Toadstool Hoodoos, Kanab, UT
Balanced on slender columns of Entrada Sandstone, the Kanab Toadstool Hoodoos rise improbably from the desert floor. These formations appear where a hard caprock protects the softer layer beneath it. Over time, wind and water erode away the weaker stone, leaving a narrow pedestal topped with a resistant block.
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Lee's Ferry, Grand Canyon, AZ
Along Marble Canyon, sheer walls of Navajo Sandstone form an unbroken barrier of cliffs. But here, faulting along the Echo Cliffs monocline lifts and tilts the rock layers, exposing softer Kayenta and Moenave formations at river level. Those weaker strata erode faster, creating a rare low-angle break in the canyon’s architecture.
That subtle structural weakness made this spot a natural crossing point. Ancestral Puebloan communities grew crops and stored food in nearby side canyons, and later Southern Paiute and Navajo people used the area as a seasonal travel corridor where the cliffs finally eased.
Today, this geologic gateway still marks the transition from Glen Canyon into the depths of Marble Canyon and the start of Grand Canyon river journeys.
I drew this scene while visiting Lee's Ferry with my students on an outdoor semester course. Together we also investigated the water chemistry of the river and learned about water usage and rights in the Colorado River Compact.
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Diamond Peak, Grand Canyon NP, AZ
205 Camp, Grand Canyon NP, AZ
Like most of the arches in Arches NP, Double Arch is formed from the Jurassic sand dunes of Entrada Sandstone. What makes Double Arch unusual is how it formed: instead of eroding from a vertical fin like most arches in the park, it was carved from the inside out.
Water pooled in a natural bowl at the base of the cliff, exploiting fractures and softer sedimentary layers. Over thousands of freeze–thaw cycles, the rock above was hollowed upward while adjacent joints widened, eventually leaving two intersecting arches that share a massive central pillar.
The result is a rare “amphitheater-style” arch—one shaped not just by wind, but by water, chemistry, and structural weaknesses written into the rock since the Jurassic.
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Sand Dune Arch, Arches National Park, UT
Entrada Sandstone was formed in the Jurassic period around 160 million years ago from massive desert sand dunes. As this formation has been uplifted over time, wind and water has infiltrated fissures in the rock, forming long fins of sandstone. Differential weathering has allowed some of these fins to turn into beautiful arches such as this one!
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Mountain Home Demonstration State Forest, CA
Giant sequoias (Seqouiadendron gigantum) were previously thought to be resilient to native bark beetle attack until drought and fire stress changed the equation. The beetles attacking them typically feed on fallen branches, not living trees. But in recent years, dozens of mature sequoias weakened by fire and drought have died with beetle involvement, a phenomenon we're only beginning to understand.
This year, my background in canopy ecology allowed me the opportunity to volunteer on a study by Ancient Forest Society and CSU monitoring 90 trees’ response to beetle attacks across the Sierra Nevada. The research examines where sequoia bark beetles overwinter, how beetle attack affects tree carbon and water status, and how tree physiology and defensive traits influence beetle behavior and survival.
Between collecting branch samples and recording data, I spent some time drawing this tree named Euclid. This tree was quite charismatic, with a huge fire scar at its base and buttressed branches in its crown. There's something profound about capturing the architecture of a 3,000-year-old survivor while measuring the physiological signs of its stress.
I found translating the massive scale of this tree to paper to be nearly impossible, but it was an enjoyable challenge. These trees are so special, and I am so thankful for organizations like Ancient Forest Society who are working on protecting them.
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Mountain Home Demonstration State Forest, CA
Giant sequoias (Sequoiadendron giganteum) are the most massive trees on Earth by volume. Individual trees can exceed 1,000 metric tons, accumulating biomass at a scale unmatched by any other living organism.
Many of the trees alive today established more than 2,000 years ago. Their thick bark and annual growth rings record centuries of fire, drought, and climatic variability, making each individual both a biological structure and a living archive of environmental history.
This tree loomed over our campsite, welcoming us home after each field day with Ancient Forest Society while I volunteered for their Bark Beetle Project.
While working long days in the field, it can be easy to start thinking of the target organism or ecosystem as an accumulation of data. Drawing gives me a chance to pause, notice the details, and connect with these trees in a different way. Sequoias are truly the most incredible trees, and I am so lucky to have gotten to work with them.
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Landscape Arch, Arches NP, UT
Formed by the relentless erosion of wind and water on either side of an Entrada Sandstone fin, this 290 ft long arch is still changing. In 1991, a 60 ft slab fell from the underside. Now, at its narrowest point, the span is only 6 feet thick. Engineers estimate it defies the normal limits of what sandstone can support.
When I arrived at Landscape Arch, the sun was already setting. I gave myself 15 minutes to draw before rushing back to the trailhead. Drawing beneath this arch meant working in the presence of deep time, trying to capture something ancient that's also ephemeral. One day, this arch will fall, but for now we get to witness this fleeting moment in geologic time when stone still bridges sky, a reminder of our own fleeting time on this land.
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Broken Arch, Arches NP, UT
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Flatirons, Boulder, CO
The Fountain Formation, of which the iconic Boulder Flatirons are formed, are a conglomerate sandstone deposited at the delta of a river outlet that carried sediment of all sizes from the top of the ancestral Rockies to the shores of an ancient inland sea. The same formation forms other iconic features like Red Rock Amphitheater and Garden of the Gods. Long after the sediment was deposited, a continental collision uplifted the layers of rock. This deposit is harder than the surrounding layers and erodes more slowly, allowing for the sharp relief of these features.
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Mount Mansfield, Green Mountains, VT
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Snowmass Mountain rises from the rugged Elk Range. While many of the iconic red summits are built from the Maroon Formation, soft, reddish mudstones laid down 300 million years ago in coastal floodplains, Snowmass stands apart. Its slopes are carved from hard Precambrian metamorphic rock formed nearly 1.7 billion years ago. Glaciers of the last Ice Age cut into this ancient stone, sculpting the sharp ridges and craggy basin walls we see today.
But those glaciers aren’t the “snowmass” that gives the mountain its name. Draped across the east face is a perennial snowfield, snow that lingers year-round thanks to high elevation, shade, and deep winter storms. Although it endures through summer, it never accumulates or flows enough to become a true glacier.
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