
I'm Meredith
I am a Colorado based naturalist, photographer, outdoor guide, and educator.
I believe that nature makes us better, and I love creating things that help or inspire others.

We are currently living through an unprecedented environmental crisis.
At the same time, lifestyle diseases and a rapidly degrading environment has made us sicker than ever - both physically and mentally.
How do we end and reverse these crises? How do we reclaim our health and save our dying planet?
The science is clear that:
1. we live in a profound moment in the history of the Earth - a tipping point - in which humans have the power to stop and reverse catastrophic destruction to our environment, and
2. spending time in nature can actually make us healthier, happier, more creative, and more connected with one another.
So, if nature makes us better, why do most people ignore its destruction?
Because most people - trapped by concrete with their eyes always glued to a screen - are disconnected from it.
People don’t intentionally destroy what they value and what they love.
You wouldn’t walk into your home with a bag of garbage and dump it in your living room, would you?
Why?
Because your home is your sanctuary.
When people begin to see the Earth as their sanctuary, everything changes.
So, the question becomes, “how do we get people to see the Earth as their sanctuary?”
As a professional naturalist and outdoor guide who has guided thousands “city” people through some of our nation’s most stunning national parks and natural wonders, I have found one answer: by connecting people to nature.
We, humans, have forgotten that we are nature.
When you make a connection with nature, you reconnect to who you truly are.
The only way to make this connection is by spending time in nature.
The best way that I have found to personally connect to nature is through solo and group outdoor adventures like camping, hiking, backpacking, trail running, and other outdoor pursuits.
Professionally, I have found that the best way to promote the connection between humans and nature is to get people on outdoor adventures, from slow walks or scenic drives, to multi-day backpacking expeditions.
Most people have transformative, life enhancing experiences when they spend time outdoors in wild places. I see it every day.
These experiences leave people healthier, happier, and with a sense of responsibility to practice environmental stewardship.
The problem is that most people do not have the tools, resources, knowledge, money, or community support that it takes to learn how to get out in nature and adventure responsibly.
I'm trying to change that.
I created this website to serve my mission, which is to make ethical, sustainable outdoor adventure accessible to all.
I hope this site inspires you to live an adventurous life.
I hope it allows you to deepen your connection to nature and to yourself.
I hope it teaches you the skills you need to feel self-confident and safe outdoors.
I hope it empowers you to be brave - brave enough to step out of your comfort zone and push past the fears that hold you back.
I hope it ignites in you a sense of urgency to save our dying planet - and provides you with the tools to do something about it.
This is your invitation to live a more connected, adventurous life.
My mission is to empower and inspire more women to spend time in nature.
I have always been inspired by wild places.
A former paleontologist and lifelong explorer, landscape photography is the creative outlet I use to express how I observe, interpret, and connect with nature.
Paleontology involved long hours hiking and camping in remote wilderness areas, where my job was to study the land and interpret stories trapped in stone over eons of time.
Landscape photography feels like a natural extension of this practice.
As a naturalist and conservationist at heart, I don't see natural landscapes as just beautiful places to take pictures of and check off of a bucket list.
I see them as my sanctuary, my playground, my escape, and the ultimate stimulant for my intellectual curiosity. Maybe you can relate.
I believe that landscape photography should be more about adventure, creativity, problem solving, and the emotional and physical wellbeing that comes from time spent outdoors connecting to nature.
My ultimate goal is to connect more people to our public lands, wild landscapes, and the values that these places bring.
In doing so, I hope to promote people's love for and responsible use of the outdoors.
I'm also quite passionate about empowering women (who are still largely underrepresented in both landscape photography and outdoor pursuits) with the skills and resources they need to explore the backcountry with confidence.
I want to genuinely thank you for being here and supporting my work.
- Meredith
kindness, authenticity, curiosity, self actualization, the healing power of nature
creating for the algorithm, climbing the ladder, timelines, cheap dopamine, the status quo
trail running, backpacking, and of course, making photos
reading, journaling, meditation, time in sunshine, learning something new, cuddling with my canine
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My Story
After a series of major personal setbacks that challenged me to question my purpose, I decided that I would dedicate my life to studying and creating things that were important to me.
This decision led me on a winding road of career and life detours. For the next three years, I intensively studied yoga, meditation, nutrition, computer programming, outdoor education, photography, and entrepreneurship. I experimented with new careers and tested business ideas. For the last 4 years I have worked seasonally as an outdoor/naturalist guide at Grand Canyon, Rocky Mountain, Zion, Bryce, Grand Teton, and Yellowstone National Parks.
While I had some successes and rewarding experiences, I "failed" over, and over, and over again. I still fail, in one way or another, almost daily. Risk of failure, however, is necessary part of any path that will lead you to your goals, and not something that should paralyze you from taking action. Anything worth doing is terrifying; you just have to learn how to trust yourself, push through the fear, and take action towards your goals anyway.
Today, I continue to dedicate my life to studying and creating things that deeply matter to me, which is why I created this website in 2020. This site is a growing and evolving work in progress that I work on daily.
Every piece of content on this site, from the written guides, videos, and custom diagrams, to the code that this site is built on, is 100% designed and created by me as a gift to you. Everything I create on this site starts as an idea or vision in my head, and the fun part is figuring out how to make it a reality.
It is my sincere hope that this site enriches and changes your life for the better. If it does, I'd love to hear about it.






Why I Created This Website
As a natural scientist and passionate, lifelong outdoor adventurer, I have always been frustrated by a lack of awareness of environmental issues and meaningful resources to help people become more environmentally conscious.
It was during this time that I realized that a connection to nature was the most powerful means of waking people up to the problems that or planet is facing today. Problems like the climate crisis and the sixth mass extinction.
That job was a transformative experience for me. I saw people cry when they saw the mountains for the first time in their lives. I heard people ask heart-felt questions about the the glaciers they saw melting before their eyes. I felt the true, child-like excitement of urbanites who saw wildlife in their natural habitat.
Most importantly, for the first time, I saw indifferent people start to care.
While the academics that I had spent most of my career working with viewed the environmental crisis as a hopeless lost cause, this experience felt optimistic.
When people see, feel, and experience nature on a personal level, they not only develop an appreciation for it, but they are more likely to more likely to take action to protect it.
I started to believe that the source of the change we desperately need to heal the planet, and ourselves, might just start with connecting people to nature.
From my own personal experiences, I knew that this connection could be meaningfully developed through art and education.
Less than a year later, when the world came to a standstill due to the coronavirus pandemic, I started building this website as a resource for people interested in deepening their connection with nature through photography and outdoor education.
I see my work as a photographer, environmentalist, and educator as a way to ultimately help people become more environmentally-conscious in their everyday lives.
I hope that the content on this website inspires and empowers you to create art and connect to nature. I hope that this connection helps you become your happiest, healthiest, best self. And, I hope this inspires and empowers you to create positive change for our planet.
Throughout my studies, I specialized in paleontology, phylogenetic systematics, and taxonomy.
I have conducted research in affiliation with the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History and the US National Park Service. See my other research affiliations below.
I'm proud to have written this and co-authored this.
I've been part of field expeditions all over the American Southwest. The coolest thing I've ever dug up was this.
When I'm not reading, writing, or working on creative projects, you will probably find me either training for marathons or adventuring in the mountains with my camera and dog Lambchop.
Past Academic and Professional Research Affiliations








Throughout my studies, I specialized in paleontology, phylogenetic systematics, and taxonomy.
I have conducted research in affiliation with the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History and the US National Park Service. See my other research affiliations below.
I'm proud to have written this and co-authored this.
I've been part of field expeditions all over the American Southwest. The coolest fossil I have ever unearthed is this.
When I'm not guiding trips or working on my business, you will probably find me either training for marathons or adventuring in the mountains with my camera and canine companion Lambchop.
Past Academic and Professional Research Affiliations








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