Roads End Naturalist

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

Tag: swamp

  • My Temple is the Swamp

    …I seek the darkest wood, the thickest and most impenetrable and to the citizen, most dismal, swamp. I enter a swamp as a sacred place…I seemed to have reached a new world, so wild a place…far away from human society. ~Henry David Thoreau My last trips to the magical swamps of the Roanoke River happened Read more…

    Written by

    Mike Dunn

  • Swampin’ Again

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    Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there some day. ~Winnie the Pooh Well, if you didn’t know it before, you will know it now…swamps are Melissa’s (and my) favorite places to camp in North Carolina. And one swamp in particular, the “Amazon of North Carolina”, the massive swamps along the Roanoke Read more…

    Written by

    Mike Dunn

  • Song of the Swamp

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    If prisons, freight trains, swamps, and gators don’t get ya to write songs, y’ain’t got no business writin’ songs. ~Ronnie Van Zant As part of our “farewell tour”, we drove up to Merchants Millpond State Park last weekend. When I was working with state parks, I fell in love with that place and its amazing Read more…

    Written by

    Mike Dunn

  • Cashie Calling

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    My favourite places on earth are the wild waterways where the forest opens its arms and a silver curve of river folds the traveller into its embrace. ~ Rory MacLean This is the second post on our recent canoe/camping trip in eastern North Carolina (see previous post here). We departed the Cypress Cathedral camping platform Read more…

    Written by

    Mike Dunn

  • Swamping Again

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    The way of a canoe is the way of the wilderness, and of a freedom almost forgotten. ~Sigurd F. Olson The Swamp Queen (aka Melissa) did it again…planned a canoe/camping adventure to our favorite swamp destination, the Roanoke River. So, last week, we headed east to spend a planned 6 days paddling over 50 miles Read more…

    Written by

    Mike Dunn

  • Jones Lake and Paddling the Black River

    The way of a canoe is the way of the wilderness, and of a freedom almost forgotten. ~Sigurd F. Olson Two weeks ago, we had a chance to paddle the Black River with our friend, Jerry, and a great group of other folks he had gathered for a planning trip for one of his upcoming Read more…

    Written by

    Mike Dunn

  • Return to Merchants Millpond

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    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

    Mike Dunn

  • Warbler Watching

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    The real jewel of my disease-ridden woodlot is the prothonotary warbler … The flash of his gold-and-blue plumage amid the dank decay of the June woods is in itself proof that dead trees are transmuted into living animals, and vice versa. ~Aldo Leopold This final post on our recent swamp trip is about one of Read more…

    Written by

    Mike Dunn

  • Bird Spot

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    Simply wait, be quiet, still. The world will freely offer itself to you. ~Franz Kafka Yesterday’s post mentioned the excellent birding we experienced on our recent paddle trip on the Roanoke River. When we arrived at our second camping platform, Three Sisters, the late day light was gorgeous and the sky was filled with all Read more…

    Written by

    Mike Dunn

  • Social Distancing – Swamp Style

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    Yes, though you may think me perverse, if it were proposed to me to dwell in the neighborhood of the most beautiful garden that ever human art contrived, or else of a Dismal Swamp, I should certainly decide for the swamp. ~Henry David Thoreau I will admit to feeling a little guilty about this, but Read more…

    Written by

    Mike Dunn