Dropping into the Kickapoo Valley

            On this day, a coniferous forest accessible by hiking, biking, and horse trails greets me at the Kickapoo Valley Reserve boundary. ‘Old’ Highway 131 now serves as a trailhead leading into the Reserve’s interior.  Signs announce that trails will soon be...
Driftless Dark Skies:  Venus and Mars

Driftless Dark Skies: Venus and Mars

As we wend our way from spring to summer this month, Venus and Mars will be putting on a wonderful show in the evening sky. Head out on June 1st and look west where the Sun is setting around 8:30pm. The first bright object to emerge will be Venus. It’s thirty degrees...
Driftless Dark Skies: Northern Lights

Driftless Dark Skies: Northern Lights

​It was such a thrill to see the amazing auroral display on March 23 and then again on April 23. I remember so many nights standing in the dark waiting for northern lights that never appeared. But those two nights, I watched in wonder for hours as the storms...
Driftless Dark Skies: Stargazing with Venus

Driftless Dark Skies: Stargazing with Venus

Venus, our sibling planet, is good evening company the rest of this winter and into the summer. After the Sun and Moon, Venus is the brightest object in the sky and the first “star” visible in the twilight. As February begins, the Sun sets in the southwest around...
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