A Very Long Walk on the Beach

What a week. Last Thursday I was giving a presentation on invasive species at the State Department. The next morning I woke up in DC, traded my necktie and oxfords for a hoodie and aqua socks and drove straight to a city park in Virginia Beach and started hiking south on a 22 mile journey to the Outer Banks. That night I fell asleep in my tent on the beach.

Long story short, I made it to Corolla. I had a really good time for a few days and then made the hard hike home. I can honestly say that I would recommend this trip to other people, though they should go armed with some advice on how to do this with the least amount of hassle. A short article about the trip will run in the next issue of Blue Ridge Outdoors and then I'm hoping to sell a longer article to another magazine.

Meanwhile, here's a photo from the trip down a particularly deserted stretch of beach. When I first saw the sea turtle laying on the beach I thought it was just resting or perhaps getting ready to lay some eggs. Once I got closer I saw the back end of it -- most likely the work of a local bull shark. I'm pretty sure that this is a Kemp's ridley sea turtle, which is critically endangered. If any readers can correct or confirm my species ID then I would really appreciate it.

[Photo copyright 2012 by Jackson Landers.]