March 11, 2025 • 31 mins
Episode 70 marks a milestone for Virginia Outdoor Adventures podcast, celebrating nearly five years of epic adventures across the Commonwealth. Looking back, I reflect on the incredible diversity of Virginia's outdoor offerings – from whale watching and caving to kayaking and secluded island camping. These adventures have consistently showcased experiences many listeners didn't realize existed right in their own backyards.
I highlight essential spring adventures across Virginia, from waterfall hikes in Shenandoah National Park to elk viewing in Appalachia. The warming season brings excellent opportunities for paddling, wildlife viewing, boating, backpacking, and dark sky programs.
As I reflect on 70 episodes of discovery, the podcast community continues to grow, bringing outdoor enthusiasts together through shared experiences and inspirational stories. Across Virginia, listeners are discovering new adventures, planning getaways, and connecting with our state’s natural beauty through each episode. Join me as we continue this journey of adventure across Virginia's remarkable outdoor spaces. Let’s Go!
Follow VAOA Podcast:
Instagram I Facebook I Newsletter Sign Up
Support the Show! Buy Me A Coffee
Shop the Virginia Outdoor Adventures Merch Store!
VAOA Podcast is Sponsored by:
Virginia Association for Parks
Mentioned in this Episode:
Charlottesville Grotto
Friendly City Inn B&B, Harrisonburg
Spring Adventure Episodes:
Ep 64. Virginia’s Adventure Towns: Onancock
Ep 58. Virginia’s Adventure Towns: Urbanna
Ep 62. Virginia’s Venomous and Nonvenomous Snakes
Ep 54. Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases
Ep 59. Wandering Waters Paddle Quest
Ep 56. Let’s Go Adventures
Ep 9. Bird is the Word
Ep 43. Virginia’s Lost Appalachian Trail
Ep 45. Waterfalls of Shenandoah National Park
Ep 55. Appalachia’s Greatest Conservation Story: Elk Restoration in Southwest Virginia
Fan Mail - Send Jessica a Text Message
Contact show host, Jessica Bowser:
jessica@virginiaoutdooradventures.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jessica Bowser (00:00):
John, from the Blue Ridge Mountains to the
Chesapeake Bay, Virginia is amecca for outdoor travel and
adventure. Virginia outdooradventures Podcast is your local
guide for hiking, camping,kayaking, travel and so much
more. Get the information andthe inspiration to plan your own
adventure right here inVirginia. I'm your host, Jessica
(00:23):
Bowser, Episode 70 marks amilestone for Virginia outdoor
adventures podcast, celebratingfive years of epic adventures
across the Commonwealth. Lookingback, I reflect on the
incredible diversity ofVirginia's outdoor offerings,
from whale watching and cavingto kayaking and secluded island
camping, these adventures haveconsistently showcased
(00:45):
experiences many listenersdidn't realize existed right in
their own backyards. I highlightessential spring adventures
across Virginia, from waterfallhikes in Shenandoah National
Park to elk viewing inAppalachia, the warming season
brings excellent opportunitiesfor paddling, wildlife viewing,
boating, backpacking and darksky programs, as I reflect on 70
(01:09):
episodes of discovery, thepodcast community continues to
grow, bringing outdoorenthusiasts together through
shared experiences andinspirational stories across
Virginia, listeners arediscovering new adventures,
planning getaways and connectingwith their state's natural
beauty through each episode,join me as we continue this
journey of adventure acrossVirginia's remarkable outdoor
(01:32):
spaces. Let's go Virginia.
Outdoor Adventures is sponsoredby the Virginia association for
parks, V, A, F, P, championsparks across the Commonwealth.
Registration for the annualconference is now live. Join us
may 1 through fourth atoccaneechi State Park. This
year's conference will feature atour of Staunton river
(01:54):
battlefield State Park, a guidedpaddle program at occaneechi,
perfect for those working onpaddle quest and a special dark
sky program at Stanton RiverState Park, plus special guests
and speakers, workshops andpanel discussions, meals and
lodging provided, plus plenty ofopportunities for conviviality
around the campfire with likeminded Park enthusiasts.
(02:16):
Register for the VA FP annualconference today by clicking on
Virginia association for parksin the show notes of your
listening app. Welcome friendsto another episode of Virginia
outdoor adventures podcast. I amso glad that all of you are
here. There's a lot of newbies.
(02:38):
My Instagram stories have beenblowing up lately, and I'll get
to why in just a moment. But Iknow there's a lot of new folks
here who just discovered thepodcast, and I wanted to say,
welcome. This is episode 70, andthat number feels like a bit of
a milestone to me. There is awell known statistic in the
podcasting industry, 90% ofpodcasters quit after just seven
(03:00):
episodes. So here I am workingon episode 70 plus or minus
another 10 or so on numberedbonus episodes. So I guess it's
technically closer to 80, but 70numbered episodes, and each of
those 70 plus episodes haverequired about 30 hours of
production work, a piece andequal or greater commitment to
marketing and sales, becausemaking a podcast isn't just
(03:24):
about making it and putting itout there. That would be like
throwing a party and not sendingout invitations. I also have to
do a lot of work to make surethat people discover it and
listen to it and that it isfinancially supported. So
there's a lot of work that goesinto every episode, and when you
also throw in the constanttravel that I'm doing across
Virginia, it is no wonder that Iam so busy. But it has been a
(03:47):
wild ride, and some of thehighlights over the last 70
episodes have been using thisplatform to promote volunteerism
and stewardship, responsiblerecreating, accessibility and,
of course, conservation and Ifeel proud to have worked to
enhance tourism and economicdevelopment here in Virginia, as
(04:08):
well as advocacy, which is nearand dear to my heart, and
community engagement. And ofcourse, I've lived some
incredible adventures, thingsthat I did not even know existed
in Virginia, and maybe youdidn't either, things like whale
watching and caving, zip liningand surfing, even ice climbing
and camping on secluded islands,one of my favorite memories here
(04:30):
in Virginia. But mostimportantly, I've introduced
listeners to experiences theydidn't even know existed right
here in their backyards, andthat was the main reason why I
started this podcast, it's whatgot me started five years ago,
and I'm really happy to still behere doing it. And then I wanted
to say that I have gotten toknow and been inspired by some
(04:51):
of the very best public servantswho work tirelessly to protect
our public lands and naturalresources. So shout out to our
rangers. Conservation Officers,wildland firefighters, wildlife
biologists and others who areprotecting our public lands for
all of us to enjoy, it's been aheck of an adventure. Thank you
so much to all of you who havebeen listening because without
(05:13):
your listenership, none of thiswould be possible.
Let's talk about the nextepisode coming up, Episode 71
which has not yet been recordedbecause I am looking for your
input. So if you have beenlistening for a little while,
you might remember episode 34which was foraging for wild
(05:36):
edible plants. And that was withTim MC Welch from advanced
survival training. Foraging forwild edible plants, was a topic
that I had gotten a lot ofrequests for. And so I met Tim,
and he came on the show, and itwas a wildly popular episode.
And so it's been a couple ofseasons now, and I recently got
some requests for another topicon wilderness survival. And so I
(05:59):
reached out to Tim, and I askedhim if he would be interested in
coming back on the podcast to dothis again, but to focus on
wilderness survival skillsinstead. And he said absolutely.
So I talked to him the otherday, and we were trying to
decide what we thought the bestangle would be and what people
would be most interested inknowing, and we both agreed that
(06:19):
we would like to talk about whatto do if you are out hiking or
somewhere outdoors and somethingunexpected happens, say an
accident or an illness, or youget lost, or the weather
changes, or something like thatthat could potentially turn into
an emergency. And so we're goingto cover all the things to do in
(06:41):
those situations to help ensureyour safety and that you get
through it. So what I need fromyou is what questions you have
specifically for Tim, you know,I can try to guess, but since I
got a lot of requests for thistopic, I want to make sure that
I'm covering all the things thatyou all want to know. So so the
best way to get a hold of me, tolet me know what your questions
(07:03):
are is to go to your show notesright now in your podcast
listening app and click on SendJessica a text message. And when
you click on that, a box shouldopen up and you can submit your
questions to me. Please makesure that you put your name in
there, because I would very muchlike to be able to say who I got
the questions from. I don't needto say your last name. I just
(07:23):
would like to know your firstname. And it might also be
helpful if you tell me whereyou're from in Virginia, I would
I'm always interested inknowing, like, what part of the
state people are listening infrom. So let me know your name,
where you're from, and whatquestions you have about
wilderness survival for Timmcwelch, and then make sure you
tune in to the next episode tohear his response. Breathtaking
(07:48):
views, towering cliffs, roaringrivers, unlimited adventure.
Discover the rugged beauty ofbreaks, Interstate Park deep in
the heart of southwest Virginia.
Breaks his home to the 1000 footvertical Canyon known as the
Grand Canyon of the South. Everyone of my trips to the breaks
have been packed with stunninghikes in a rocky geologic
Wonderland, mountain bikingthrough breathtaking scenery and
(08:12):
rock climbing on the Appalachiansandstone that makes breaks a
climbers paradise. But some ofmy most memorable moments
include hearing the bugle of anelk echoing through the
mountains, or staring up at themajesty of the Milky Way
outstretched over toweringcanyon walls. Don't miss your
chance to experience Appalachia,greatest conservation story. Elk
(08:33):
have returned to southwestVirginia, and you can experience
them in their natural habitat.
Reservations for this spring'selk viewing bus tours are
available now with amenitiessuch as lakefront cottages,
Woodland Lodges, campgrounds andthe rhododendron restaurant on
site. Breaks holds epicadventures for the entire
(08:55):
family. Your adventure awaits atthe breaks. Click on breaks
Interstate Park in your shownotes to visit breaks park.com.
I kicked us off by saying thatthere are a lot of new listeners
here who recently discovered thepodcast because of a series of
posts that I put up in Instagramstories. And I wasn't even going
(09:16):
to talk about it in thisepisode, but I got so many
questions and comments andpeople reaching out to me about
this absolutely epic bird andwildlife extravaganza that I had
in Minnesota a couple of weeksago with my good friend Matt
felperin, who's been a guest onthis podcast in episode nine.
(09:36):
Matt works for Nova parks and istheir roving naturalist, and so
Matt and I were actuallykayaking this past summer, and I
said, You know what, Matt, thereis one bird that I want to see
so badly that I don't know if Iwill ever get a chance to see,
and that is the great gray owl.
The great gray owl is justabsolutely majestic. The. Bird
(09:57):
is huge. It's 24 to 33 inchestall, is the average, with the
females being bigger than themales, and they have a wingspan
of, on average, four feet, eightinches, but sometimes even
wider. So that is a beautiful,beautiful bird with a typical
owl dinner plate, flat face, andit's just it is so pretty, but
(10:21):
it hangs out mostly in very,very cold northern boreal
forests. And so I told Matt thatI really wanted to see this
bird. And he said, Yeah, well,I'm going up to Minnesota in
February to see it. And I waslike, you're taking me with you?
Yeah, I totally invited myselfalong. I'm not ashamed to say
(10:45):
it. That's exactly what I did.
So Matt and I and Matt's friendJoe, who I believe they've been
friends since, like, high schoolor middle school or something
like that, we went up toMinnesota, flew into
Minneapolis, and I just want tosay that Joe is an incredibly
talented professionalphotographer, and Matt is a
really talented wildlifephotographer as well. Between
(11:08):
the two of them, I got to enjoygorgeous photos of these birds
and animals that we were seeingin Minnesota. Our main
destination was a place calledSaks Zimbabwe, which is not very
far from Duluth, and I'm stillnot entirely clear who manages
it, but I know that there is areally active friends group
there. And it's it's a preserve,and it's huge. I forget how many
(11:32):
hundreds of square miles it is,but it takes, like, a couple of
hours to drive across it, andit's a wonderful place to see
wildlife. Saks, Zimbabwe waswhere we spent most of our time,
but not all of our time. It isthe coldest I have ever been in
my life, and I grew up inCleveland on Lake Erie. So this
is saying something I've neverseen so much snow either. It was
(11:52):
absolutely wild. There was onemorning we woke up to leave the
house and it was negative 32degrees. And of course, we had
all of our cold weather gearwith us. We had toe warmers in
our boots, insulated boots. Wehad heated gloves. We had hand
warmers in our gloves. And I'mhere to tell you that absolutely
none of it mattered. We didn'tfeel anything. And I don't think
(12:15):
I felt my toes for five straightdays, and having toe warmers in
there was like having nothing atall in there, like you couldn't
even tell it was there, even ininsulated boots, it was just
absolutely wild. Also, if you'veever heard folks say that
temperatures can drop so lowthat your eyes freeze, I'm here
to tell you that that's alsotrue. Now, my eyes didn't
freeze, but I felt like my eyeswere freezing. It was like your
(12:36):
eyes tear up because of thecold, and then that freezes.
It's the weirdest feeling. I'venever felt anything like that
before in my life. It wascompletely wild. And Matt's
beard was also totally frozen.
That was an interesting sight.
So every guy that had facialhair as it would breathe, it
would just freeze to theirbeard, and then the condensation
(12:56):
would build and freeze somemore, and it just was forming
these ice crystals.
And Matt had like, this frozenbeard the whole time we were out
there. It was so funny. Andthere are pictures of that in
Instagram. And also, I will justsay so I saved all of those
Instagram stories if you want tosee any of this into a
highlight, but it's not going tobe there forever. I'm going to
(13:18):
have to take it down at somepoint, because it will confuse
people who come across myInstagram page about Virginia
outdoor adventures, and thenthey see something from
Minnesota. So I don't want toconfuse people, but I will leave
it up there for a little bitlonger for those of you who want
to see it, so get on over thereand check it out. But so we went
to Saxon bog. A typical day wasus driving around the bog
(13:38):
looking for different wildlife.
We had a list of species that wereally wanted to see. And what's
interesting about sex and bog isthat it has gotten a lot of
notoriety lately for wildlifewatchers and birders. And so
somebody got the great idea tostart. What's the name of the
app, Telegram, or telegraph,something like that. You guys
(13:59):
probably know better than I do.
It's one of those messagingapps. And so somebody started a
group just for the bog, andpeople can drop a pin at their
location if there is wildlifethat they're seeing that other
people will be interested in. Sowe're driving around the bog,
and we're scrolling through thismessaging app to see what people
are seeing and where they'reseeing it, and not only planning
(14:21):
our day around where sightingshave been recently, but then
also, like sometimes droppingeverything and running to a
particular location if there issome if something pops up
unexpectedly. So like, forexample, there was this one day
that we were staked out at abunch of bird feeders that the
friends group maintains, and wewere waiting for a pine marten.
(14:42):
And a pine marten is this long,reddish brown weasel, like
erratic animal that would showup at the feeders every now and
then. And we really wanted tosee it. And of course, the guys
wanted to photograph it. And sowe were staked out there. It was
showing up like every hour,almost. On the hour for a couple
of days, except for the day thatwe got there, it wasn't showing
(15:05):
up, and so we were sitting therefor hours. And the poor, like
the guys, I got to give themcredit, so I just stayed in the
car because I was freezing mybutt off. But they had their
huge cameras and lenses ontripods, and they wanted to be
ready in case it showed up. Andso they would be standing out in
the freezing cold with theirtripods and their camera set up
(15:25):
like poised and ready for hours.
I have no idea how they did it,but I was like, yep. Okay, well,
you let me know when the weaselshows up, and then I'll get out
of the car. So we're staked outwaiting for this weasel for
hours, and then all of a sudden,I see people running past the
car, and I'm in the back seatgoing, what the heck is going
on? And then I see Matt and Joerunning towards the car with
(15:46):
their tripods and their camerasslung over their shoulders. And
they get to the car, and thehatch opens, and the equipment
flies in, and the hatch closes,and they jump in, and I'm like,
what's happening? And they'relike, boreal owl spotted on such
and such road we gotta go. Andthen you just see this line of
cars that had all been parked onthe side of the road that were
(16:06):
all doing the same thing we weredoing, pulling out snows flying
up everywhere. It was a completeriot. And then we would get to
where somebody had dropped thepin and shared it. And then we
got to see a boreal owl. It waslike it was so cool. Like most
of the birds and the animalsthat we saw are boreal species,
and oftentimes they don't comethis far south. This year was a
(16:28):
special year. It's what's knownas an eruption year, and that's
eruption with an i, not an E.
And an eruptive year is a yearwhen these northern species,
either their food sourcechanges, or there's an explosion
in the population, somethingthat causes them to come farther
south than they normally wouldin search of food. So this year
(16:51):
was an eruption year, and sothere were more arboreal species
coming farther south, and thatincluded the great gray owl. Now
a lot of these birds anddifferent animals can be seen at
the bog every year. But thisyear, there were, there were
more than there usually are,which you know increases your
chances of actually getting tosee them. So we were driving
around on the first day, andsomebody reported a great gray
(17:15):
and so we were driving over tothe location, and we get there,
and you can always tell exactlywhere it is, like, even from a
mile away, you see all thesecars pulled over on the side of
the road. And it's funny,because, like, I had always
pictured myself like trudgingthrough the snow In a boreal
forest somewhere up north, likewith nobody else around, looking
(17:36):
for these birds, looking for theowl. And it was not really like
that at all. I mean, there weregravel roads, but you couldn't
see them because they were underso much snow. And they recommend
four wheel drive, and they tellyou not to pull too far off the
road, because you could getstuck. Really, it was like
staying on the roads because thesnow was so deep, there wasn't
(17:56):
really an option to go off theroad and go trudging around in
the wilderness looking for thesethings. I guess if you had
snowshoes, lots of people hadsnowmobiles, not through the
bog, of course, but just like onthe main roads, I saw a lot of
people with snowmobiles gettingaround. I wonder how they do it
in that kind of cold. I have noidea, but it looked alike. It
was a lot of fun. And so peoplewere just mostly driving around
(18:18):
the bog on the roads and seeingwhat they could see from the
roads, we got to see lots ofdifferent owls. We got over to
where the sighting was for thegreat gray owl, and all these
people were, like, on the sideof the road with their cameras.
And we walked up, and somebodypointed out where it was. And I
thought for sure I was justgonna, like, be a sobbing mess
when I finally got to see thisbird. And I did not cry, which
(18:40):
Matt pointed out a couple ofdays later, when we were
listening to the episode aboutforest bathing, and I was
telling Anna that I thought forsure I was going to cry. And we
were listening to that episodebecause it came out that week
that we were in the bog, andhe's like, You didn't cry, good
job. But I was definitelystunned. I was like, just the
whole thing was so surreal whenyou finally see this majestic
(19:04):
animal, and it's perched up on abranch, and its head is
swiveling from one side toanother, and it's looking around
for food, and all thesephotographers and birders are
lined up, and everybody ispretty much silent, because
nobody wants to spook thewildlife or disrupt the
wildlife. And so everybody'ssort of tiptoeing around, but
(19:24):
all you hear are camerasclicking. And I was so in the
moment. It was so amazing tofinally see this bird, like, if
that wasn't good enough, thenall of a sudden, it leapt from
its perch, and it flew righttowards us, and it landed on a
tree that was right near theroad. And I look over and
there's Joe laying in the snowon the side of the road with his
(19:47):
camera up. I mean, this birdlanded like right in front of
him. It was so amazing. He gotthe most incredible shots. And
then from there, it flew to theto our side of the road, where
it perched on the. Top of anevergreen tree. And I got some
really beautiful pictures of itthere, too, and eventually it
flew off to where nobody couldsee it anymore. But, I mean, we
(20:09):
were hugging and high fiving,and it was just it was so
awesome. I don't even know whatto say, other than it was just
so incredibly awesome. And Ifelt very, blessed to get to see
such an awesome, awesome bird.
We saw great gray owls everysingle day. It never got old. It
was incredible every singletime. We also saw, what else did
(20:30):
we see? Oh, so one day we drove,instead of going to the bog, we
drove along the coast of LakeSuperior, which is beautiful by
the way, we were on our way tothis little town called Two
Harbors, and we stopped atGooseberry Falls State Park. And
I always love to visit stateparks in other states, because I
like to compare them to what wehave here in Virginia, and they
had this massive, beautiful,what looked like brand new
(20:53):
visitor center. It was gorgeous.
Matt and I hiked to a frozenwaterfall that was very
impressive. I mean, I haven'tseen a frozen waterfall like
this before. I've seen Frozenwaterfalls, but this one was
huge. And what was so neat aboutit is, when we first walked up,
we could walk right up to thebase of it, and I thought that
(21:14):
there was some kind of steam orlike water or something rising
up. But then once we got closer,we realized that the bottom of
the Falls was actuallycompletely frozen, and what we
were seeing was water passingunderneath the ice. So the water
of the waterfall was continuingto flow under the ice, and we
were seeing bits of it as it wasgoing by, and it almost looked
(21:36):
like smoke rising until we gotclose enough to realize that
that's not what it was. So thatwas really neat. I also saw a
red squirrel for the first timewhile we were at that state
park. And then when we got backto the car, we found Joe
standing in the parking lotphotographing something in the
trees, and it turned out to be awhole bunch of common red poles,
which are really beautiful.
Birds are like the size oflittle sparrows, but they have
(21:58):
these beautiful dark red crownsand breasts. And they were, they
were really cool. And then onthe second or third day, we were
driving to the bog again, and Ilooked out the window from my
back seat, and I saw a sun dog,something that I did not even
know existed. It is, I guess itoccurs when the weather is
exceptionally cold, and I thinkmaybe particles in the sky
(22:21):
freeze, but it creates a haloaround the sun. So the sun was
rising, and there's this hugefrozen halo around the sun. And
I was like, what is that? Atfirst I thought it was rainbow,
because I just saw one part ofit. But then as we drove past an
open field, I realized thisthing went all the way around.
It was like a giant circle. Andso we pulled off, or we pulled
(22:44):
over to check it out. And themore we looked, the more we
realized it was actually adouble Halo, and it was the
coolest thing I've ever seen.
Matt, of course, being thenaturalist, was like, it's a par
Helion. And I'm like, I'm sorry,what
it's also called a par Helion ora mock sign, but most people
call it Sun dog. We saw it thenext couple of days in a row. I
(23:07):
even saw it from the airplanewhen we took off from
Minneapolis to head home. Andthat looked really amazing
underneath the wing of theplane. And you could see the
shadow of the airplane insidethe center of it. It was wild.
I've never seen anything likeit. Very, very cool. And then on
the last day, it was reallyfunny, the night before the last
day, we were going to check outof our Airbnb, but we had
planned to sleep in late andthen drive to Minneapolis,
(23:29):
because, by the way, we weregetting up at like, four o'clock
in the morning every single day,like we wanted to be on site
when the sun rose. And so forme, I wanted to make sure that I
was like, out of the out of theshower and out of the bathroom
before the guys got up. So I wasgetting up at like, four, 430 we
were leaving before six, andthen, like, driving an hour to
get to where we needed to bebefore the sun came up. And so
(23:51):
like crazy early mornings, andwe're the night before the last
day we were gonna sleep in. Andthen Matt was like, and by the
way, Matt somehow knows peopleeverywhere we go, we're in
Minnesota, and people arewalking up to him, going, Are
you Matt felperin, like this ishow well known he is in the bird
world. I was really impressed,and I know he enjoyed being
recognized, too. So we'rerunning into people that Matt
(24:14):
knows, and he's texting them thenight before, and somebody had
texted to say that they saw asharp tailed grouse in a field
on their way to seeing anorthern Hawk owl, and sent us
pictures. And what's significantabout sharp trail, sharp tail
grouse, and really, any grousespecies in the United States
right now, they're, they're verysimilar to prairie chickens.
(24:36):
They're kind of all they looklike. They all look like
chickens. They if you know whata rough grass is, which is what
we have here in Virginia, theyall look very similar, but their
habitat is threatened. And sothe species, all of the species,
are drastically declining. Theythey prefer grassland habitats,
and grassland habitats arethreatened by development and
(24:58):
climate change right now. So.
These birds in the spring, whichthey have, we didn't even
realize they were alreadystarting this, but they were
doing like mating displays ontheir Lex, which is, like, you
know, the area where they breed,and where they do these like
dances and like, that'ssomething that you see on Nat
Geo that you think you're nevergoing to see in real life. So
when Matt found out thatsomebody else we knew had seen
(25:20):
these sharp tailed growsperforming their mating dance on
their Lex he was like, we've gotto get up early. We've got to be
there before sunrise. Poor Joe,I thought was going to have an
absolute meltdown. He wasexhausted. We were all
exhausted. We all thought wewere going to be sleeping in the
(25:41):
next morning, and Matt startsmaking the case for why we
absolutely have to do this,because with the species
declining, will we ever get thisopportunity again? So we all
finally agreed, but after, like,this big quarrel that the two of
them had, that I was in thebackground laughing at because
it was just too funny. So, yeah,so we decided we were all gonna
(26:03):
get up crazy early. Of course,we had to check out of the
Airbnb before we could evenleave. I mean, I think I was up
at like, I don't even know it.
It was four o'clock or earlier,or something stupid like that.
And then we're outside, and it's18 degrees outside. Nobody can
feel their fingers the moment westep out the front door. It was
just, it was, it was one ofthose mornings. So we were
(26:24):
driving out, we found the owl.
We saw another great gray on theside of the highway. It was the
closest one that I think we sawthe whole time out of the whole
five days that we were there. Itwas literally right on the side
of the road. And it's, it's soamazing to me that they are so
unbothered by people, they justcontinue hunting and living
their little owl lives, and theydon't seem to be even the least
(26:46):
bit concerned that people arewatching. Now, of course, that
doesn't mean that we shouldn'tbe mindful that we aren't
disrupting them, but at the sametime, just really interesting
that they just continue doingwhat they're doing right next to
roads and landing on somephotographers, cameras and crazy
things, but we got to seeanother great gray we saw the
northern Hawk owl, and then wewere driving along the side of
(27:07):
the road. We knew we were kindof near where the grouse were,
and I looked out and saw them inthe distance, and we didn't get
to see them doing the matingdance, because we got out there
a little bit late. We hadstopped for the owls. So that
part was a little unfortunate.
But then we continued on to theairport, and we saw a huge
flocks of snow buntings. I'veseen snow buntings in Virginia,
(27:29):
but I've only seen like one ortwo at a time, and this was like
flocks of 50 to 100 and theywere taking off from these snow
covered farm fields up into thesky where the sun had rose, and
there was the sun dog around thesun, and here are these snow
buntings flying by. Was likesomething out of a dream or a
(27:49):
movie, I don't know. It was justincredible. And then I also, I'm
just the last one, I swear. I'mjust gonna, I'm gonna say one
more, and then I'm gonna bedone. I saw a ring necked
pheasants. And yes, we have themin Virginia, but they're not
native. Is my understanding isthat they're here because some
people have released them, soyou don't see them often. I've
been looking for one for yearsand years. Every time one is
(28:10):
spotted in Virginia, I show upand I never find it. But we were
driving down the road and I'mlike, What is that on the side
of the road? And Matt slowsdown, and sure enough, it is
this beautiful male with all ofthese incredible colors. I mean,
think of a peacock, kind oflooks like that, but without the
big fan out tail, it's just thisvery long, sleek pheasant with
(28:32):
gorgeous, gorgeous rainbow,striking colors. I mean, it's,
it was awesome. So saw that, andthen headed off to the airport.
So ended a very epic trip.
Things that we were hoping tosee that we didn't see. We
wanted to see snowshoe hair. Wenever found one wolves. There
are wolves up there in that partof Minnesota. Now, Joe says he
(28:52):
saw one we were driving down theroad on the way home at the end
of one night. The sun had likejust set, and we drove past the
side street, and he looked overand there was a wolf trotting
across the road. Now, Joe hasbeen out to Yellowstone to
photograph wolves, so if he saysthere was a wolf like I believe
him. I believe that he knowswhat a wolf looks like. But by
(29:13):
the time we turned around andgot back over to where he had
seen it, all we saw were tracksin the snow, and we were kind of
following the tracks until theyended up in somebody's backyard.
And we were like, Okay, we can'ttrespass in someone's backyard.
But Joe saw the wolf, but didn'tget any pictures. The rest of us
didn't. And then I think we wereall kind of hoping for a snowy
owl. I've seen several snowyowls even here in Virginia, but
(29:34):
I was hoping to see one on thistrip, and we didn't. But
otherwise, absolutelyincredible. Go check out the
stories in the saved highlightson Instagram and let me know
what you think. Tune in nextweek when I dive into my list of
essential spring adventuresacross Virginia, from waterfall
hikes in Shenandoah NationalPark to elk viewing an.
(29:58):
Appalachia, the warming seasonbrings excellent opportunities
for paddling, wildlife viewing,boating, backpacking, dark sky
programs and more. Don't missout on this planning list for
your spring adventures. VirginiaOutdoor Adventures is inspired
by and supported by listenerslike you, which is why your
(30:19):
messages and feedback means somuch to me. You can text me
directly by clicking on SendJessica a text message in your
show notes, I answer questions,respond to comments and share
your feedback on the show. Nevermiss a new episode. Sign up for
my email newsletter and receivemy listener resource guide with
the top podcast episodes ofVirginia outdoor bucket list and
(30:42):
exclusive brand discounts for mylisteners. Click on newsletter.
Sign up in your show notes orvisit Virginia outdoor
adventures.com thanks forlistening until next time.
Adventure on you.
John, from the Blue Ridge Mountains to the
Chesapeake Bay, Virginia is amecca for outdoor travel and
adventure. Virginia outdooradventures Podcast is your local
guide for hiking, camping,kayaking, travel and so much
more. Get the information andthe inspiration to plan your own
adventure right here inVirginia. I'm your host, Jessica
(00:23):
Bowser, Episode 70 marks amilestone for Virginia outdoor
adventures podcast, celebratingfive years of epic adventures
across the Commonwealth. Lookingback, I reflect on the
incredible diversity ofVirginia's outdoor offerings,
from whale watching and cavingto kayaking and secluded island
camping, these adventures haveconsistently showcased
(00:45):
experiences many listenersdidn't realize existed right in
their own backyards. I highlightessential spring adventures
across Virginia, from waterfallhikes in Shenandoah National
Park to elk viewing inAppalachia, the warming season
brings excellent opportunitiesfor paddling, wildlife viewing,
boating, backpacking and darksky programs, as I reflect on 70
(01:09):
episodes of discovery, thepodcast community continues to
grow, bringing outdoorenthusiasts together through
shared experiences andinspirational stories across
Virginia, listeners arediscovering new adventures,
planning getaways and connectingwith their state's natural
beauty through each episode,join me as we continue this
journey of adventure acrossVirginia's remarkable outdoor
(01:32):
spaces. Let's go Virginia.
Outdoor Adventures is sponsoredby the Virginia association for
parks, V, A, F, P, championsparks across the Commonwealth.
Registration for the annualconference is now live. Join us
may 1 through fourth atoccaneechi State Park. This
year's conference will feature atour of Staunton river
(01:54):
battlefield State Park, a guidedpaddle program at occaneechi,
perfect for those working onpaddle quest and a special dark
sky program at Stanton RiverState Park, plus special guests
and speakers, workshops andpanel discussions, meals and
lodging provided, plus plenty ofopportunities for conviviality
around the campfire with likeminded Park enthusiasts.
(02:16):
Register for the VA FP annualconference today by clicking on
Virginia association for parksin the show notes of your
listening app. Welcome friendsto another episode of Virginia
outdoor adventures podcast. I amso glad that all of you are
here. There's a lot of newbies.
(02:38):
My Instagram stories have beenblowing up lately, and I'll get
to why in just a moment. But Iknow there's a lot of new folks
here who just discovered thepodcast, and I wanted to say,
welcome. This is episode 70, andthat number feels like a bit of
a milestone to me. There is awell known statistic in the
podcasting industry, 90% ofpodcasters quit after just seven
(03:00):
episodes. So here I am workingon episode 70 plus or minus
another 10 or so on numberedbonus episodes. So I guess it's
technically closer to 80, but 70numbered episodes, and each of
those 70 plus episodes haverequired about 30 hours of
production work, a piece andequal or greater commitment to
marketing and sales, becausemaking a podcast isn't just
(03:24):
about making it and putting itout there. That would be like
throwing a party and not sendingout invitations. I also have to
do a lot of work to make surethat people discover it and
listen to it and that it isfinancially supported. So
there's a lot of work that goesinto every episode, and when you
also throw in the constanttravel that I'm doing across
Virginia, it is no wonder that Iam so busy. But it has been a
(03:47):
wild ride, and some of thehighlights over the last 70
episodes have been using thisplatform to promote volunteerism
and stewardship, responsiblerecreating, accessibility and,
of course, conservation and Ifeel proud to have worked to
enhance tourism and economicdevelopment here in Virginia, as
(04:08):
well as advocacy, which is nearand dear to my heart, and
community engagement. And ofcourse, I've lived some
incredible adventures, thingsthat I did not even know existed
in Virginia, and maybe youdidn't either, things like whale
watching and caving, zip liningand surfing, even ice climbing
and camping on secluded islands,one of my favorite memories here
(04:30):
in Virginia. But mostimportantly, I've introduced
listeners to experiences theydidn't even know existed right
here in their backyards, andthat was the main reason why I
started this podcast, it's whatgot me started five years ago,
and I'm really happy to still behere doing it. And then I wanted
to say that I have gotten toknow and been inspired by some
(04:51):
of the very best public servantswho work tirelessly to protect
our public lands and naturalresources. So shout out to our
rangers. Conservation Officers,wildland firefighters, wildlife
biologists and others who areprotecting our public lands for
all of us to enjoy, it's been aheck of an adventure. Thank you
so much to all of you who havebeen listening because without
(05:13):
your listenership, none of thiswould be possible.
Let's talk about the nextepisode coming up, Episode 71
which has not yet been recordedbecause I am looking for your
input. So if you have beenlistening for a little while,
you might remember episode 34which was foraging for wild
(05:36):
edible plants. And that was withTim MC Welch from advanced
survival training. Foraging forwild edible plants, was a topic
that I had gotten a lot ofrequests for. And so I met Tim,
and he came on the show, and itwas a wildly popular episode.
And so it's been a couple ofseasons now, and I recently got
some requests for another topicon wilderness survival. And so I
(05:59):
reached out to Tim, and I askedhim if he would be interested in
coming back on the podcast to dothis again, but to focus on
wilderness survival skillsinstead. And he said absolutely.
So I talked to him the otherday, and we were trying to
decide what we thought the bestangle would be and what people
would be most interested inknowing, and we both agreed that
(06:19):
we would like to talk about whatto do if you are out hiking or
somewhere outdoors and somethingunexpected happens, say an
accident or an illness, or youget lost, or the weather
changes, or something like thatthat could potentially turn into
an emergency. And so we're goingto cover all the things to do in
(06:41):
those situations to help ensureyour safety and that you get
through it. So what I need fromyou is what questions you have
specifically for Tim, you know,I can try to guess, but since I
got a lot of requests for thistopic, I want to make sure that
I'm covering all the things thatyou all want to know. So so the
best way to get a hold of me, tolet me know what your questions
(07:03):
are is to go to your show notesright now in your podcast
listening app and click on SendJessica a text message. And when
you click on that, a box shouldopen up and you can submit your
questions to me. Please makesure that you put your name in
there, because I would very muchlike to be able to say who I got
the questions from. I don't needto say your last name. I just
(07:23):
would like to know your firstname. And it might also be
helpful if you tell me whereyou're from in Virginia, I would
I'm always interested inknowing, like, what part of the
state people are listening infrom. So let me know your name,
where you're from, and whatquestions you have about
wilderness survival for Timmcwelch, and then make sure you
tune in to the next episode tohear his response. Breathtaking
(07:48):
views, towering cliffs, roaringrivers, unlimited adventure.
Discover the rugged beauty ofbreaks, Interstate Park deep in
the heart of southwest Virginia.
Breaks his home to the 1000 footvertical Canyon known as the
Grand Canyon of the South. Everyone of my trips to the breaks
have been packed with stunninghikes in a rocky geologic
Wonderland, mountain bikingthrough breathtaking scenery and
(08:12):
rock climbing on the Appalachiansandstone that makes breaks a
climbers paradise. But some ofmy most memorable moments
include hearing the bugle of anelk echoing through the
mountains, or staring up at themajesty of the Milky Way
outstretched over toweringcanyon walls. Don't miss your
chance to experience Appalachia,greatest conservation story. Elk
(08:33):
have returned to southwestVirginia, and you can experience
them in their natural habitat.
Reservations for this spring'selk viewing bus tours are
available now with amenitiessuch as lakefront cottages,
Woodland Lodges, campgrounds andthe rhododendron restaurant on
site. Breaks holds epicadventures for the entire
(08:55):
family. Your adventure awaits atthe breaks. Click on breaks
Interstate Park in your shownotes to visit breaks park.com.
I kicked us off by saying thatthere are a lot of new listeners
here who recently discovered thepodcast because of a series of
posts that I put up in Instagramstories. And I wasn't even going
(09:16):
to talk about it in thisepisode, but I got so many
questions and comments andpeople reaching out to me about
this absolutely epic bird andwildlife extravaganza that I had
in Minnesota a couple of weeksago with my good friend Matt
felperin, who's been a guest onthis podcast in episode nine.
(09:36):
Matt works for Nova parks and istheir roving naturalist, and so
Matt and I were actuallykayaking this past summer, and I
said, You know what, Matt, thereis one bird that I want to see
so badly that I don't know if Iwill ever get a chance to see,
and that is the great gray owl.
The great gray owl is justabsolutely majestic. The. Bird
(09:57):
is huge. It's 24 to 33 inchestall, is the average, with the
females being bigger than themales, and they have a wingspan
of, on average, four feet, eightinches, but sometimes even
wider. So that is a beautiful,beautiful bird with a typical
owl dinner plate, flat face, andit's just it is so pretty, but
(10:21):
it hangs out mostly in very,very cold northern boreal
forests. And so I told Matt thatI really wanted to see this
bird. And he said, Yeah, well,I'm going up to Minnesota in
February to see it. And I waslike, you're taking me with you?
Yeah, I totally invited myselfalong. I'm not ashamed to say
(10:45):
it. That's exactly what I did.
So Matt and I and Matt's friendJoe, who I believe they've been
friends since, like, high schoolor middle school or something
like that, we went up toMinnesota, flew into
Minneapolis, and I just want tosay that Joe is an incredibly
talented professionalphotographer, and Matt is a
really talented wildlifephotographer as well. Between
(11:08):
the two of them, I got to enjoygorgeous photos of these birds
and animals that we were seeingin Minnesota. Our main
destination was a place calledSaks Zimbabwe, which is not very
far from Duluth, and I'm stillnot entirely clear who manages
it, but I know that there is areally active friends group
there. And it's it's a preserve,and it's huge. I forget how many
(11:32):
hundreds of square miles it is,but it takes, like, a couple of
hours to drive across it, andit's a wonderful place to see
wildlife. Saks, Zimbabwe waswhere we spent most of our time,
but not all of our time. It isthe coldest I have ever been in
my life, and I grew up inCleveland on Lake Erie. So this
is saying something I've neverseen so much snow either. It was
(11:52):
absolutely wild. There was onemorning we woke up to leave the
house and it was negative 32degrees. And of course, we had
all of our cold weather gearwith us. We had toe warmers in
our boots, insulated boots. Wehad heated gloves. We had hand
warmers in our gloves. And I'mhere to tell you that absolutely
none of it mattered. We didn'tfeel anything. And I don't think
(12:15):
I felt my toes for five straightdays, and having toe warmers in
there was like having nothing atall in there, like you couldn't
even tell it was there, even ininsulated boots, it was just
absolutely wild. Also, if you'veever heard folks say that
temperatures can drop so lowthat your eyes freeze, I'm here
to tell you that that's alsotrue. Now, my eyes didn't
freeze, but I felt like my eyeswere freezing. It was like your
(12:36):
eyes tear up because of thecold, and then that freezes.
It's the weirdest feeling. I'venever felt anything like that
before in my life. It wascompletely wild. And Matt's
beard was also totally frozen.
That was an interesting sight.
So every guy that had facialhair as it would breathe, it
would just freeze to theirbeard, and then the condensation
(12:56):
would build and freeze somemore, and it just was forming
these ice crystals.
And Matt had like, this frozenbeard the whole time we were out
there. It was so funny. Andthere are pictures of that in
Instagram. And also, I will justsay so I saved all of those
Instagram stories if you want tosee any of this into a
highlight, but it's not going tobe there forever. I'm going to
(13:18):
have to take it down at somepoint, because it will confuse
people who come across myInstagram page about Virginia
outdoor adventures, and thenthey see something from
Minnesota. So I don't want toconfuse people, but I will leave
it up there for a little bitlonger for those of you who want
to see it, so get on over thereand check it out. But so we went
to Saxon bog. A typical day wasus driving around the bog
(13:38):
looking for different wildlife.
We had a list of species that wereally wanted to see. And what's
interesting about sex and bog isthat it has gotten a lot of
notoriety lately for wildlifewatchers and birders. And so
somebody got the great idea tostart. What's the name of the
app, Telegram, or telegraph,something like that. You guys
(13:59):
probably know better than I do.
It's one of those messagingapps. And so somebody started a
group just for the bog, andpeople can drop a pin at their
location if there is wildlifethat they're seeing that other
people will be interested in. Sowe're driving around the bog,
and we're scrolling through thismessaging app to see what people
are seeing and where they'reseeing it, and not only planning
(14:21):
our day around where sightingshave been recently, but then
also, like sometimes droppingeverything and running to a
particular location if there issome if something pops up
unexpectedly. So like, forexample, there was this one day
that we were staked out at abunch of bird feeders that the
friends group maintains, and wewere waiting for a pine marten.
(14:42):
And a pine marten is this long,reddish brown weasel, like
erratic animal that would showup at the feeders every now and
then. And we really wanted tosee it. And of course, the guys
wanted to photograph it. And sowe were staked out there. It was
showing up like every hour,almost. On the hour for a couple
of days, except for the day thatwe got there, it wasn't showing
(15:05):
up, and so we were sitting therefor hours. And the poor, like
the guys, I got to give themcredit, so I just stayed in the
car because I was freezing mybutt off. But they had their
huge cameras and lenses ontripods, and they wanted to be
ready in case it showed up. Andso they would be standing out in
the freezing cold with theirtripods and their camera set up
(15:25):
like poised and ready for hours.
I have no idea how they did it,but I was like, yep. Okay, well,
you let me know when the weaselshows up, and then I'll get out
of the car. So we're staked outwaiting for this weasel for
hours, and then all of a sudden,I see people running past the
car, and I'm in the back seatgoing, what the heck is going
on? And then I see Matt and Joerunning towards the car with
(15:46):
their tripods and their camerasslung over their shoulders. And
they get to the car, and thehatch opens, and the equipment
flies in, and the hatch closes,and they jump in, and I'm like,
what's happening? And they'relike, boreal owl spotted on such
and such road we gotta go. Andthen you just see this line of
cars that had all been parked onthe side of the road that were
(16:06):
all doing the same thing we weredoing, pulling out snows flying
up everywhere. It was a completeriot. And then we would get to
where somebody had dropped thepin and shared it. And then we
got to see a boreal owl. It waslike it was so cool. Like most
of the birds and the animalsthat we saw are boreal species,
and oftentimes they don't comethis far south. This year was a
(16:28):
special year. It's what's knownas an eruption year, and that's
eruption with an i, not an E.
And an eruptive year is a yearwhen these northern species,
either their food sourcechanges, or there's an explosion
in the population, somethingthat causes them to come farther
south than they normally wouldin search of food. So this year
(16:51):
was an eruption year, and sothere were more arboreal species
coming farther south, and thatincluded the great gray owl. Now
a lot of these birds anddifferent animals can be seen at
the bog every year. But thisyear, there were, there were
more than there usually are,which you know increases your
chances of actually getting tosee them. So we were driving
around on the first day, andsomebody reported a great gray
(17:15):
and so we were driving over tothe location, and we get there,
and you can always tell exactlywhere it is, like, even from a
mile away, you see all thesecars pulled over on the side of
the road. And it's funny,because, like, I had always
pictured myself like trudgingthrough the snow In a boreal
forest somewhere up north, likewith nobody else around, looking
(17:36):
for these birds, looking for theowl. And it was not really like
that at all. I mean, there weregravel roads, but you couldn't
see them because they were underso much snow. And they recommend
four wheel drive, and they tellyou not to pull too far off the
road, because you could getstuck. Really, it was like
staying on the roads because thesnow was so deep, there wasn't
(17:56):
really an option to go off theroad and go trudging around in
the wilderness looking for thesethings. I guess if you had
snowshoes, lots of people hadsnowmobiles, not through the
bog, of course, but just like onthe main roads, I saw a lot of
people with snowmobiles gettingaround. I wonder how they do it
in that kind of cold. I have noidea, but it looked alike. It
was a lot of fun. And so peoplewere just mostly driving around
(18:18):
the bog on the roads and seeingwhat they could see from the
roads, we got to see lots ofdifferent owls. We got over to
where the sighting was for thegreat gray owl, and all these
people were, like, on the sideof the road with their cameras.
And we walked up, and somebodypointed out where it was. And I
thought for sure I was justgonna, like, be a sobbing mess
when I finally got to see thisbird. And I did not cry, which
(18:40):
Matt pointed out a couple ofdays later, when we were
listening to the episode aboutforest bathing, and I was
telling Anna that I thought forsure I was going to cry. And we
were listening to that episodebecause it came out that week
that we were in the bog, andhe's like, You didn't cry, good
job. But I was definitelystunned. I was like, just the
whole thing was so surreal whenyou finally see this majestic
(19:04):
animal, and it's perched up on abranch, and its head is
swiveling from one side toanother, and it's looking around
for food, and all thesephotographers and birders are
lined up, and everybody ispretty much silent, because
nobody wants to spook thewildlife or disrupt the
wildlife. And so everybody'ssort of tiptoeing around, but
(19:24):
all you hear are camerasclicking. And I was so in the
moment. It was so amazing tofinally see this bird, like, if
that wasn't good enough, thenall of a sudden, it leapt from
its perch, and it flew righttowards us, and it landed on a
tree that was right near theroad. And I look over and
there's Joe laying in the snowon the side of the road with his
(19:47):
camera up. I mean, this birdlanded like right in front of
him. It was so amazing. He gotthe most incredible shots. And
then from there, it flew to theto our side of the road, where
it perched on the. Top of anevergreen tree. And I got some
really beautiful pictures of itthere, too, and eventually it
flew off to where nobody couldsee it anymore. But, I mean, we
(20:09):
were hugging and high fiving,and it was just it was so
awesome. I don't even know whatto say, other than it was just
so incredibly awesome. And Ifelt very, blessed to get to see
such an awesome, awesome bird.
We saw great gray owls everysingle day. It never got old. It
was incredible every singletime. We also saw, what else did
(20:30):
we see? Oh, so one day we drove,instead of going to the bog, we
drove along the coast of LakeSuperior, which is beautiful by
the way, we were on our way tothis little town called Two
Harbors, and we stopped atGooseberry Falls State Park. And
I always love to visit stateparks in other states, because I
like to compare them to what wehave here in Virginia, and they
had this massive, beautiful,what looked like brand new
(20:53):
visitor center. It was gorgeous.
Matt and I hiked to a frozenwaterfall that was very
impressive. I mean, I haven'tseen a frozen waterfall like
this before. I've seen Frozenwaterfalls, but this one was
huge. And what was so neat aboutit is, when we first walked up,
we could walk right up to thebase of it, and I thought that
(21:14):
there was some kind of steam orlike water or something rising
up. But then once we got closer,we realized that the bottom of
the Falls was actuallycompletely frozen, and what we
were seeing was water passingunderneath the ice. So the water
of the waterfall was continuingto flow under the ice, and we
were seeing bits of it as it wasgoing by, and it almost looked
(21:36):
like smoke rising until we gotclose enough to realize that
that's not what it was. So thatwas really neat. I also saw a
red squirrel for the first timewhile we were at that state
park. And then when we got backto the car, we found Joe
standing in the parking lotphotographing something in the
trees, and it turned out to be awhole bunch of common red poles,
which are really beautiful.
Birds are like the size oflittle sparrows, but they have
(21:58):
these beautiful dark red crownsand breasts. And they were, they
were really cool. And then onthe second or third day, we were
driving to the bog again, and Ilooked out the window from my
back seat, and I saw a sun dog,something that I did not even
know existed. It is, I guess itoccurs when the weather is
exceptionally cold, and I thinkmaybe particles in the sky
(22:21):
freeze, but it creates a haloaround the sun. So the sun was
rising, and there's this hugefrozen halo around the sun. And
I was like, what is that? Atfirst I thought it was rainbow,
because I just saw one part ofit. But then as we drove past an
open field, I realized thisthing went all the way around.
It was like a giant circle. Andso we pulled off, or we pulled
(22:44):
over to check it out. And themore we looked, the more we
realized it was actually adouble Halo, and it was the
coolest thing I've ever seen.
Matt, of course, being thenaturalist, was like, it's a par
Helion. And I'm like, I'm sorry,what
it's also called a par Helion ora mock sign, but most people
call it Sun dog. We saw it thenext couple of days in a row. I
(23:07):
even saw it from the airplanewhen we took off from
Minneapolis to head home. Andthat looked really amazing
underneath the wing of theplane. And you could see the
shadow of the airplane insidethe center of it. It was wild.
I've never seen anything likeit. Very, very cool. And then on
the last day, it was reallyfunny, the night before the last
day, we were going to check outof our Airbnb, but we had
planned to sleep in late andthen drive to Minneapolis,
(23:29):
because, by the way, we weregetting up at like, four o'clock
in the morning every single day,like we wanted to be on site
when the sun rose. And so forme, I wanted to make sure that I
was like, out of the out of theshower and out of the bathroom
before the guys got up. So I wasgetting up at like, four, 430 we
were leaving before six, andthen, like, driving an hour to
get to where we needed to bebefore the sun came up. And so
(23:51):
like crazy early mornings, andwe're the night before the last
day we were gonna sleep in. Andthen Matt was like, and by the
way, Matt somehow knows peopleeverywhere we go, we're in
Minnesota, and people arewalking up to him, going, Are
you Matt felperin, like this ishow well known he is in the bird
world. I was really impressed,and I know he enjoyed being
recognized, too. So we'rerunning into people that Matt
(24:14):
knows, and he's texting them thenight before, and somebody had
texted to say that they saw asharp tailed grouse in a field
on their way to seeing anorthern Hawk owl, and sent us
pictures. And what's significantabout sharp trail, sharp tail
grouse, and really, any grousespecies in the United States
right now, they're, they're verysimilar to prairie chickens.
(24:36):
They're kind of all they looklike. They all look like
chickens. They if you know whata rough grass is, which is what
we have here in Virginia, theyall look very similar, but their
habitat is threatened. And sothe species, all of the species,
are drastically declining. Theythey prefer grassland habitats,
and grassland habitats arethreatened by development and
(24:58):
climate change right now. So.
These birds in the spring, whichthey have, we didn't even
realize they were alreadystarting this, but they were
doing like mating displays ontheir Lex, which is, like, you
know, the area where they breed,and where they do these like
dances and like, that'ssomething that you see on Nat
Geo that you think you're nevergoing to see in real life. So
when Matt found out thatsomebody else we knew had seen
(25:20):
these sharp tailed growsperforming their mating dance on
their Lex he was like, we've gotto get up early. We've got to be
there before sunrise. Poor Joe,I thought was going to have an
absolute meltdown. He wasexhausted. We were all
exhausted. We all thought wewere going to be sleeping in the
(25:41):
next morning, and Matt startsmaking the case for why we
absolutely have to do this,because with the species
declining, will we ever get thisopportunity again? So we all
finally agreed, but after, like,this big quarrel that the two of
them had, that I was in thebackground laughing at because
it was just too funny. So, yeah,so we decided we were all gonna
(26:03):
get up crazy early. Of course,we had to check out of the
Airbnb before we could evenleave. I mean, I think I was up
at like, I don't even know it.
It was four o'clock or earlier,or something stupid like that.
And then we're outside, and it's18 degrees outside. Nobody can
feel their fingers the moment westep out the front door. It was
just, it was, it was one ofthose mornings. So we were
(26:24):
driving out, we found the owl.
We saw another great gray on theside of the highway. It was the
closest one that I think we sawthe whole time out of the whole
five days that we were there. Itwas literally right on the side
of the road. And it's, it's soamazing to me that they are so
unbothered by people, they justcontinue hunting and living
their little owl lives, and theydon't seem to be even the least
(26:46):
bit concerned that people arewatching. Now, of course, that
doesn't mean that we shouldn'tbe mindful that we aren't
disrupting them, but at the sametime, just really interesting
that they just continue doingwhat they're doing right next to
roads and landing on somephotographers, cameras and crazy
things, but we got to seeanother great gray we saw the
northern Hawk owl, and then wewere driving along the side of
(27:07):
the road. We knew we were kindof near where the grouse were,
and I looked out and saw them inthe distance, and we didn't get
to see them doing the matingdance, because we got out there
a little bit late. We hadstopped for the owls. So that
part was a little unfortunate.
But then we continued on to theairport, and we saw a huge
flocks of snow buntings. I'veseen snow buntings in Virginia,
(27:29):
but I've only seen like one ortwo at a time, and this was like
flocks of 50 to 100 and theywere taking off from these snow
covered farm fields up into thesky where the sun had rose, and
there was the sun dog around thesun, and here are these snow
buntings flying by. Was likesomething out of a dream or a
(27:49):
movie, I don't know. It was justincredible. And then I also, I'm
just the last one, I swear. I'mjust gonna, I'm gonna say one
more, and then I'm gonna bedone. I saw a ring necked
pheasants. And yes, we have themin Virginia, but they're not
native. Is my understanding isthat they're here because some
people have released them, soyou don't see them often. I've
been looking for one for yearsand years. Every time one is
(28:10):
spotted in Virginia, I show upand I never find it. But we were
driving down the road and I'mlike, What is that on the side
of the road? And Matt slowsdown, and sure enough, it is
this beautiful male with all ofthese incredible colors. I mean,
think of a peacock, kind oflooks like that, but without the
big fan out tail, it's just thisvery long, sleek pheasant with
(28:32):
gorgeous, gorgeous rainbow,striking colors. I mean, it's,
it was awesome. So saw that, andthen headed off to the airport.
So ended a very epic trip.
Things that we were hoping tosee that we didn't see. We
wanted to see snowshoe hair. Wenever found one wolves. There
are wolves up there in that partof Minnesota. Now, Joe says he
(28:52):
saw one we were driving down theroad on the way home at the end
of one night. The sun had likejust set, and we drove past the
side street, and he looked overand there was a wolf trotting
across the road. Now, Joe hasbeen out to Yellowstone to
photograph wolves, so if he saysthere was a wolf like I believe
him. I believe that he knowswhat a wolf looks like. But by
(29:13):
the time we turned around andgot back over to where he had
seen it, all we saw were tracksin the snow, and we were kind of
following the tracks until theyended up in somebody's backyard.
And we were like, Okay, we can'ttrespass in someone's backyard.
But Joe saw the wolf, but didn'tget any pictures. The rest of us
didn't. And then I think we wereall kind of hoping for a snowy
owl. I've seen several snowyowls even here in Virginia, but
(29:34):
I was hoping to see one on thistrip, and we didn't. But
otherwise, absolutelyincredible. Go check out the
stories in the saved highlightson Instagram and let me know
what you think. Tune in nextweek when I dive into my list of
essential spring adventuresacross Virginia, from waterfall
hikes in Shenandoah NationalPark to elk viewing an.
(29:58):
Appalachia, the warming seasonbrings excellent opportunities
for paddling, wildlife viewing,boating, backpacking, dark sky
programs and more. Don't missout on this planning list for
your spring adventures. VirginiaOutdoor Adventures is inspired
by and supported by listenerslike you, which is why your
(30:19):
messages and feedback means somuch to me. You can text me
directly by clicking on SendJessica a text message in your
show notes, I answer questions,respond to comments and share
your feedback on the show. Nevermiss a new episode. Sign up for
my email newsletter and receivemy listener resource guide with
the top podcast episodes ofVirginia outdoor bucket list and
(30:42):
exclusive brand discounts for mylisteners. Click on newsletter.
Sign up in your show notes orvisit Virginia outdoor
adventures.com thanks forlistening until next time.
Adventure on you.
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.