"Virginia Hiking, Hiking in Virginia, Virginia Nature Guide, Trails, Study, Hiking Guide, Hikes, Appalachian Trail, Shenandoah National Park, Parkway, about"

............ WHO WE ARE ..........

Butterfly, Shenandoah Valley, Virginia "The Forest is Alive"

Location: We are located in the "Central Shenandoah Valley" near Staunton, Virginia, surrounded by Augusta County. You can follow this Link to see a Map of where we schedule our Discovery Nature Walks.

What is Virginia Nature Guide? Virginia Nature Guide is a service that offers Discovery Nature Walks with an "educational twist". This service is for outdoor enthusiast who wish to learn about their surroundings, not just hike from A to Z and say "it was nice". All Discovery Nature Walks are with a "Certified Master Naturalist" and "Shenandoah Valley Native" with decades of knowledge to share. If you look at the bottom of this page, you will see we have listed a few of the places we enjoy the outdoors' with our customers.

With Virginia Nature Guide, you will explore and identify natures' unique diversity such as:

* Virginia Wildflower discovery, identification and historical values
* Virginia/Eastern Butterflies habitat, identification and current state
* Canopy Tree Identification, historical and current usage and state
* Birding ... for the absolute beginner
* Wildlife Trails and Signs. Who owns that trail?
* Identifying Distant Sounds of Wildlife. Who is that I hear?
* Wildlife Habitat & Patterns (deer, turkey, bear, bobcat, fox)
* Forest Streams (species of fish, spring creek, spring
influenced, limestone, wet weather, acid rain)
* Forest communities/Types (ex. Oak/Hickory vs. Birch/Maple)
* Indicator species (plants, animals, birds). What they are & how they are changing
* Forest strata
* Windblown and Gapping
* Bloom timing
* Bark Blow-down
* Vernal Pools (bogs, wetlands)
* Ecotone's & Woodlots (and their indicator species)
* Old Field Succession
* American Chestnut Tree (identification & recognizing the blight)
* Forest Fragmentation/Patches
* Natural and Manmade Stream Riparian

As you can see, Virginia Nature Guide is NOT a service or website where you will find information with thousands of hiking maps, trail identifications, driving directions and camping. There are literally thousands of those sites available nationwide, all of which copy one another. Those hikers are not our target market as their goal is distant hiking without knowing what they have hiked by. Instead, outdoors' enthusiast and people wishing to learn and be better naturalist are our customers.

Nature Studies and Educational Light Hiking in the following areas: Shenandoah National Park, Blue Ridge Parkway, Appalachian Trail, Skyline Drive, George Washington National Forest, St. Mary's Wilderness Area, Ramsey's Draft Wilderness Area, Goshen Wildlife Management Area, Little North Mountain Wildlife Management Area, Big/Great North Mountain, Shenandoah Mountain, Walker Mountain, Marble Valley, Deerfield, Augusta Wetlands and more. In the counties of: Augusta, Rockbridge, Rockingham, Albemarle and Nelson. Near the communities of Staunton, Harrisonburg, Charlottesville, Lexington, Wintergreen, Afton, Elkton, Deerfield, Stokesville, Churchville, Monterey, West Augusta and Waynesboro, Va.

You can make The forest come alive if you wish to open your eyes and mind to listen, learn and explore. After one visit with Virginia Nature Guide, the forest will never look the same.

Bear Cub, Birch Tree, Wildlife, Virginia