In Elsah, Illinois, where the water table is so high, with a multi- spring fed creek, located right next to the Illinois/Mississippi Rivers - Sycamore trees litter the lowland ….and upland forest.

I spent the morning wandering through the flooded Mississippi River, with my jeep and in waders.

This ‘gate way’ image stuck in my mind for several years.

Two Rivers National Wildlife Refuge consists of five separate parcels of riverine bottomland wetlands, around the confluence of the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers.

These spruce and hemlock survive the combined challenge of mountain wetlands- fierce mountain winds, a cold and rainy winter and upland wetland habitat.

Below Gunnison, in Southern Colorado along Cambell Creek, lies the BLM Powderhorn Wilderness, with the Powderhorn Lakes and Calf Creek Plateau.

Early morning, on the way to feed the horses…..Mt. Yale in the ‘Collegiate Range’ is in the background….

Each year the ‘monsoons’ roll through this arid area of the Southwest, bringing much needed rain, thunderstorms and dramatic weather. As they pass over the mountains of dry Northern New Mexico, they can be quite dramatic.

This little, adaptable and colorful plant is found throughout the eastern US and lower alpine zones where the ground temperature is not frozen (Castilleja coccinea).

Baja, The western peninsula of Mexico - over the last 40 years has become a mecca, primarily for American tourists and ex-pats.

Three stone structures rising out of the ocean - like monuments.

The Ortiz Mountains are an ancient volcanic range that run like a spine from just outside the New Mexican city of Santa Fe south and west of Albuquerque.

This ancient wall and New Mexican apple tree are located in Southern New Mexico. The Santuario predates the US occupation of this area and final statehood of NM in 1912.

An October Midwest sky, with a full ‘harvest moon’ ….and wispy Cirrus clouds, that predict the change of Fall weather.