An explorer stands on a rocky ledge inside a mine beside a pool, with daylight through two openings above
Michael GirardExplorer · Writer · Public Speaker

Field notes from beyond the familiar

The unknown is closer than we think.

Caves. Lost places. Hidden history.
The landscapes that remain just beyond the map.

Enter the field notes
BENEATH THE SURFACENEW YORK · USA
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01 · In the field

Current Fieldwork

Real places. Deeper questions. Expeditions shaped by evidence, collaboration, and curiosity.

Explorers silhouetted in the entrance shaft of Sistema Calera01

San Luis Potosí · Mexico

Sistema Calera

A submerged Late Pleistocene archive, reached by rope, patience, and a small ROV named Robo-Teddy.
Cliffs and wetland at Devil's Washdish in the Adirondack Mountains02

Adirondack Mountains · New York

Caves of the Adirondacks

Following old field notes, unexplained map marks, and the geology of a mountain landscape where caves are easily overlooked.
Robo-Teddy, an underwater ROV, illuminating fossils on a cave floor03

Technology · Discovery

Beyond the Sump

Sending cameras and light into flooded passages where human explorers cannot safely follow.

A field note on what we walk past, a book from the Sistema Calera expedition, and two works in progress.

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02 · From the field

The latest update.

Short notes when there is something new to share.

Michael Girard and a fellow explorer in the field during the earlier Mexico expedition
· Field update

Preparing to return to Sistema Calera

In January 2027, I plan to return to Sistema Calera in Mexico with Mike Sandone and Luis Espinasa. We hope to send Robo-Teddy into more of the cave's unexplored sumps.

Read the update See all updates →