Heather Physioc Wins Six Honors in OWAA’s 2025 Excellence in Craft Contest
Kansas City–based conservation photojournalist and writer Heather Physioc has earned six awards in the Outdoor Writers Association of America’s (OWAA) 2025 Excellence in Craft Contest, which celebrates outstanding outdoor media across writing, photography, and other creative disciplines. The contest, sponsored by Friesens, ASA, and Pew, drew entries from across the country. Winners were announced during...
Quechua is a living people, not a dying language: Inside the fight to preserve and revitalize endangered Indigenous languages in the Andes
By Heather Physioc In a rustic adobe building in the Andean mountainside, cool light filters in through small windows that look out over a misty valley below. The hut is constructed from bricks of mud mixed with straw and highland grasses. The roof is corrugated sheet steel and thatch. The clay walls are brushed white...
My top 24 photographs of 2024.
Being outdoors and capturing wildlife is my happiest place with a camera in hand. The worst weather conditions and most painful injuries can fade into the background when I’m locked in on an animal with my zoom lens. Shooting in the Chihuahua desert Then I return home with the camera, and go through the sometimes...
Portorož, Piran & Lipica: Experiencing the Istrian Peninsula & Karst Region of Slovenia
Strolling along the boardwalk from the elegant Grand Hotel Bernardin in Portorož, the Adriatic coast seemed calm with clear water and gently lapping waves. Minutes later, turning a corner at the charming marina town of Piran, the wind instead felt gusty, and the choppy Gulf of Trieste whipped and smashed over the breakwater. Shopkeepers hurried...
Experience Wonders of Wildlife and the Ancient Maya in Yucatán, Mexico
Home » Witnessing Chichén Itzá, Wonder of the World The iconic El Castillo, also known as the Temple of Kukulcan, at Chichén Itzá, one of the New Seven Wonders of the World in Yucatan, Mexico. The massive step pyramid towers before a cloudy sky, illuminating the grandeur and texture ancient Mayan architecture. A series of ancient...
Capturing Conservation: Animal portraits to inspire the next generation
The year my dad made us “Friends of the Zoo” at our local Kansas City Zoo was one of the most memorable of my childhood. I recall frequent visits to see nature programs on the giant IMAX screen. Eleven-year-old me was delighted to meet the Kratt brothers, of “Kratts’ Creatures” fame, against the backdrop of one of their children’s educational...
Photography from O’ahu, Hawaii in September
Family and work travel can be unproductive for many photographers. Fast-paced itineraries and going with the flow of a group make it tougher to spend time crafting the ideal image with perfect light and composition. So we take on a different kind of challenge - making something beautiful with a speedy snap. Managed expectations and...
Morning views in Gulf Shores, Alabama
Admittedly, I underestimated coastal Alabama as an outdoor travel destination. But when the Outdoor Writers Association of America hosted our annual conference at Gulf State Park in Gulf Shores, Alabama, I experienced a small taste of its natural beauty first-hand. Allow me to humble myself and say I stand corrected. The images below were my...
Mountain goats on the McCullough Gulch Trail hike in Colorado
Something always stands between me and the goats. I haul all my stupid, heavy photography gear on my back for miles into thinning air, hoping I'll spot their white fur against the rocky ridges. Then, every time I see them, something terrible happens that keeps me from them. I nearly crap my pants on Grays,...
River reconnection: backpacking the North Fork Skokomish River Trail in Olympic National Park
Why would any sane, rational human being leave the comfort of their home with air conditioning and plumbing, strap 40 pounds of gear onto their back, and haul it 10 miles into the wilderness on foot to sleep on the ground, and eat dehydrated food for days? Under threat of bear activity and a “mountain...
Barbados: A Tale of Two Coasts
A fan pushes warm, humid air around the room. The first hint of hazy morning light seeps through slatted wooden blinds, the bright blue curtains puffing in and out in the morning breeze. I hear palms rustling and waves crashing and rolling onto a beach. I get out of bed and shuffle to the window....
Peru Creek: Crapping in a Bag & Other Stories
This is a story about defeat, joy, and grief. It is full of adventure and misadventure, with a touch of prescience. Twists and turns. Bathroom humor. Summit season 2022 was unsuccessful, but mountain season was a hit. Buckle up; it's a ride. This year has been a lesson in coping with the unexpected. Every trip...
Voyageurs National Park in Northern Minnesota
It appears that 2022 is the year I visit national parks experiencing extraordinary flooding events. In the spring, massive flooding washed out vast parts of Yellowstone National Park just after I visited during record snow. And recently, I visited Voyageurs National Park in Minnesota just after historic flooding caused by heavy rains and snowmelt in...
Paradise Valley, Montana: A Cabin at the Foot of Emigrant Peak
This story is continued from Western Kitsch: The Black Hills of South Dakota. After our gripping adventure rerouting several hours out of our way from the Black Hills, we pushed on to Billings and then Livingston. Just 30 miles from our final destination, the snow began to fall. In my tiny Prius, we slowed to...
1% of 1% of Yellowstone National Park
June 15, 2022 - Yellowstone National Park Update: I published this story just two weeks before record-breaking floods occurred at Yellowstone National Park, causing widespread destruction, with mudslides and rock slides washing out major roadways. At a time when the country's first national park was to celebrate their 150-year anniversary, this astonishing flooding created extremely...
Western Kitsch: The Black Hills, South Dakota
We daydreamed about visiting Badlands area for years. We were drawn by the mystique of its wide open spaces, curious about its strange, striated western landscape. We were eager to discover its legendary herds of bison. In April, we finally set forth on our great Northern road trip with the dog in tow. 50mph winds...
50 Miles on the Flint Hills Nature Trail
My two fitness goals this year were to summit another 14,000-foot peak and do a 50-mile hike in four days. I completed Huron Peak in Colorado in August. My first attempt at the 50-mile hike was in May on the Knobstone Trail in Indiana but got rained out among other challenges. When it came time...
Hiking Huron Peak 14er in Colorado
Fear has been a consistent companion in my life. At age 10, I negotiated my way out of the deep end of the pool during swim lessons at day camp. I was later than all my friends to take the training wheels off my bicycle. My lifelong friend Molly remembered me as an anxious kid...
Sunrise at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland
I recently had the opportunity to return to Annapolis, Maryland to visit family, and we awoke early to visit the United States Naval Academy yard before sunrise. The Plebe Summer training program is in full swing on the Naval Academy base, and incoming freshmen Midshipmen gathered en masse on Farragut Field for morning PT. Meanwhile,...
White Sands National Park, New Mexico
The last time I saw White Sands was more than two decades ago, when it was still a national monument. My younger brother and I spent several of our summers living in New Mexico with our mom. One of the highlights was some of the road trips we took to all different parts of the...
Bryce Canyon National Park
Bryce Canyon in southern Utah is the last of the four national parks I visited on this road trip. (Prior parks: Capitol Reef National Park in Utah, Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park in Colorado, and Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado.) At this stage, I am equal parts exhausted, in awe of what...
Capitol Reef National Park
Capitol Reef National Park was the major destination on my 3-week long national parks road trip. I dedicated the whole day to slow, quiet hiking and looking for beautiful scenes to photograph. As with all national parks, I saw only a small portion of it in the full eight-hour day I was there, but every...
Small Town America: Antimony, Utah
I said I wanted peace, quiet, and serenity. Did I ever find it in Antimony, Utah. The population of this tiny town is just over 100 residents, and the cows and sheep far outnumber the people. The area is mainly vast ranch land nestled at the foot of Table Mountain. It's also a popular destination...
Finding Perspective at Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park
I booked this cottage in Montrose, Colorado because I needed a place to stay close to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. But also because goats. Quaint farm lodging with goats beats lodging without goats 100 percent of the time. There were at least three different varieties of goats that the homeowners keep as...
Shiras Moose Sighting in Golden Gate Canyon State Park
On the way into Blackhawk, Colorado, where I was staying at a beautiful little cabin in the woods as a home base for my exploration of Rocky Mountain National Park, I passed numerous signs for Golden Gate Canyon State Park. I made a mental note to return during my stay. My friend and colleague, Belinda,...