Category: Trip report
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Baby Buffalo
Are you there? Can you hear me? Somewhere near me? In the morning, long ago, had to hold you so close, had to never let go. Time on the river sliding on by. Hard to believe, wink of an eye. Where’d you go, Baby Buffalo? ~James Taylor – song lyrics from Baby Buffalo I have Read more…
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Our Special Place
The land retains an identity of its own, still deeper and more subtle than we can know… Our obligation toward it then becomes simple: to approach with an uncalculating mind, with an attitude of regard…To intend from the beginning to preserve some of the mystery within it as a kind of wisdom to be experienced, Read more…
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A Festival for Bears
May this intelligent animal always have a place. We need to better understand bears. ~Mike McIntosh Last weekend was the third annual Black Bear Festival in Plymouth, NC. I have missed the previous ones due to trips to Yellowstone, but I finally managed to visit this year. I was curious how the festival was organized Read more…
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Where Insects Fear to Tread
There is no exquisite beauty …without some strangeness. ~Edgar Allan Poe Part two of our quest for carnivorous plants took us first to the Green Swamp, a well-known NC Nature Conservancy preserve site in Brunswick and Columbus counties. It was getting late in the day, so we went straight to the main access point, a Read more…
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Bay Watch
Find one, and you’ll find yourself closer to the heart of what a Carolina Bay can be: an island of wildness in a world largely tamed, a few acres of the primeval past passed over by progress. ~T. Edward Nickens The North Carolina Botanical Garden has an exquisite collection of carnivorous plants, and they are Read more…
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Being in the Moment
Our public lands – whether a national park or monument, wildlife refuge, forest or prairie – make each one of us land-rich. It is our inheritance as citizens of a country called America. ~Terry Tempest Williams Sometimes you just need to spend time in a wild place, in your special place. This weekend was such Read more…
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Christmas Bird Count
It’s never been easier to be a citizen scientist and it’s never been more important to be one. ~David Yarnold, President and CEO, National Audubon Society Earlier this week, we participated in one of my favorite holiday traditions, the annual Audubon Society Christmas Bird Count at Pettigrew State Park. I helped start this particular count Read more…
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Ground Squirrels in Trees
There was no variation in his manner of proceeding all the time I observed him. He was alert, cautious, and exceedingly methodical. ~John Burroughs, on observing a chipmunk, 1894 On our recent mountain trip, we camped at Hickory Ridge Campground at Grayson Highlands State Park. In addition to several maple, birch and (appropriately) hickory trees, Read more…
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The Highlands of Virginia
Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a necessity. ~John Muir I think thousands of people must have read this quote last Sunday and headed to my favorite Virginia state park, Grayson Highlands. The parking lots were all packed on Read more…
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Roads End Naturalist 