This shot is from last September, during Deb’s, Nellie’s, and my second weeklong stay in the American Prairie of central Montana. Before I moved to Montana, in 1996, I had no opinion of ranchers, but since then ranchers have convinced me that they are among the most selfish people […]

Best campsite in Canada

Best campsite in Canada

Marty’s photo of the day #4216: I shot this photo from the best campsite of Deb’s and my adventure to the top of Canada and back. This short excerpt from my first book, Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents, tells the story: The rest of our afternoon was uneventful—if you can call driving […]

Dogs make the trip!

Dogs make the trip!

Marty’s photo of the day #3768: When Deb and I traveled the world for my first book, Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents, I loved all of our adventures. Even so, our least exotic trip, to the top of Canada, always gives me the warmest feelings when I think back about it. That’s […]

To the top of Canada!

To the top of Canada!

Marty’s photo of the day #3580: Deb and I have renewed our passports in anticipation of reprising our epic trip to the top of Canada this fall. Our original trip, documented in my first book, Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents, featured me standing in the midst of a pack of howling wolves […]

Wolves in the night

Wolves in the night

Marty’s photo of the day #3552: I took this photo from my favorite campsite ever. Deb and I were in the Yukon Territory, traveling for the Canada chapter of my first book, Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents. After we snuggled into our tent with our dogs, a wolf started howling next to […]

To the top of Canada

To the top of Canada

Marty’s photo of the day #3176: When Deb and I reminisce about our travels on all seven continents, for my book Cool Creatures, Hot Planet, we inevitably talk about which ones we want to do again. One that I’m reasonably sure we will repeat is our trip to the top of Canada. It was so […]

The battle of the goldeneyes

The battle of the goldeneyes

Marty’s photo of the day #2883: Every time Deb and I visit Yellowstone National Park, we experience something amazing—and it’s not necessarily the wolves or the grizzlies. This past Saturday we hiked up to Trout Lake, which we had to ourselves. At first I was disappointed because the lake was frozen and we saw no […]