Fascinating Stories and Photos

The Yangtze River starts as an anemic trickle on the Tibetan Plateau and morphs into a heaving whitewater snake thousands of miles later when it funnels through the Great Bend and Tiger Leaping Gorge.  In the mid-1980s an unspoken war was raging in the heart of China’s Great Bend.  Not a war of men against men, but a war of men versus whitewater.
Everyone wanted to claim the coveted first descent of the Yangtze.  An American expedition successfully rafted most of the river in 1986, but they left behind the crown jewel – the Great Bend.  Just a year later, two Chinese expeditions were racing another American team for the prize.  Skip Horner was a member of the American team and 20 years later, the Yangtze is still burned into his brain.
“I ran the biggest rapid of my life at a place called Hung Men Kow.  It was a huge twenty foot breaking wave right in the middle of the river,” Skip remembers.  Most of the team chose to portage around the rapid, but Skip decided to tempt the beast.  [Read more →]

Bhutanese boy carrying leaves for compost near Bomdeling, Eastern Bhutan

A shadowy figure glided across the thin highway just as twilight fell, our headlights throwing two keen unblinking eyes into sharp light.  I craned forward, eager to see the animal behind the eyes.  In Bhutan, a land of unparalleled Himalayan biodiversity, it could be anything – tiger, snow leopard, wild boar or even the most mysterious of all, the illusive Yeti.

A full-grown spotted leopard stared back at us, long tail twitching and ears alert.  She lithely leapt from the road, then turned back to look with only her head rising above the thick brush.  We watched her watch us, both curious and fascinated.  After a few seconds, she silently disappeared into the night like a ghost, leaving us feeling happy with our luck.

An hour later we reached Mongar, the town that unofficially marks the start of far Eastern Bhutan, an area rarely visited by tourists.  We were on a trip to explore the east in winter, the low season for visitors, in order to have the villages, parks and temples to ourselves.  It worked perfectly and in two weeks of traveling, we didn’t see a single other foreign visitor.  It was like having an exclusive ticket to the secret lands of the last Himalayan Kingdom. [Read more →]

A flash of red through the leaves at my feet made my jump back as a lizard raced away and climbed a tree.  He paused on the tree trunk and looked back at me.  “Wow, he has a blue head” I thought.  “What a freaky looking lizard.”

As I tried to get a photo, he ran higher in the tree, then suddenly stopped dead still.  Just inches in front of the first lizard was another identical one and they had a lizard staredown.  I wonder if they thought they’d suddenly stepped in front of a mirror.  Probably not since lizards probably don’t know what mirrors are…

Just in our hotel compound we’ve found a dozen species of lizards and the only one I know is the gecko.  The red bodied blue headed lizards are the wildest looking, but the tiny grass blade thin red-tailed ones are the coolest.  That one was crawling across the wall of our room.

Can anyone help me identify the specie of the blue headed lizard?

Who are these blue-headed lizards? Morogoro, Tanzania

Was this chameleon mimicking the pavement? Morogoro, TanzaniaChameleon Head. Trying to imitate a zebra?... Morogoro, Tanzania

Hi. I am trying to mimic a zebra. Morogoro, Tanzania

Even after shooting travel and adventure for 15 years, I still internally debate over my camera system.  I want something with the speed and capability of an SLR, but the size and lightness of a pocket point and shoot camera.  With the evolution of digital cameras, this has almost come true.  [Read more →]

For the last two decades, I’ve pursued adventures around the world and this Ice Mountain Adventures site is my newest way to share my experiences with friends, family and anyone else with a passion for adventure.  Please join me, read about adventures, send your comments and plans for your own future adventures. [Read more →]