Secret Vistas – By Glynn Wilson – HARPERS FERRY, WV — John Brown was hanged for his insurrection against slavery in 1859 and is blamed by some for helping to start the Civil War. Donald Trump still walks free to play golf and run for office again after his insurrection to overthrow the United States…
Secret Vistas – By Glynn Wilson – CATOCTIN MOUNTAIN, Md. — While tens of thousands of people flock to the iconic national parks of the American West in the summer travel season, exacerbating an already disastrous mega-drought and experiencing a record-breaking heat wave and an already out of control wildfire season, there are lesser known…
Secret Vistas – By Glynn Wilson – SHENANDOAH NATIONAL PARK, Va. — The American west is on fire again with wildfires burning in 11 states. Temperatures are setting records with highs in the 120 degree range. A heat dome hovers over the region, and the devastating drought continues unabated. New Orleans and the states along…
Secret Vistas – By Glynn Wilson – Abandoning the cities and suburbs for a camper van or other type of Recreational Vehicle in nature is becoming a reality for hundreds of thousands of people, and not just because of the coronavirus pandemic, the changing climate and economy and the movie Nomadland. It doesn’t have to…
“I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life…” – Henry David Thoreau Secret Vistas – By Glynn Wilson – CATOCTIN MOUNTAIN, Md. — Thousands of Americans are waking up to the advantages of traveling and immersing themselves in nature and even living full time in Recreational Vehicles, making the transition…
By Glynn Wilson – SHENANDOAH, Va. — It’s a bit early for a year in review story, but for me, it’s been one hell of a year. A humbling year. I’ve long known that we are all just like tiny grains of sand in the long run of history, here on this special beach of…
Secret Vistas – By Brooks Boliek – FROSTBURG, Md. — I have nothing against Charles Mason or Jeremiah Dixon. As a matter of fact, I admire and esteem both men for their scientific contributions and service. Mason and Dixon were both scientists who were asked to resolve a land dispute between Thomas Penn and Fredrick…
“Better is the poor man walking in his simplicity, than the rich in crooked ways.” – Solomon, Proverbs Secret Vistas – By Glynn Wilson – CAMP DAVID, Md. — A serene fog hangs thick in the trees here on Thursday morning, muting the Autumn colors and making the forest seem still and quiet. The weather…
Secret Vistas – By Glynn Wilson – SHENANDOAH NATIONAL PARK, Va. — Well, truth be told, it’s not exactly a secret. This is one of the well known national parks, one of two Crown Jewels of the East along with the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee. Yet it always feels like an amazing…
Secret Vistas – By Glynn Wilson – Back in the late 20th century, when the written word and truth still seemed to matter, I was hanging out in the Great Smoky Mountains and came up with a cool title for a travel-nature column for The Southerner magazine, something I still use from time to time…
Secret Vistas – By Glynn Wilson – LOFT MOUNTAIN, SHENANDOAH NATIONAL PARK, Va. (Sunday, July 12, 2020) — In this summer of our discontent, with the coronavirus still spreading into every corner of the world and the economy teetering on the brink of collapse, it is hard to totally escape the anxiety and stress of…
The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – BLUE RIDGE MOUNTAINS, N.C. — We don’t have much time. It’s addicting in our newly evolved human condition to stay focused on the fast breaking news of the moment, the sensational clickbait. From day to day, we bounce back and forth from one crisis story to another.…
Secret Vistas – By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. – It’s hot as hell could be inside the Beltway again, with a projected high on Sunday of 96 degrees and a low of only 75 tonight, a harbinger of the future for cities along the Eastern Seaboard. As I hit the button to publish this…
Secret Vistas – By Glynn Wilson – “If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.” – George Washington NEW YORK, N.Y. – As Commander of the Continental Army, General George Washington became known not for winning battles against the British so much,…
Secret Vistas – By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. – Lurking on a wooded little island in the Potomac River just across the water from Georgetown, there lie important lessons for progressive Democrats from the most progressive president in American history. In continuing our exploration of the U.S. capital region, not just the partisan politics,…
Secret Vistas- By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. – In late 2016, on the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service in the United States, a rare white fawn was born in the woods of Greenbelt National Park, where visitors come from all over the country and the world to see the the neo-classical architecture,…
Secret Vistas – By Glynn Wilson – YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wy. – Standing still in a mountain meadow as snowflakes begin to fall on a herd of bison along Beartooth Pass, you get the feeling of arriving in an ancient and distant land before human civilization began to eat away at nature and churn the…
Secret Vistas – By Glynn Wilson – MARION, Va. – Listening to a babbling brook running behind the campground in this state park just as the sun went down on Halloween, I could have sworn I heard a small female child crying off in the distance, moaning “hungry mother, hungry mother.” Back during the pioneer…
Secret Vistas – By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. – My eyes and my soul are drawn to one event in nature more than any other. Autumn color. I could play the innocent and talk about this natural beauty like describing playing in mud puddles as a youth and wax eloquent about the uniqueness of…
Secret Vistas – By Glynn Wilson – Who knew Herbert Hoover was such a great guy? About the only thing most Americans know about former President Hoover is that he was in office when the stock market crashed in 1929, leading to the worst Great Depression in U.S. history. He was defeated when seeking reelection…
