#croatan national forest

[michellegflye]

Day 22: National Poetry Month

There’s a forest fire in the Croatan National Forest a few miles away from me. Close enough so we have air quality alerts and I got ash in my hair when I walked my dog yesterday. And there was a meteor shower last night but I didn’t even try to watch it because of the ash. But I was sad about it. It occurred to me how very subjective our experiences are. The trees are dying. People are risking…

[intexda]

The smoke has reached as far as my area. It's very yellow outside right now. So far no ash or anything falling yet.

[bradvonblog]

In 2016 I took a camping trip to the Croatan Natl. Forest in NC where they were still giving out this beautiful pamphlet from 1985 and I can’t thank them enough

[mundaneapocalypse]

           On Sunday, Mark and I went to a church that was pretty good and we had already gone once. We like to go to church, but the problem is telling people what we do. So far, the best way to tell people is that we research folklore and see if it has any basis in reality—we have to say folklore, not the paranormal or supernatural. Cryptozoology sometimes comes up, but not often, which is good, because I think we could do the crypto- and not the -zoology.

           Anyway, the pastor and his family came over for supper. They think we are wrong, but they are nice about it, and he preaches good sermons. We are still excommunicated (mostly me because Mark is Latvian Orthodox and automatically excommunicated from Lutheran churches, but he settles for anything) and nobody has to know why unless we tell them, which is very helpful.

           We didn’t talk a lot about what Mark and I do. Everything was normal, getting to know you things, and so if it came up naturally, it came up.

           To not scare them, we had food that looks American—mashed potatoes, peas and carrots, white bread, pork loin, brown gravy, and blueberry pie and whipped cream, all of which shows up in Roanoke. I still cooked outside, but we kept the culture shock to a minimum.

           They also asked why we are not married, and that is because first we were, then we were here and underage, then Mark could have been in trouble because it would have looked like a green card marriage, and we have been planning for a long time, but now can “officially” plan. We left out the part about being married before in Roanoke. The wedding will be in June. Expect sporadic posting until after the wedding.

[marakuhn]

North Carolina - naturally wonderful

North Carolina – naturally wonderful

In a state of natural wonder – falling in love with North Carolina After spending only a week in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park one year for vacation, I knew I would have to return to the area because one week is not near enough time. Three years later as Crystal and I were planning our vacation, North Carolina came up in discussion because she had a friend who was getting married there.…

[leehiller]

Don't Forget Your Flak Jacket and Helmet if you #‎Hike‬ in a National Forest

Don’t Forget Your Flak Jacket and Helmet if you #‎Hike‬ in a National Forest

HSNP Sunset Trail Spring When I think of visiting one of our many National Forests I imagine a lovely hike along a trail not unlike the one above.  Staying at campground or having a picnic with family and friends was a part of my childhood in Oregon. It was shocking to discover that there has been over 8,500 gun incidents in National Forests since 2010. There are currently a series of stories…

[mundaneapocalypse]

There is so much paranature around here, but people don’t like to talk about it. If they talk about it at all, they put it down to lightning or shadows, and only during the disasters. If it happens now, nobody notices or nobody wants to talk about it.

The important thing is Humans remember the weirdness. Erik says the ferrymen were literally swamped or otherwise too busy to erase Humans’ memories and most of them have not begun to deal with the memories or will not for some reason.

And now there are first-hand accounts by people who also aren’t UFO enthusiasts! I have nothing against UFO enthusiasts, but people tend to doubt them, especially when magic is added to the mix, and maybe the general public won’t immediately dismiss your South Carolinan adults aged 27-65 from a variety of socio-economic classes.

(Variety is a little unadventurous because there are some neighborhoods I am just not going into by myself. Mark does not want to, either, but we are going together.)

[netbros]

Girl Scouts use project to improve trails in national forest

Girl Scouts use project to improve trails in national forest

Cadette Girl Scouts Sarah Taylor and Khasia Evans know you don’t have to be a grown-up to make a difference.

Thirteen-year-olds Sarah and Khasia, Jacksonville, NC Middle School students, recently received certificates from the Girl Scouts of America for completing their Silver Award project together, making improvements on a trail in the Croatan National Forest. The two scouts completed the…

[zachfrailey]

Croatan Forest Wildfire

This is currently a pretty big story in this area of North Carolina. Over the weekend, a routine prescribed burn by the North Carolina Forestry Service in the Croatan National Forest got loose and became an uncontained, out of control fire. On Sunday, a total of 2,500 acres had burned and as Monday morning passed, over 8,000 acres had been scorched. It is Monday afternoon as I write and I would suspect that well over 10,000 acres are now burned. There are reports from all over Eastern NC, from Raleigh and as far south as Charleston, SC of smoke.

I ventured out this morning to try to grab some shots of it. If you're familiar at all with the Croatan Forest, there are many dirt and gravel roads that weave around the forest. It was my goal to find one that would take me into a good vantage point. But, it's easy to get lost on them and I didn't want to get stuck in the middle of a fire!

As I stopped to take this shot in the eerie orange glow of sun cutting through the thick smoke, ash began to fall like snow and actually accumulate on the hood of my Jeep. I got spooked and got out of there. Probably a wise decision.

The fire is centered around Catfish Lake Road, which is closed. I grabbed this shot from the paved portion of the road. Just ahead, inside the treeline, the road turns to gravel and is barricaded to traffic.

From further back on Catfish Lake Road. Due to the wind, on the opposite side of the fire, there was really nothing more than a dense smoky fog. From this side, the cloud of smoke is very easily identifiable and full of orange and pink color. Very ominous indeed.

I'm keeping tabs on what is going on and will hopefully make a trip out there after dark to see how the glow looks. Stay tuned.

[mundaneapocalypse]

The guy thought we were delusional, but I’m used to people saying that by now, and Mark is getting there. Poor Mark is too gentle for things like that.

[mundaneapocalypse]

Croatan National Forest (video transcript)

[Mark holds out the camera in front of them.]

Mark: We’re here! Here is…Croatian National Forest. Croatan. It’s Croatan, except we’re in town. New Bern, to get fishing and hunting permits. If they let hunting and they might not.

Lucy: We’re about two hours from Roanoke Island, but this will work fine. There is a fire pit. I can roast again for a while and we will be not moving for long enough that Mark is not going to be able to escape cookies.

Mark: I don’t want to escape cookies. Why are you threatening me with cookies? What kind of threat is that? It’s like me threatening you with yarn.

Lucy: They aren’t going to come out well the first couple times because I’m out of practice. We’ll be at Cedar Point right now, but will probably move around a little. If you want to visit us and hear about Roanoke, let us know.

[The scene changes to outside the VW in the campground.]

Lucy: So, it’s the next day. The very first thing Mark did was make a fishing pole and go off to fish for supper. And there are about five other people in the campground because it is rainy and 38 degrees out and feels very wet right now. Actually, I think one of the families already left, so that is just one other person, and he’s coming over for supper because he is in a tent. It’s so weird to be near the ocean, but not at Myrtle Beach, where all the West Virginians go. It’s quiet and nice here. And not the fun kind of rain, but otherwise, good.

[The scene changes to Mark holding the camera and facing the Ellis Simon Lake.]

Mark: The geese are very afraid. My tarp has a hole, also, so I patched it with duct tape.

[The scene changes again and Mark is holding the camera to show his face. He is shivering and sad.]

Mark: I caught a fish; I don’t know what it was, so I threw it back. But Lucy is making soup, also.

[The scene changes again and Mark has a fish and it is darker outside.]

Mark: Mwahahahaha! Bass! [He pronounces it like the instrument. The bass flaps him in the face and he drops it.] Hey! You, fish, come back! [Mark recatches it and apologizes to it.] Sorry for gloating. Come on. [He drops it in a bucket of water.] I don’t like suffocating fish to death. I don’t think it would be very nice. Gideon, you liked cooking stuff, so I can show you how to clean fish like this one.

[The video then has a lot rambling about fish while Mark guts it and Lucy films it, and at the end, Mark says:]

Mark: Guy is coming over and so we have to stop here. Bye!

[mundaneapocalypse]

Okay, we spent about five days getting things ready at home, and now we are driving to Croatan National Forest.