As the autumn season approaches, operations in Glacier National Park in Montana will start winding down.

It was foggy with a high probability of polar bears the morning we anchored off desolate Beechey Island and held our breath waiting to hear whether it was safe to go to shore. The tension mounted over breakfast for those who had sailed from Greenland to Nunavut with the dream of seeing the place where Sir John Franklin’s doomed Northwest Passage expedition spent the winter of 1845-1846, and where three of his men are buried.

Low stream flows and warm waters have prompted a closure on all rivers and streams in Shenandoah National Park in Virginia to fishing.

An unmistakable flash of dark brown fur moving through the greenery caught my eye as I drove down the Trans-Canada Highway hugging the coast of Lake Superior. It was a moose, a young one, and it was alone. Wide-eyed, it stared at my rental car as I pulled over on the shoulder. I could see it gauging whether I was a threat and weighing its options.