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Great Dismal Swamp / False Cape State Park

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The question people ask me most is where I want to go next. It usually surprises folks when I say home, back to Virginia. I can't even begin to explain the feeling I get in my bones when my plane is landing at Richmond airport after a month or two or three overseas. It is perhaps the greatest source of conflict in my life: I love to travel but I also love home. Still haven't figured out the perfect balance. The question I get after answering home in Virginia is why Virginia ? Too many reasons for me to list here – But I'm going to do my best to explain with photos over the next week. Made this photo of a cypress tree reflection this morning!! on lake Drummond , one of only two natural lakes in Virginia. Lake Drummond is part of The Great Dismal Swamp, a place that takes you back in time with 500 year old cypress trees dotting the shoreline and small ditch like canals built by people like George Washington. #loveVa #VAoutdoors @visitvirginia

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More than 500 years old, this bald cypress tree in Virginia's Great Dismal Swamp has been alive twice as long as the United States has been a nation. It is one of a few dozen or so ancient cypress trees remaining in the area; most of them were logged for timber and The swamp is now about 1/10th of its original size. Think for a second of the history this tree has seen, been a part of: George Washington was here in the late 1700s' and later the swamp served as an important hiding place for slaves who had escaped the terror of ownership by other humans. While one can't say this exact tree helped the slaves hiding in the swamp , I like the idea that this mysterious place, a wilderness of tangled trees and thorns and snakes , helped move us forward on the long road towards justice. #loveva #VAoutdoors #liveyouradventure @visitvirginia

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For the last 6 years or so I've had a hard time noticing the beauty of small things. It became quite apparent when @melissalesh and I began making a life together and I noticed how she noticed the smallest things: a bug, the way light hit a leaf, the shape of a shadow cast, even the tiniest reflections. Even when she pointed them out I had a hard time appreciating them. It turns out I was struggling a low grade depression, and as William Styron wrote in his book darkness visible, it was as if the world had no color, Food had no taste, time spent with loved ones wasn't the same as years before. But the good news is all this is gone now, and when I'm out there these days I'm not only finding but smiling at those random, beautiful things that exist all around us if we take the time to stop and look around. Virginia's Great Dismal Swamp had these details, these small beautiful things in droves, and I spent an entire morning photographing things like this simple stick sculpture set perfectly, almost floating in the reflection of the sky on the lake Drummond. Do yourself a favor and visit the great dismal swamp. I recommend October : very few bugs, cool temperatures , changing color of leaves. #loveva #VAoutdoors #liveyouradventure @visitvirginia

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False Cape State Park in southeast Virginia is arguably one of the finest state parks – hell one of the finest parks, period -I've visited in my lifetime. Not only is it one of the only remaining stretches of undeveloped coastline on the Atlantic coast, it is also one of the only parks in the United States that you can't access by car. To make it even better you can camp on the beach, as in right next to the ocean, waves crashing just yards from your tent. And did I mention wildlife? In three days we saw: otter, raccoon, cottonmouth or water moccasin snake, black racer snake, green tree frogs, southern leopard frogs, turkey vultures, red tail hawks, plovers, ghost crabs, and pray mantis. Plus dozens of awesome native plants like yucca , yellow jessamine, loblolly pine , sea oat grass and so on. This was my first visit to False Cape and I'm already figuring out when I can come back. Goes to show you that you can live in a state and still have so much to discover. Fellow Virginians, don't miss this place. Same to you folks living in other states. It is special and without comparison. #VAoutdoors #loveva #liveyouradventure @visitvirginia

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This snake has two common names: the water moccasin and the cottonmouth. The name water moccasin comes from the fact that when the snake swims ( it is a largely an aquatic snake) its entire body floats on the surface, which is quite unusual amongst swimming snakes. The second name, cottonmouth (see second picture), is derived from the fact that when this snake is threatened it opens its jaws as wide as possible to reveal a bright white mouth that looks like balls of cotton on a cotton plant. It also rattles its tail like a rattle snake when threatened, ask me how I know! The thing is these poor snakes, like most snakes, are very misunderstood – and disrespected. Cottonmouths really aren't aggressive , they just stand their ground -Something we humans could learn something about. Unfortunately, many people in the south still kill them on sight , usually by chopping their head off with a shovel or another sharp object. Even worse most people think every water snake they see is a cotton mouth and so they kill every water snake. Please please please, when you see snakes, just leave them be! If they are somewhere too close to your home move them with a long pole or paddle or call someone in your area who is confident doing so. By the way: Snakes in your yard is a good sign: it means less rodents and rodents are truly bad for your health if they infest your home. Thanks for considering this 😊Photographed in False Cape State Park, Virginia. #loveva #VAoutdoors @visitvirginia

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Video by @melissalesh and @tbfrost | TURN ON SOUND! | A juvenile cottonmouth (also known as a water moccasin) snake slowly moves across a shallow pool of water while on the hunt for frogs in False Cape State Park, Virginia. Cottonmouths are venomous and are quite common in the southeastern United States, though you don't find them north of the Appomattox River in Virginia. The name cottonmouth comes from the bright white mouth they have (it resembles a ball of cotton), which they readily flash at anything that threatens them, including humans. Cottonmouths have a reputation as being aggressive snakes but that isn't the truth, they just stand their ground, meaning once threatened they tend to freeze, flash open their mouth, and rattle their tail eventhough they don't have actual rattles. To see a video of a cottonmouth flashing its bright white mouth at me, follow @tbfrost today #cottonmouth #snakes #snakesofinstagram #virginia

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