Roads End Naturalist

Exploring the natural world as we wander at the end of the road

Category: Trip report

  • Swamp Sounds

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    Natural, ambient sounds give us a picture over time and define place…every landscape has a rhythm to it. ~Dr. Bryan C. Pijanowski There is, indeed, a rhythm to paddling in a swamp, and the sounds help define it. Putting our canoes in at Gardner Creek a couple of weeks ago, we could hear the sounds… Read more…

    Written by

    Mike Dunn

  • Ground Squirrels in Trees

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    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…

    Written by

    Mike Dunn

  • 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…

    Written by

    Mike Dunn

  • Tree Climbing

    To climb a tree is for a child to discover a new world. ~Friedrich Frobel, 1826 It has been a very busy couple of weeks so you may have noticed my posts have been a bit slow in coming. Last weekend we finished celebrating our birthdays with a different sort of birthday surprise…a  private tree… Read more…

    Written by

    Mike Dunn

  • Northwoods

    There is magic in the feel of a paddle and the movement of a canoe, a magic compounded of distance, adventure, solitude, and peace. The way of a canoe is the way of the wilderness and of a freedom almost forgotten. It is an antidote to insecurity, the open door to waterways of ages past… Read more…

    Written by

    Mike Dunn

  • Kayaking in Columbia

    I seemed to have reached a new world, so wild a place…far away from human society. ~Henry David Thoreau, on swamps Columbia, North Carolina, that is. We spent several days in this beautiful little town last week, part vacation, part getting out to see some of the region for the trails project I am working… Read more…

    Written by

    Mike Dunn

  • A Beary Hot Summer Day

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    The month of August had turned into a griddle where days just lay there and sizzled. ~Sue Monk Kidd Last week, we spent 5 days in the wilds of eastern NC, a combination mini-vacation and working trip to further investigate the area around the Scuppernong River for the project I am working on with NCLOW.… Read more…

    Written by

    Mike Dunn

  • Creating a Sense of Wonder at Pocosin Arts

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    If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children, I should ask that her gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life, as an unfailing antidote against the boredom and disenchantment of later… Read more…

    Written by

    Mike Dunn

  • Yellowstone in Feathers

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     ‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers— That perches in the soul— And sings the tune without the words— And never stops—at all— ~Emily Dickinson It has been a busy week, but I finally had a chance to wrap up some images and thoughts about my recent Yellowstone trip. Like every trip out there, this one… Read more…

    Written by

    Mike Dunn

  • We Need Places Like Yellowstone

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    Contemplating the flow of life and change through living things, we make new discoveries about ourselves. ~Ansel Adams I just returned from another wonderful trip to Yellowstone National Park. It is still beautiful, still magical, still a place you must reckon with and not take lightly. It is as it should be, wild. At times,… Read more…

    Written by

    Mike Dunn