Secret Vistas

The Story of Wild, Native Brook Trout and Why They Are So Ecologically Important Like the Canary in the Coal Mine for Climate Change

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When the Brook Trout Leaps – By Anonymous – The slender dew-tipped grasses are trembling in the breeze, The east is blushing rosy red beneath the Sun’s caress, The wild rose bends to kiss the stream—but only Nature sees, And the reed-harps play weird music just above the water cress. The quail is calling loudly…

Two New National Holidays Proposed: Election Day and Freedom of the Press Day

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O wondrous youth Through this grand ruth Runs my boy’s life, its thread The General’s fame, the battle’s name The rolls of maimed and dead I bear with my thrilled soul astir And lonely thoughts and fears And am but history’s courier To bind the conquering years A battle’s ray, through ages gray To light…

Camp David: The White House in the Mountains of Maryland

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Editor’s Note: This article is published here for educational purposes only from information published in the public domain on the web – Secret Vistas – By Glynn Wilson – CATOCTIN MOUNTAINS, Md. — The birds arise first. They will sing you awake if you let them. The star singer here is the wood thrush, although…

Spring Bird Migration: A Few Splendid Sentences About Pretty Things

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Secret Vistas – By Glynn Wilson – Sometimes, when sitting outside in the Appalachian Mountains in the shade thinking about what to write about on Sundays, I wonder how to go about writing splendid, pretty sentences. Perhaps the key is writing about pretty things, not bad news. I don’t know. I’ve even Googled it, and…

Camping Out and Living the Nomadland Life in the Washington Capital Region

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Escape Global Warming and Climate Change in Summer – Secret Vistas – By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — The New York Times magazine recently assigned a woman who had never been camping in her life to travel around in a camper van and write about the experience. The trip was a disaster, and the…

Somehow We Made It to the First Day of Spring 2022: Get Outside

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Senate Sherpa Doug Jones Says He’s Confident of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Confirmation – The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — At 11:33 a.m. Sunday, we cross the vernal equinox from winter into spring, and it feels like it’s about time, y’all. The Japanese cherry blossoms are blooming along the Tidal…

Exploring Shenandoah National Park in Virginia in Autumn

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By Glynn Wilson – SHENANDOAH NATIONAL PARK, Va. — Warm, humid October weather that could be attributed to climate change due to global warming from humans burning fossil fuels for energy has slowed the arrival of peak Autumn color in the mountains of Virginia. But it was a beautiful day in the park anyway on…

Harpers Ferry: John Brown’s Raid Made Him a Martyr, Foreshadowing Trump’s Insurrection

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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…

Camping and Cycling Around the Catoctin Mountains in Maryland

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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…

Camping in the Washington, D.C. Area Can Be A Rewarding Challenge

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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…

Camping in the Eastern United States: Planning for Human Survival Here

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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…

Giving Voice to Americans Living in Nomadland

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“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…

Secret Vistas: A Spiritual Experience in Shenandoah

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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: Riding the Gap Trail Over the Mason-Dixon Line

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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…

Secret Vistas: Autumn Color is Peaking in Maryland, but Don’t Get Too Close to Camp David

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“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…

Autumn Color: Shenandoah National Park, Virginia

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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: Curtis Creek Campground in the Pisgah National Forest

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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…

Shenandoah One More Time in the Summer of Our Discontent

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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…

There’s Not Much Time Left to Plan if We’re Going to Survive

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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.…

Hell Hath No Fury, Like Mother Nature Provoked

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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…