Roads End Naturalist

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


Category: Trip report

  • Thankful for Public Lands

    Life wants you to have gratitude for the gift of living.  Treasure every second. ~ Bryant McGill I am a believer in the value of our public lands. I worked for the North Carolina Division of Parks and Recreation the first 8 years of my career and am still a supporter of that fine organization… Read more…

  • An Eye for Eagles

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    Its soaring flight, with its pure white head and tail glistening in the sunlight, is really inspiring; and it adds grandeur to the scene as it sits in a dignified pose on some dead tree, its white head clearly visible against the dark green of the forest background. ~Arthur Cleveland Bent, 1937 Interestingly, the famed… Read more…

  • The Lost Coast

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    The edge of the sea is a strange and beautiful place. All through the long history of Earth it has been an area of unrest where waves have broken heavily against the land, where the tides have pressed forward over the continents, receded, and then returned… The shore has a dual nature, changing with the… Read more…

  • Fern Canyon

    Only spread a fern-frond over a man’s head and worldly cares are cast out, and freedom and beauty and peace come in. ~John Muir The first campground on our recent trip to the redwood forests was at Gold Bluffs Beach in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. It is a beautiful setting on the beach with… Read more…

  • Land of the Giants

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    Come to the woods, for here is rest. There is no repose like that of the green deep woods. ~John Muir The original plan for the recent California trip was destination Yosemite, Kings Canyon, and Sequoia National Parks, in part to see the Giant Sequoia trees. With the fires, partial closures, and air quality issues,… Read more…

  • A Hot Day at the Refuges

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    All that is beautiful is difficult. ~Plato That sort of sums up my last trip to Pocosin Lakes and Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuges. It was beautiful, but difficult. Made so by the intense heat and humidity on the day of my tour last week. The heat was stifling, but, my clients and I managed to… Read more…

  • Another One (Hundred) Bites the Dust

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    Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go and do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive. ~Dr. Howard Thurman It happened again. Ten months go by, another 100 blog posts. So, as I have done in the past, I mark this… Read more…

  • The Mountain

    Our minds, as well as our bodies, have need of the out-of-doors. Our spirits, too, need simple things, elemental things, the sun and the wind and the rain, moonlight and starlight, sunrise and mist and mossy forest trails, the perfumes of dawn and the smell of fresh-turned earth and the ancient music of wind among… Read more…

  • Fourth of July Bearworks

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    May this intelligent animal always have a place. We need to better understand bears. ~Mike McIntosh Hope you had a good holiday weekend. Mine was special in many ways – good food, good friends, and a memorable trip to my favorite place in the East, Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge. It was a long day… Read more…

  • The Power of Yellowstone

    Mindful of different ways of being, our awareness as a species shifts – We recognize the soul of the land as our own. ~Laurence S. Rockefeller Preserve, unattributed Back from Yellowstone, back from paradise. Thirteen days, some alone, some with my group, some with old friends. Why is it so special? Why do I long… Read more…