Secret Vistas

Oh Shenandoah in Spring: How the Fawns Escape the Bears

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“Oh-skan-ohn-doh in Oneida.” – Secret Vistas – By Glynn Wilson – BIG MEADOWS, Va. – Finally. It’s 1:47 on a Sunday afternoon. Me and my loyal dog Jefferson are taking a break in the camper van, aided by a little afternoon air conditioning — and an April shower on the mountain in May. It’s been…

Patapsco Valley State Park: An Urban Oasis

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Secret Vistas by Glynn Wilson PATAPSCO VALLEY STATE PARK, Md. — America is rich in secret vistas — little-known places that touch the heart and stir the spirit. Like quiet Gulf of Mexico beaches in the off season. Deserted Appalachian hiking trails and glistening streams thick with trout. Hidden forests with trees dating back to…

Full Corn Planting Moon in Maryland

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Secret Vistas – By Glynn Wilson – PATAPSCO VALLEY STATE PARK, Md. – As the sun went down on Sunday, May 3, I was walking my dog Jefferson around the outer loop of the campground along the ridge top and noticed the full moon coming up over the horizon. It was so orange it looked…

Spring Comes to Patapsco Valley State Park

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PATAPSCO VALLEY STATE PARK, Md. – The earth has turned on its axis to just the right angle for spring to start breaking out in Maryland, finally, although there are more April showers and cool nights on the way. A screech owl made a special appearance in the campground Saturday night from the Maryland Department…

Tannehill State Park Flash Flood of December 2014

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TANNEHILL, Ala. – This video was shot to show the flash flooding at Tannehill State Park in Alabama on Dec. 28, 2014. Video created for the New American Journal @ NewAmericanJournal.Net, an alternative, independent news publication registered legally as Locust Fork Publishing LLC.

Ducks on the Pond at Tannehill State Park

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A Photo Essay in Progress – Secret Vistas – By Glynn Wilson – We pulled into Tannehill State Park on a cloudy, drizzly Friday the week before Christmas and stumbled onto perhaps the best deal on a campsite we’ve seen after three months of camping all over Maryland, Virginia and the Gulf Coast. There’s a…

Riding Out Election Day in a Mountain Campground

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Secret Vistas – By Glynn Wilson – BALDFACE ROCK OVERLOOK, Va. – It is election day all across America and the big question is whether the Republicans will take over control of the U.S. Senate. But since I am not now living and working in Louisiana, North Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky, Arkansas or one of the…

More Autumn Color from the Virginia Mountains

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Secret Vistas – A Photo Essay – By Glynn Wilson – SOMEWHERE IN THE MOUNTAINS, Va. — We continued our journey on Wednesday by leaving the Shenandoah National Park and coming out at the little town of Elkton. We headed back north to continue the loop around Washington, D.C. and found a beautiful private campground…

Camping Along the Appalachian Trail at Big Meadows

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SECRET VISTAS – By Glynn Wilson – BIG MEADOWS CAMPGROUND, Va. — We pulled into this largest campground in the Shenandoah National Park on Sunday afternoon late, and without knowing it, picked a campsite right on the Appalachian Trail. The view Monday morning at dawn was stunning, and we found out from hikers it was…

Early Autumn Color in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia

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Secret Vistas – A Photo Essay – By Glynn Wilson – SHENANDOAH VALLEY, Va. — The autumn color is not quite at its peak in these famous mountains with the legendary Shenandoah River running through them. But the scene should come to fruition in the next three weeks. This is the result of day one…

Autumn Arrives in Style in a Maryland Park

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Secret Vistas – A Photo Essay – By Glynn Wilson – GREENBELT, Md. — After a couple of days of drizzling rain and clouds — and a month in the Washington, D.C. area waiting for fall color to hit the trees — autumn arrived in style on Friday in Greenbelt Park, National Park Service land…

Hiking and Camping at Patapsco Valley State Park, Maryland

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Secret Vistas – By Glynn Wilson – SOMEWHERE IN THE WOODS NORTH OF D.C., Md. — We made it back to the Patapsco Valley State Park this afternoon in time to explore further along the Campground Loop Trail to the River Ridge Trail. Brought the Nikon along and snapped a few pics. May post more…

Autumn Foliage Color Report for Virginia

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“I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.” – L. M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables – Secret Vistas – By Glynn Wilson – As of September 29, the Virginia Department of Forestry was still reporting that while the calendar may say it’s fall, Virginia’s forests are still mostly green. “Nature’s…

Autumn Foliage Color Season in Maryland

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Secret Vistas – By Glynn Wilson – It’s that time of year again, time for the leaves on the trees to start changing colors in one of the most beautiful annual displays in nature. Get outside and enjoy. You might be amazed to find few other people taking advantage of some of these places. It’s…

Heading for the Woods to Live Simply

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“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived … I wanted to live deep and suck out all the…

Camper Van Living Week Two: Wildlife in Greenbelt Park

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Secret Vistas – By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. – Shhh. Don’t tell anybody. Just between you and I we wouldn’t want to spoil the secret of this place. But it is a fact that in the distance of a short train ride from the nation’s capital, you can be camping in a federal campground…