Dunham Prairie Preserve

Even though I live in the middle of nature now, I still love the nature parks. So what would I be able to do? Surely there are no nature parks so far away from any big cities. Why would anyone need a nature park out in the country? Why not?

The real answer to all of this is that there are indeed nature parks here! In fact, there are even more nature parks here than there are where I lived before! And they are even closer to me than the others had been. They range from as small as the smallest to bigger than the biggest I visited before.

One of the closest nature parks, and maybe the smallest, is a place called Dunham Prairie Preserve. I'll probably be visiting this one more than any other for awhile. You probably guessed by the name of the place that some of this is prairie land. There are actually many features here, but we'll look at the rest another time.

The hiking sign in the picture above is what I first saw from the road when I found this park. I knew right away that this place was for me. Something I found out during my first trip here was that this place doesn't get a lot of visitors. I was the only one there. I like that.

As I walked the trails, I wondered what kind of animals I might find, or if I would find anything at all. With the dog along it might be difficult. But the intention of this trip wasn't really to find animals anyway. The reason I was here was to explore and discover.

I like the trail markers they have here. Huck Finn Hollow is one of many good names of places in this park. I'll be showing you many places like this in the days and months ahead. This post is just the beginning of my adventures at this park, and maybe the beginning of my new life.

I'm also getting back to Nature Center Magazine today with a new Cool Nature Video. I don't know if I'll be posting quite as much there at first, but I'll gradually get back to it. I also have a new story up over at Rat Tales. It's called "Fair". It'll be in five episodes. I've had this story in my head for many years. It's actually the one that inspired me to create Rat Tales.

I'm excited about a few of the things I'll be sharing in the next few posts here and my other two sites. I am also very busy here, but I'll be trying to post more often now. Blogging is actually helping me deal with the extra loneliness that I'm experiencing so far from everyone else I know. As long as you're reading, I know I'm not fully alone. So I'll be back soon! Same Rat time! Same Rat blog!


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