Category: Trip report
-
Desert Seclusion
I will fill myself with the desert and the sky. I will be stone and stars, unchanging and strong and safe. The desert is complete; it is spare and alone, but perfect in its solitude. I will be the desert. ~Kiersten White Much of our time in the Southwest was spent under red flag warnings… Read more…
Written by
-
Onward to New Mexico
Travel is still the most intense mode of learning. ~Kevin Kelly After leaving Arkansas, we headed toward Palo Duro State Park in the panhandle of Texas. We had learned of this canyon from a couple camped near us at Natchez Trace State Park in TN (they were moving from TX to KY and had brought… Read more…
Written by
-
Beginnings – the Southern Route
My wish is to stay always like this, living quietly in a corner of nature. ~Claude Monet On our previous two truck camping road trips, we headed due west across the plains through Missouri, Illinois, Kansas, until we hit the mountains. This trip, we had no real plans, just head west. We played with the… Read more…
Written by
-
On the Road Again
Oh, the places you’ll go. ~Dr. Seuss Yep, we did it again, another awesome truck camping road trip. We just returned home Wednesday morning at 3:30 a.m. after an epic 18-hour drive from Missouri. We had planned at least one more night on the road, but the weather wasn’t cooperating and we were following a… Read more…
Written by
-
Return to Merchants Millpond
Paradise is just a paddle away. ~Author unknown When I worked as a District Naturalist for the state park system oh-so-many years ago, one of my favorite parks was Merchants Millpond State Park in northeastern North Carolina. It is a true natural gem of our state and remains one of my favorite spots to spend… Read more…
Written by
-
Refuges as refuge
For every day of loneliness we endure, we’ll spend a day in communion with the life around us until the loneliness passes away. ~Richard Louv If you have read previous posts on this blog, you know that we are lucky to live in a beautiful wooded setting with abundant wildlife from insects to birds. But… Read more…
Written by
-
How Many Birds?
Now Bird-Lore proposes a new kind of Christmas side hunt, in the form of a Christmas bird-census. We hope that all our readers who have the opportunity will aid us in making it a success by spending a portion of Christmas Day with the birds and sending a report of their ‘hunt’ to Bird-Lore before… Read more…
Written by
-
Otterly Fantastic (and more)
The heron and the otter are my friends And we are all connected to each other In a circle, in a hoop that never ends! ~Carl Binder A few days after our virtual program outing, I decided to make a day trip to the refuges for some quiet time watching wildlife. I headed out last… Read more…
Written by
-
They’re Back and All is Right with the World
Birds have always had the ability to bring me out of a dark space and provide relief in bad times. ~Jason Ward You may have noticed I have fallen way behind in my musings on the natural world this past month. I still haven’t even finished posting about our last road trip back in October!… Read more…
Written by
-
Reaching the Mountains
We are now in the mountains and they are in us, kindling enthusiasm, making every nerve quiver, filling every pore and cell of us. ~John Muir After driving across the high plains for several days, we finally saw the sharp peaks of southern Colorado reaching for the hazy skies (fires in Wyoming brought smoky skies… Read more…
Written by
Roads End Naturalist 