Basha's Grocery Store Fire June 24, 2013 7 PM

We saw black smoke from the front of our house and ran over to the store to take some photos.

Looks like only the front façade in the roof area was burned.

Birds of Paradise in New Guinea

This video is just awesome. It could even make a die-hard geologist forget about rocks and start looking at birds!

Flooding on the Danube River

An amazing image of the Danube River in Grein, Austria on June 6, 2013. There is a lot of trust placed in the strength of that flood wall!

Marble Canyon Lodge Burns To The Ground - 1:30 AM June 19, 2013

Undisclosed photo

We received word this morning that the Marble Canyon Lodge, originally established in 1920, caught fire at 1:30 AM and burned to the ground. Initial reports on exactly what buildings were involved confused us. I guess it had been awhile since I used the Post Office at Marble Canyon, and when the article stated that the PO was OK, I thought of its old location in the main lodge. This was not to be the case however as the picture clearly shows the main building. These photos are courtesy of Allison Leigh Schmidt who operates the small jewelry shop east of the lodge. Her structure was saved!

Photo courtesy of Allison Leigh Schmidt

It must have been quite a sight in the dark of a rural Arizona night to see such a structure completely engulfed in flames. The motel section of the Lodge is apparently intact and perhaps no one will lose their reservations at the inn. Who knows. But all of those books and chicken grease are now gone.

Photo courtesy of Allison Leigh Schmidt

The Cost of Doing Nothing

In June, 2010, the Shultz Fire ripped across the southern flank of the San Francisco Peaks near Flagstaff and charred 15,000 acres of Ponderosa pine forest. Now a monetary figure has been assessed to the fire and it is a staggering $147 million dollars. Read the report here. Sadly, the report mentions that if $15 million dollars in forest restoration work had been done before the fire, it would have been more easily contained and perhapos not so catastrophic.

Dr. Wally Covington, a forest researcher at NAU in Flagstaff offers his insight on the cost of "doing nothing." Read his assessment here. We are at the brink of fire season here and so far so good. But one good day can turn on a dime and the whole scenario changes.

Obituary - Dr. John Dohrenwend

I loved the colorful posters of satellite imagery that this man produced. His web site has a sampling of the stunning images that captured our attention before the onslaught of internet information.

I was saddened to learn of his recent passing. You can read his obituary here. Travel on dear colleague!

The Emerald Mile

Listen to an interview with author Kevin Fedarko on the 36 hour run of the Grand Canyon by Kenton Grua. Listen here.