Trip to Pungo lake in NC

Last weekend I went to Pocosin / Pungo lake here in North Carolina. The photography club of Holly Springs went on a trip to this beautiful nature park and naturalist Mike Dunn would be our guide for that day.

And just minutes after we entered the park Mike spotted a corn snake in the middle of the road and he managed to block it before it got away. So we could take some pictures of it.

Impressive creature right? Have to say I am not used to snakes of this sort and size at all. Where I'm from the only snakes that live in the wild are called worms and those are a lot smaller! Seriously! I am not a snake fan, but getting this opportunity that close? Couldn't resist. The photographer in me won over my fear of snakes.

After a few seconds the snake wanted to get away from us and took an even more impressive pose. So I did enjoy taking pictures of him but was happy to be using a nice zoom lens.

We were hoping to see some bears that live in Pocosin, but while driving around we did see some very nice wild flowers like the yellow thistle. And below the cinnamon fern, which does justice to its name. Loved it's color.

Also saw some very interesting scenery.

And unused roads full of wild flower

But then Mike saw the first bears of the day in a field. A mom and two yearlings!

I was so happy! We did see some bears! But it even got better!

More bears in the marshes.

What an experience! Thanks to Mike we ended up seeing 19 bears that day! Wow! What a beautiful day this had turned out to be.

Mike also spotted a Nutria rat and an otter. This day kept getting better and better!

B.t.w. if you really like nature and/or photography you should check out Mike Dunn's blog. Which is full of great information & beautiful pictures! You might even be interested in going to one of his future educational trips he has planned for this year. And see all that nature has to offer yourself!