Leath Tonino is the author of The Animal One Thousand Miles Long, a collection of essays about adventures in the Northeast. A second collection, The West Will Swallow You, will be released this fall.
Leath Tonino

Lay of the Land

The Skunks of San Francisco
TONIGHT, AFTER THREE YEARS IN THE skyscraper shadows, the ratty abandoned lots bordering tech-money opulence, the soul-wringing poverty and relentless ambulance scream of it all, I saw my first San Franciscan Continue reading
Enumeration

25 Things I Will Not Say About Wilderness
I will not say that wilderness is a tonic, balm, or medicine for the troubled soul; that most everyone has a troubled soul in need of moss’s healing touch and Continue reading
Lay of the Land

Middle of Nowhere
THERE IS NO ROAD, hasn’t been a road since Gerlach, that crust of a town where we turned from pavement to playa, to hairline-fractured hardpan Continue reading
Feature

The Doe’s Song
Countless nonhuman lives are lost every day on America’s roadways—what might it take to recognize them? Continue reading
Enumeration

7 Beards from the Conservation Hall of Fame
From Thoreau to Abbey, some of the greatest advocates for wild places have another thing in common: wild whiskers. Continue reading
Enumeration

20 Things Ancient Chinese Poets Taught Me
On the joys and mysteries of ringing bells, cherry blossoms, and old paths in new weather. Continue reading
Lay of the Land

Weather Music
An artist in New Orleans has created a musical instrument that plays—and is played by—rain, wind, and sun. Continue reading
ENUMERATION

7 Mountains I Did Not Conquer
It’s the world’s southernmost active volcano, a hulking ice monster with a beating magmatic heart. Need I say more? Okay, I’ll say more. Continue reading