Heide Brandes
Heide Brandes is an award-winning journalist who focuses on travel, adventure, outdoor experiences, culture and more. She has bylines in such magazines as National Geographic, BBC, The Smithsonian, Cowboys & Indians, Southern Living, AAA Journeys and more. Her work can be seen at www.heidebrandes.com. When not traveling and writing, Heide is an avid hiker, caver, professional belly dancer, medieval reenactor and kind of a quirky chick living in Oklahoma.
Articles by Heide Brandes
Fresh lynx tracks weave through deep powder near Quesnel Lake in British Columbia's Cariboo Mountains. At minus 18 degrees Celsius, the morning air crystallizes our breath as Ryan, our EcoTours BC guide, motions us to pause. Though the elusive lynx remains hidden, its story is written in the snow. Here, it stalked a snowshoe hare. There, it rested beneath a sheltering spruce. Its tracks trace a single line across the surface of a frozen river. The vast wilderness stretches before us, an untamed landscape where mountain peaks disappear into low clouds and ancient forests harbor secrets beneath 27 feet of annual snowfall.
I stood atop Poo Poo Point, heart racing and adrenaline pumping as I stared out at the green landscape stretched out before me. The Seattle skyline glimmered in the distance. But my attention was fixed on the colorful paragliders dotting the sky around me. In just moments, I'd be joining them, launching off this 1,800-foot peak on a tandem paragliding flight with Northwest Paragliding over Issaquah, Washington.
The air is filled with swirling snow as my Nordic ski instructor, a slender mature woman named Debra, shows me how to stay upright on skis that are much skinnier than the regular downhill skis I’ve tried before. Before me, snow-cloaked pine trees and a groomed trail shimmer under the backdrop of the towering mountains of Big White Ski Resort in Kelowna, British Columbia.
Lacing up your hiking boots and hitting the trails is hands-down the best way to immerse yourself in autumn's dazzling display. Whether you're conquering a mountain summit in Virginia or meandering through geologic history in Wisconsin, trails offer a front-row seat to nature's most spectacular show. These overlooked destinations have the perfect trails for leaf-peeping.
As the summer sun beat down on the emerald waters of Pasco County, Florida, a treasure hunt unfolded beneath me. We glided through the clear shallows of the gulf waters, our eyes scanning the seagrass below for telltale flashes of blue - the tiny eyes of bay scallops peeking out from their fan-shaped shells.
