Roads End Naturalist

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

Category: Trip report

  • Elk Garden

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    My Dad’s birthday and Mother’s Day are both the second week of May so I try to get home each May for a visit. As it turns out, it is also the prime time for a visit to one of my favorite areas in Virginia – the Mount Rogers National Recreation Area. Covering over 200,000… Read more…

    Written by

    Mike Dunn

  • Another Great Day at Pungo

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    I guess it isn’t enough to be a mere observer. It’s turning to the person on your right, or left, and stating with an undiluted sense of joy and inquisitiveness, “Did you just see that?” Mike McDowell I had my first post-retirement outing yesterday with a great group of folks from the Bass Lake Photo… Read more…

    Written by

    Mike Dunn

  • The Strange Ways of ‘Possums

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    I promised a post on this unusual encounter last weekend at Pocosin Lakes so here goes (I should warn you this may be for mature audiences only)…I started my morning with a sighting of a pair of Virginia Opossums (aka ‘possums) mating at the edge of a field just after sunrise. I have been “fortunate”… Read more…

    Written by

    Mike Dunn

  • A Spring trip to Pungo

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    This weekend I decided to get back to my favorite North Carolina wildlife area – Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge. When I first started going there back in the early 80’s, it was known as Pungo National Wildlife Refuge and it was centered on Pungo Lake, an important wintering area for waterfowl. In the early… Read more…

    Written by

    Mike Dunn

  • Paddling the Black River

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    Last week, my friend, and former co-worker, Jerry Reynolds asked if I wanted to go along with he and another friend on a paddle along the Black River as he prepped for an upcoming program. I jumped at it since it has been years since I paddled the Black (I did go upriver last year… Read more…

    Written by

    Mike Dunn

  • Merchants Millpond

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    I enter the swamp as a sacred place Henry David Thoreau Merchants Millpond has always been one of my favorite state parks. When I was the East District Naturalist for the State Parks system oh-so-many years ago (1981-1986), I would go up to Merchants and canoe out after dark to the family camping area after… Read more…

    Written by

    Mike Dunn