Category: Trip report
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Elk and Islands in the Sky
I had an outing this weekend with a great group of folks in Cataloochee Valley and up on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Our goals were to observe the elk during the mating season ritual called the rut and experience the beauty of the mountains during the fall leaf season. I’d say mission accomplished on both. Read more…
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A CROWDers Pleaser
The past several days II have been on the road in the mountains of North Carolina. I had a program on Saturday at Stone Mountain State Park and had a great hike across the large granite dome for which the park is named. The park was packed with campers and hikers taking advantage of the Read more…
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Dolly Sods
The mountains are calling and I must go. John Muir For my birthday a couple of weeks ago, I decided to revisit one of the most beautiful places I have been in the East, Dolly Sods Wilderness in West Virginia. Many years ago I had read about this unique highlands area and had wanted to Read more…
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The Encounter
“The soul is the same in all living creatures, although the body of each is different.” Hippocrates I take a break from the caterpillar posts to share a truly incredible moment with you. A friend and I traveled east over the weekend to search for caterpillars for the upcoming museum event I have mentioned in Read more…
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A Good Day Down East
One of the great things about retirement is the freedom to take advantage of good weather and make a wildlife watching trip on the spur of the moment. Yesterday was one of those days and I spent it in my favorite area in NC – Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge. I arrived about 8 a.m. Read more…
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Looking for Leviathan
Many years ago I had the privilege of co-leading a week-long whale watching workshop aboard a schooner in Maine for the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. It was an experience I will never forget (for many reasons). So, while traveling up the coast of Maine I was looking for opportunities to see whales again. Read more…
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A New Day in New Hampshire
After a day of driving through torrential rains I reached a beautiful Forest Service campground in White Mountain National Forest in New Hampshire. A few of the campsites had standing water but mine was mainly dry. I could hear the roaring waters of a creek downslope from me as the rain subsided. And then, as Read more…
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Mainely Beautiful
I am winding down my camping trip to the north woods and the Maine coast. It has been a glorious week of hiking, camping in almost perfect campsites, and taking in the sights of a stunningly beautiful part of our country. Unlike many of my other outings, this one turned out to be less about Read more…
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This Magical Place
To be whole. To be complete. Wildness reminds us what it means to be human, what we are connected to rather than what we are separate from. Terry Tempest Williams I could blog for another week or two on the beauty and majesty of my recent trip to Yellowstone. But, I will be back, with Read more…
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Sagebrush Speedsters
One of the changes I’ve noticed in the 25+ years I’ve been going to Yellowstone is an increasing number of Pronghorn in recent years. It used to be that you saw them mainly around the Gardiner area, but now they have greatly increased in numbers across the northern range, especially in Lamar Valley and Little Read more…
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Roads End Naturalist 