Brief-Form #48 : Demons, Ogres, Wraiths, Ghouls, and Other Halloween Forest Spectres!
I am pleased to add the 48th of my GBH Brief-Form Posts (Less than five minutes to read!) to my website. I get wordy with my routine Posts. I don’t want my enthusiasm for thoroughness and detail to discourage readers. So, I will occasionally publish these brief Posts. Happy Halloween! I wander (and wonder) in […]
Brief-Form Post #47: Strange Bearded Tupelo Trees — Air Root Mysteries and Curiosities!
I am pleased to add the 46th of my GBH Brief-Form Posts (Less than five minutes to read!) to my website. I get wordy with my routine Posts. I don’t want my enthusiasm for thoroughness and detail to discourage readers. So, I will occasionally publish these brief Posts. I frequent forest wildness wherever my excursions […]
MD’s Rocky Gap State Park: Habeeb Lake and the Canyon
On the morning of August 2, 2025, my son Matt, Alabama grandson Jack (17), and I hiked to the Canyon Overlook at Maryland’s Rocky Gap State Park. We then visited the Habeeb Lake spillway and returned to the parking lot along the Lakeshore Trail. We enjoyed Nature’s beauty, magic, wonder, and awe hidden in plain […]
Nature Attractions within Reach of Leighton, a Stop on Alabama’s Singing River Trail!
Note: I am flagging this photo essay as one of a sub-series that introduces North Alabama’s emerging Singing River Trail: A 200+ mile greenway system that strengthens regional bonds and creates new health and wellness, educational, economic, tourism, and entrepreneurial opportunities for the people and communities of North Alabama. As a designated Ambassador to […]
Hiking the Homesite Trail at Rocky Gap State Park
On July 29, 2025, my older Alabama grandson, Jack (17), and I hiked the Evitts Homestead Trail on Maryland’s Rocky Gap State Park. We ascended 1,100 feet from Lake Habeeb to Evitts’ 2,200-foot summit. I wanted to share the magic of the place with Jack and rekindle my aging memories. Still in high school, […]
Leighton, Alabama, A One Square Mile Whistle Stop on the Singing River Trail!
Note: I am flagging this photo essay as one of a sub-series that introduces the Nature of the emerging Singing River Trail (SRT): A 200+ mile greenway system that strengthens regional bonds and creates new health and wellness, educational, economic, tourism, and entrepreneurial opportunities for the people and communities of North Alabama. As a […]
Part One 175-Year-Old C&O Canal Pawpaw Tunnel: Where Nature Meets Engineering and History
I once again visited the Pawpaw Tunnel on the Chesapeake and Ohio (C&O) National Historical Park on July 28, 2025. Alabama grandsons, Jack (17) and Sam (11), accompanied me. I grew up 30 miles upstream along the Potomac River in Cumberland, Maryland. I wanted the boys to experience the Nature, history, and engineering marvel of […]
Mid-August Morning at the Goldsmith-Schiffman Wildlife Sanctuary: A Great Blue Heron Encounter
[Note: I dedicate this Post to the memory of Charlie Kirk, a bold, courageous pioneer who tirelessly promoted a life of Faith in God’s merciful love, Patriotism, and Family. Two days after his assassination, his widow Erika said of Charlie: He loved nature, which always brought him closer to God. I echo those sentiments. Nature […]
Observations from the Narrows in Western Maryland: A Step back to My Roots!
I grew up in Cumberland, Maryland, one of the transportation gateways to and over the Appalachian Mountains, a portal to the Ohio frontier and beyond. The Potomac River Valley rises over 600 feet from Washington, D.C.’s tidewater to Cumberland. I visited my hometown in late July 2025. My two Alabama grandsons, Jack (17) and Sam […]
Brief Form Post #46: Singing River Trail at Richard Martin Rails-to-Trails in Elkmont, Alabama
Note: I am flagging this photo essay as one of a sub-series that chronicles the Nature of the emerging Singing River Trail: A 200+ mile greenway system that strengthens regional bonds and creates new health and wellness, educational, economic, tourism, and entrepreneurial opportunities for the people and communities of North Alabama. I am pleased […]
Huge White Oak Blowdown and Cleanup at Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge!
Note: I am flagging this photo essay as one of a sub-series that introduces the emerging Singing River Trail (SRT): A 200+ mile greenway system that strengthens regional bonds and creates new health and wellness, educational, economic, tourism, and entrepreneurial opportunities for the people and communities of North Alabama. Nature’s Twin Blades: Fury and […]
Native American Influence on Today’s North Alabama Forests
Preparing for my July 15, 2025, presentation to the Madison Historical Association on the pre-European settlement forests of our Huntsville, Alabama region, I visited two regional Native American historical sites on June 10, 2025: Florence Indian Mound and Museum; Oakville Indian Mounds and Education Center. My working title for July 15 — Thirteen Millennia of […]