Backwoods landing

sorry i don’t mean my first post to be all sad so i’ll start with im in my early twenties, mom to my sweet 10month old son, and there is a lot going on.
i recently just left my boyfriend of almost two years (that should tell ya a lot) because his family is a bunch of psychopaths and he’s a deadbeat that cared more about playing games every waking hour he wasn’t at work instead of hanging out or even acknowledging his child or girlfriend. he proposed a while back but after his family did their ape shit stuff (more below)he tried pressuring me to go to the courthouse asap to get married (treated it casual by actually saying “hey so we should probably get married soon wanna hit the courthouse in a week or so?”) to which i said no all that is on hold until i figure some things out between him and his family and he got very pissed and threw a tantrum like a two year old saying it just wasn’t right and i can’t do that.
so on his family, everything seemed great when i was pregnant because they honestly left me completely alone and had nothing to do with me or my bf. Soon as the baby got here things got stupid fast, they’d come in whenever they pleased and critique when i would sit on the couch to socialize rather than clean or cook every waking hour, they barged in one time with zero warning when i was just in a tshirt and shorts no bra and the grandma got extremely upset asking why i was so indecent with guest 🙃 then there was one occasion i laid my kid down for a nap and went to shower (baby monitor right outside the glass volume up in case he cried / i could see him) welp 10 min no cry so i get out get dressed and go to check cause he’s just chillin and it’s cute just for him to be nowhere in the house. freak out and call the grandparents (the whole family lives like neighbors on a secluded backwoods road) and they said “oh we took him cause you weren’t taking care of him”. i’m furious but quietly go get my kid and text my bf at work to let him know what had happened. He doesn’t comment naturally cause why would he care but anyways then months of stupid shit later i tell the grandpa (stupidly thinking i could trust them) i planned to get my first car so i could you know go to the store or doctors without relying on an insurance bus full of addicts and sick people with my infant son. Welp that blew everything up. grandpa said “you didn’t plan on having a kid too well did you” and i replied with “well no it wasn’t planned at all as i was on birth control but it takes two to tango and i’m doing my best to make it as easy on us as i can” and he replied with “if you didn’t want a kid you should’ve kept your legs closed”. i replied with “don’t misinterpret me i love my son and i’m incredibly happy as a mother” and that’s when things got crazy. not even a few days later my bfs dad comes over raging mad screaming in my face and standing on his tippy toes to poke me in the chest and nose (all that’s on video thankfully) and my bf just stood there watching and even joining in at parts. to me i’m confused because i don’t know where the hell it all came from and why they were all suddenly acting like i was a demon women when they were praising me and getting mad because my bf would never help with the baby. So then it got worse and suddenly i was a terrible mom that never did anything and my bf was the only parent trying (funny how fast that switched hm?) and my bf happily joined because god forbid he speak against his family that pays for his land/ car bills/ allows his grass and feeds his dog (whom he also never does anything with just leaves on a chain 24/7). So yea final straw(s) were his grandpa catching me out checking the mail to bluntly tell me “no one would miss you if you disappeared and your son is better off without you”, then i had a surgery for pelvic congestion and may thurners syndrome to get stents placed and i wouldn’t be able to lift over 5lbs (my kid was 21 at the time) and when i asked my bf for help after surgery and if he could take fmla or some of his pto for taking care of our kid he asked why my dad couldn’t do it, at the time my dad lived 6 hours away and also works. but guess what my dad drove all the way to us, took me to my surgery and watched jesse for three days and was supposed to leave the night before he had work the next day only for my bf to say he was going out drinking with his coworkers and would be late coming home. so packed up all mine and my kids shit and hit the road after filing a police report and no contact order for all his families threats. welp flash forward now i’m sitting here a new single mom, i have lots of support from my family thank god, but i’m dealing with my ex trying for custody and saying at work to his coworkers “i don’t give a damn about the kid i just want to hurt her”. (my old coworker friend that passed by him on the line heard him and told me this) so yep i’m really feeling paranoid and honestly still in shock and devastated from all of this on top of needing more surgeries, new diagnosis’s for vein issues that are lifelong along side my RA and needing a bone marrow tap for leukemia. i feel lost and i dunno just wanted to rant somewhere where maybe someone else will get it. there’s more details but this is already a novel so i’ll leave it here but if you want i can comment some of the other things like how bad the birth was and his dad trying to make me feel terrible for having ppd after everything that had happened, his grandparents being blatant racists (not toward me) etc.
sorry just had to get it out

Not sure if I'm doing this user submission right or not but... here we go.
​
Myself (42, non-binary) and my spouse (45, m) live in a small cottage on his parent's property as we prepare to purchase a home. This has been the arrangement since we, as a family, moved to our current location around four years ago (we're in the US). Myself and my in-laws get along fabulously, in fact, my spouse often says if we DO ever get divorced they would probably kick him to the curb and keep me.
But back to the subject at hand... my spouse and I love our little cottage. It's not big, just two rooms and a bathroom of which one of the rooms is our bedroom and office area and the other is our den and kitchen area. The only problem I have with it is the landscaping around it. It's about four or five basic, run-of-the-mill shrubberies (of which we have yet to have any questing knights ask us for), and really awkward and half-dead hydrangeas at each of our two doors.
I love gardening. It's one of my comfort tasks. I also have an intense dislike for hydrangeas because they are in full bloom for maybe two days out of a year and are dries twigs the rest of the year.
I have begged and pleaded with my in-laws to let me change the landscaping around the cottage--I even said I would transplant the current landscaping to being at their house, since they match their landscaping, and instead put a variety of bee and butterfly-friendly flowers and bushes around the cottage. My father-in-law was all for it but my mother-in-law was absolutely against it so... I wasn't allowed to do it. I even tried to sweeten the deal by saying I would plant more roses, which she loves, and she still said no.
I have done everything I can think of, short of driving copper in the roots of the accursed shrubberies and hydrangeas (because I don't want to kill them). Although I did get a small victory this past November when I bought a pumpkin to put out for the herds of deer that eat corn and sunflower seeds out of our bird feeders... I now have a massive pumpkin patch that is currently giving us massive yellow flowers every day and I LOVE it (I am also secretly hoping they choke out at least one of the hydrangeas as a bulk of the patch is right next to it).
The spousal unit and I are looking to FINALLY get our own property and starter home sometime in the next year. I keep telling him that, before we leave, I'm going to order two, one-pound bags of wildflower seeds (it would only be about $40) and just flower bomb the greenspace around the cottage. He says I should put that energy toward landscaping our soon-to-be home instead of a petty, albeit amusing, pseudo-prank on his mother. I told him it would give her something to remember me by once we move out despite the fact we will probably still see them every weekend once we move.
So, WIBTA if I flower bomb my MiL's yard?
PS: The only reason I still want to do it is because I know she loves bright flowers, in fact, she loves it when I bring her bouquets of flowers and arrange them for her, and during the spring and summer she likes to sit on the back porch and would be able to see the flowers from the porch. She was just raised with the mentality that yards have to be boring and tidy and that she would never be so bold as to scatter wildflowers all over the place. I figure her looking out over the property and seeing the little pops of bright flowers would bring her joy since I wouldn't be able to bring her flower arrangements as often once we move out.
Edit to add some, what I think is important context:
My MiL suffers from depression and every time I bring her bouquets of flowers, her face lights up. She also watches several homesteading videos on YouTube and has expressed the love of how some of them just have wildflowers growing everywhere. We live in the backwoods, the nearest neighbor is about half a mile away. I have asked her why she doesn't just throw some wildflower seeds out in the yard and her response is that she doesn't want the neighbors to think the yard is unkept... The neighbors that never drive past our house. We live on about an acre of land flanked by woods on one side and grazing pastures on two sides so wildflowers would be right at home. And the space I am wanting to flower bomb is about five square feet of grassy area next to our cottage... Just right so she would be able to see them while taking in the scenery when she sits on the porch in the morning. My prerogative is that this little patch of wildflowers would be like a big bouquet from me after we're moved out.

I have a question that is 100% a long shot. I live in the Greater Portland Area and am wondering if there's any one out there that has either land or lives on a lot of land that would be willing to have an occasional hammock camper on their property. OR if you know of something that might help me in this situation. The reason being, I am currently living in a pretty frustrating roommate situation that nothing but time can fix (we should be parting ways in the fall). I can't afford to pay to go camping every single week but would love to be able to hook my hammock up every couple of weeks for a maximum of two nights just to give myself and the roommates some space.
I like to think that I'm pretty easy going and honestly I hate the idea of getting into any trouble so any rules/concerns that you had I wouldn't have any issue following.
I know that there are some backwoods campsites throughout maine but I'm trying not to drive super far every week.
I feel like such a complete weirdo for asking this question but I'm sure there are folks out there who have dealt with crappy roommate situations who understand.
Any ideas or resources out there, I'd love to hear more. :)

“This is all your fault” Becker complained as the lifeboat swayed in the ocean.
“My fault?” Anderson asked. “I’m sitting in the same boat as you moron”.
It had been hours now since the battle and the only ones left in the water were a pair of sailors from opposing sides of the war. In a brutal twist of irony. They found themselves sitting in the same lifeboat to escape the dreadful waves of the ocean.
“Yes.” Becker continued. “The whole war is your fault, your countrymen’s included. Your breed is nothing but a band of criminals who wanted what they couldn’t have. And now as a result we find ourselves locked in a deadly war to defend our fatherland from the savages of the West”.
Anderson only sneered. “You’re not still sore we sunk your ship are you? Perhaps you shouldn’t have challenged an Ulsterian battleship and just let us take you all prisoner. This war will end like that either way and it would just be easier.”
Becker then stood up. “Such banter coming from the Victor. If your side claimed victory then why have your crewmen left you sitting in the water?”
“They didn’t” Anderson answered. “I was swept off the deck by a gust of wind. They’ll notice in no time and sail back here to get me. How did you survive anyways? When we struck the magazine the entire ship went down in seconds. I was sure that explosion killed everyone on board.”
“I was lucky.” Becker answered sitting down now and reflecting on his situation more.
“Lucky how?” Anderson asked.
“I was just lucky that’s all”. Becker said. “Anyways you have to find Another raft. This one belongs to his majesty’s navy which you are not apart of”.
Anderson then looked over the side and saw the brand of the Ticonderogan Navy imprinted on it along with the ship’s name “HMS Enden”. Anderson then looked back to Becker. “Well I’m claiming it as a prize of war then. We won the battle and this boat now belongs to the Republic of Ulster”.
Becker scowled “You can’t do that. I’m still here the battle is not over”.
Anderson clenched his fists “Is that so?”
Becker then did the same and glanced at the bottom of the boat and saw an oar “It is.”
A silence then came over the men before they both tried to reach for the oar and knocked their heads into each other by accident. However, Becker was quicker to recover and grabbed the oar by the paddle end and swung it up and hit Anderson in his side. Anderson then grabbed the oar and a struggle ensued and Anderson shouted. “Give me the damn oar! You don’t even have a ship to return to you’ve already lost!”
Becker however pulled it back and shouted in return “I’ll make sure you never return to your ship then!”
The struggle continued for a few more minutes before Becker lost his grip and Anderson had full control of the oar. Anderson then raised it over his head to strike. But Becker punched him in the mouth and the oar was flung overboard and both of the men watched it sink into the ocean.
They then turned their attention back to one another and Anderson began to strangle Becker and forced him to the floor of the lifeboat. He then began shouting at the top of his lungs. “You just had to throw it overboard, didn’t you?! Our last chance to even move this junk of wood and you just had to ruin it! Now I’ll never see my daughter again!”
Becker then began to struggle to loosen Anderson's grip and shouted in return. “You’re not the only one who won’t be coming home to family!”
Anderson then let go and he sat back down on the other side of the lifeboat as Becker began breathing again. “This is pointless”. He said. “We’ll both die in a few days of starvation anyhow. There’s no use in rushing to the point”.
Becker then began to breathe normally again and gained a small amount of sympathy for his enemy. “That’s not true. We could fish. I’ve lived along the Emerald Sea my entire life.”
Anderson glanced up at Becker and nodded. “Yeah.. I guess that could work.”
Anderson then glanced over to the other side of the lifeboat and saw a tin box that Becker had previously been sitting on. “What’s that?” He asked.
Becker then stood up and picked it up while opening it. Anderson then stood alongside him and both men stared at the contents inside.
Before them was a series of rations, a flare gun, two flares, and a compass and map. All of its contents were impressive but both men stared at the flare gun in particular. They both knew whoever held it could subject the other man to his will. Anderson then spoke glancing at Becker. “Your people seem to be pretty resourceful. There’s enough rations in here to last us three days if we ration them.”
Becker then agreed. “Yeah”. He said.
Anderson then reached into the box and took out a ration and left the flare gun as he went to the other side of the lifeboat and sat down to eat it. Becker then took out his own ration along with the map and compass before setting the tin box in between them.
Becker then unfolded the map and pulled out a leaky pen before making some notes on the paper.
“I’ve never known a deckhand to carry a pen with them”. Anderson said.
“That’s because I wasn’t a deck hand”. Becker said as he looked at the compass and compared it with the map. “I was a second mate”.
Anderson then nodded and noticed his uniform now and recognized him as an officer. “Weird. I figured an officer would be the last one to leave a ship during a firefight.”
Becker then ignored his comment as he surveyed the map.
Day then turned to night and Becker frustratingly set down the map and finally spoke. “We’re lost”. He said as he rubbed his hands over his eyes.
“Brilliant observation Sir”. Anderson said with a hint of sarcasm.
Becker however was in no mood but explained himself. “We’re drifting on a current to open sea. There’s no land near us for hundreds of miles. We’ll be lucky if a ship finds us before the week is out”.
Anderson then gritted his teeth “good thing we have the flare gun”. He said. He then changed the topic and ran his fingers through his black beard. “How old are your kids?”
Becker then glanced up at him “Why are you asking?”
Anderson shrugged “I have a ten year old daughter who hates my guts because I left her and Mabel at home. What did you tell your kids to get them to not hate you?”
Becker was caught off guard by the question and shrugged. “My son Walter is ten and his brother Otto is fifteen. They weren’t really too upset when I left.”
Anderson raised an eyebrow “I’m guessing you probably spent more time at home than I did eh?”
Becker shook his head “The opposite actually. I’ve been in His Majesty’s Navy for several years now and they’ve sort of grown up without me. When I bid farewell to them it was like saying goodbye to a stranger”.
Anderson's tone shifted “That’s rough”.
Becker nodded. “In a way yes. But I grew up in the same manner. Because of our reserves system, I joined the military at a young age and they will too soon enough. At least they’ll be proud thinking I wasn’t a coward.”
Anderson shrugged. “You don’t seem like a coward to me greenback”. Anderson said referencing Becker’s uniform. “You gave us quite a bloody nose back there. My bet is they’re sailing to Blackwater right now to make repairs from the first Salvo you boys gave us.”
Becker then shook his head. “No.. A brave officer would have stayed and done his duty. Instead of running to a lifeboat when the deck caught on fire out of fear. I let my men down by not trying to find anyone else”.
Anderson then coupled his hands together and began to shiver from the cold. “You’re an officer Sir. You’re paid to be one of the smart ones and leave while you could. It’s a real shame about your men though”.
Becker then nodded and a wrinkled smile appeared across his face. “Thank you.”
However, Anderson was wearing an odd look on his face as he was staring at him.
“What?” Becker asked.
Anderson then stood up and pointed in the distance. “It’s a ship.”
Becker then looked in the same direction and sure enough they saw a hulking black mass approach them. “Holy shit!” He exclaimed. “We’re saved”.
Anderson however shook his head. “No, we’re not”.
Anderson then opened the tin box and pulled out the flare gun and loaded it. He then fired a round in the air and a streak of light lit up the area around them that was impossible to miss.
Becker now stood up and stared at the ship. “Maybe they didn’t see us. We need to fire another one”.
Anderson however shook his head. “No, they saw us we need to wait until they get closer.”
Becker however concurred “No they definitely didn’t see us. They’re sailing blindly at us we need to fire another round or they’ll miss us”.
Anderson however stood firm “No they saw us I’m going to wait”.
Becker however became impatient and tried to grab the flare gun “Give me the gun or we’ll going to be stuck out here damnit!”
Anderson then shouted back as they fought over the gun “This again? You’re as shitty as an officer as you are a father. Now let go of the gun before you get us both killed.”
Becker then took this to heart and punched him in the mouth and Anderson let go of the gun. Becker then loaded the pistol only to find Anderson's hands around it again. “I can see why your daughter never wanted to see you again you backwoods piece of garbage!”
Both of the men then struggled for the gun until they heard a booming fog horn. Becker then let go of it and spoke “Oh my God they did see us.”
He then reached to shoot the flare off again but Anderson had already fired it into the air and illuminated the area again. After adjusting the wheel the ship began to steer towards them and Anderson laughed.
“Brilliant.. my ship finally came back”. He said.
Becker then turned his head. “You’re mistaken. You said your ship was probably sailing to Blackwater that’s a Ticonderogan ship.”
Anderson shook his head “I wouldn’t mistake my ship for any other Friend. That’s an Ulsterian battleship. I can almost see the Blue and white stars from here.”
Becker then said, “We’ll just have to see won’t we?”
Anderson then nodded in agreement and the pair of sailors sat down and waited to be rescued. As it turned out both men were stunned to find the ship was no battleship at all. But rather a neutral merchant ship.

The Michigan Inquirer MAY 09, 2023
The following entries were transcribed by Michigan State University senior, Marlee Yarborough. Last weekend, she and three fellow students were camping in Manistee National Forest while researching the Michigan Dogman— a local legend recently popularized within certain online communities. There, they discovered a journal amongst the remnants of an abandoned cabin; written inside its worn leather cover was:
“Property of G.O.D”
Date://____
I don’t know the date, and I don’t care enough to find out; July something? It’s hard to keep track since I started taking these stupid pills. I hate them— almost as much as I hate this journal— almost as much as I hate you, Dr. Nelson… Writing isn’t “therapeutic” when you know your therapist is planning to read it; your entire racket is a scam, and I’m not taking your fake medicine anymore!
Do you seriously think patients are writing their innermost thoughts for you to jerk-off to? They’re not! We all edit ourselves despite whether it’s intentional. Learning to feign certain emotions just comes with the territory. Good people don’t exist— only good actors... I’m pretty sure that’s a quote, but hell if I know who said it.
Go ahead, Doctor— blame my cynical outlook on watching my mother die. Tell me again how it caused my antisocial tendencies; we have all the time in the world now that you’ve convinced dad to put me in weekly sessions. Heaven forbid you— [text illegible]
I’ll never forgive that selfish bastard for dragging me out to this dump... Life sucked without him ruining my last real summer break... He knows I’m going to stay inside the whole time; he didn’t even tell me what we’re hunting… [text illegible]…he just repeats the same bullshit over and over!
“Give it a chance, Glen,” or “come on, where’s that Delaney spirit?” —I’m sick of it!
Date://____
Day 2— I hate this place! There’s no way I’ll last three weeks; I doubt I can make it through one! I'm using the bathroom in an outhouse for… [text illegible]
…I couldn’t fall asleep until almost 5AM because of all the howling, and I’m sure it’ll be the same tonight. I thought it was supposed to be peaceful out here— what a crock of shit; the old man is lucky I can’t call a taxi!
[remainder of entry illegible]
Date://____
Day 4— or maybe it’s 5… It’s so hard to keep track... There’s no electricity, no phones, and nowhere to go... There’s an old generator out here, but it only works a third of the time… This isn’t how we should be living in 1998; we’re on the cusp of the 21st century, yet we’re in this backwoods hellhole like it’s 1898!
It’s bad enough the wolves don’t stop howling until sunrise, but now someone has gone through our trash. Garbage was strewn all the way around the cabin like they were making a moat. Dad blamed raccoons, but I have trouble believing anything other than a human could form such a perfect perimeter…
I just don’t see how another person would be way out here or why they’d bother. If someone were hungry enough to dig through our trash, why make a huge display? Dad claims he slept through it, but no one could have slept through that; yet— when I try to argue— he says I’m being paranoid and rushes off… I haven’t been in the same room with him for longer than 10 minutes since the drive up here. We don’t even eat together.
Every morning, I hear him drive away just as I’m drifting off, and— every evening, just after nightfall— he returns and goes to sleep. He seems on edge— even more so than when mom died— but if I ask him about it, he denies everything…
I’m going to be the person who proves it’s possible to die from boredom. One day, he’ll come back, and I’ll just be laying here— dead. I wonder what the autopsy will say. I hope they charge him with murder, because that’s exactly what it’ll be! I only wish it would have happened before I had to clean up all that trash…
Dad should have been the one home when that man broke in, but no— he was out drinking with his buddies. Mom was the one being strangled while I hid under a bed. My 18th birthday is going to be the last day I waste words on that asshole; he can die alone for all I care.
Date://____
It’s Day— shit— I still don’t know. Maybe I should’ve just written the dates… I wrote my last entry the day before yesterday… I think…
This morning started like any other. Dad left at the usual time, but he isn’t back yet… Now it’s 11:00, and I don’t know what to do; I don’t know if he’s hurt— or worse…. Do I go looking for him? I don’t even know which direction he went… If something did happen, then I'd be completely stranded… He takes the truck like he’s afraid I’ll drive off with it, and sure, I probably would have, but look what’s happened! [text illegible]
I’m completely alone out here; I’d be grateful for Dr. Nelson at this point… At least there’s no howling for a change; I guess even wolves need a break every now and then… Or maybe they’re just too full tonight. [text illegible]
No, I can’t think that way… He has to come back; he has to. Maybe the truck broke down and he’s waiting for morning so he can flag someone down… Or maybe he got hurt and had to drive straight to a hospital… Either way, he would send help; he has his faults, but he wouldn’t just abandon me here… He couldn’t… Could he? No… No, I’m sure he wouldn’t do that… Not like this…
Date://____
It’s almost 3:00, and he’s still not back... I have to go out there when the sun rises… I don’t know what else to do… I also don’t know where to look… Maybe I should give my other theories time to play out... What if he is sending help, but I run off when all I had to do was stay put?!
[text illegible] …but if I don’t go, he’ll die… I don’t know if he told anyone our location… It would take weeks for people to realize we were missing, and, even then, help could be sent in the wrong direction… He must have told grandpa… I hope there’s enough supplies to last that long… Grandpa might assume we just stayed late... As far as he’s concerned, the only medicine I need is a good kick in the ass…
Date://____
Dad is dead... I guess this is technically the same day as my last entry, but not for much longer. I took advantage of the quiet night to sleep for a few hours before making any life or death decisions. This journal will probably end up being a record of my final words rather than a therapy aid…
It looked like a storm was brewing when I left, but— by some miracle— it held off. There’s only one way out of the cabin’s clearing, but the tire tracks soon diverged in multiple directions. Thankfully, I found a roll of trail-marking ribbon and used it liberally.
At that point, I still had a somewhat hopeful outlook… I was far more frightened at the prospect of getting lost than finding a scene of carnage that would haunt me for the remainder of my days— as if I weren’t already set in that regard… [text illegible]
I searched for hours without finding anything before finally turning back. I intended to follow my markers straight to the cabin, but I couldn’t help… [text illegible] …was the widest path I’d seen yet. I followed the new tracks for at least twenty minutes before coming to a huge dropoff, and my heart sank as my eyes followed them right over the edge. I don’t know how long I stood there; I think I was waiting for some sign of life, but none came. Eventually, I laid on my stomach and peered over the edge. At the bottom of a large ravine was dad’s truck; it had landed upside down, but there was no mistaking it…
I knew what I would see if I went down there, but I still had to see it… I barely remember the descent… I called out upon approaching the wreckage, but then I noticed the stench and the blood… Kneeling to see inside the shattered driver’s window, I collapsed at the sight of long dead eyes staring back at me; dad remained strapped to his seat, but his head was turned at a sharp angle, and what remained of his face was frozen in a perpetual state of sheer terror.
I accidentally placed a hand in the pool of blood collecting beneath him and puked everywhere; as badly as I wanted to run away, there were things I needed to collect from the cab. When I felt composed enough for the first attempt, I realized the truck had more damage than it should have received in the fall. There were deep claw marks along the side, and one of the back tires had been ripped to shreds— like some massive dog had used it as a chew toy…
The thought sent a new wave of nausea through me, but I managed to crawl into the passenger’s side. At first I assumed dad’s neck was broken— and it probably was— but the reason it looks so strange is because it was nearly severed… Plus, his torso was ripped open and both of his arms were gone. I couldn’t find them anywhere…
Something inside of me clicked… I understand why they call it survival mode, now… It suddenly became much easier to ignore my father’s mangled corpse in favor of collecting his gear. In the end, I walked away with a rifle, a box of [text illegible] …which was a great comfort to have on the hike back… I just wish I could have found the other gun.
The climb out of the canyon was much more difficult than the trip down, but getting back gave me something to focus on— something besides the awful reality of my predicament. I’m trapped in the woods with very limited supplies… I’m gonna die here; that’s all there is to it.
If I had any sense at all, I would try to find help before exhausting all of my resources, but I can’t let go of the hope that someone will find me before that happens… Or maybe I’m just too afraid of facing whatever killed dad… Either way, I guess everyone was right all along— I’m a coward.
Date://____
I just want to go home. The howling started up again. It was only quiet for that one night… Now it’s at least three days later, and it’s like it never stopped. Except for the fact dad died— that’s really different. Shit, I’m probably not far behind him…
It’s so weird what stories will get stuck in your head when you're alone in the dark… The week before we came here, one of my friends said he used to camp in this forest— but not anymore… I thought he was just trying to scare me when he said his mom saw something with the head of a dog that walked like a man... He made it sound like a story you tell to scare little kids, so I didn’t think anything of it… She said it’s eyes made her feel…
[page missing]
The only thing worse than hearing strange noises is hearing nothing at all. The mind doesn’t like silence; if you don’t give it something to listen to, it fills the void on its own… It always feels like I’m being watched— like something frightened all of the bugs and birds into hiding, and now it’s just… Waiting… But waiting for what? I don’t know; that’s the question, isn’t it? Waiting for me? God I hope not…
Date://____
[first paragraphs illegible]
I know what I saw; that thing out there isn’t a wolf! Wolves don’t walk on their hind legs! It can’t be a Dogman, either, though; there’s no such thing! It has to be some hairy ass hermit wearing a mask; there’s probably some trick to make the eyes glow like that… I bet that guy hasn’t left the forest in twenty years… He probably wants to line a coat with my skin… But then what made the claw marks on dad’s truck?! Dammit I’m losing my mind!
[a dark line strikes through the page, tearing a hole through the middle— likely the result of being startled by the following event]
Jesus Christ, a window shattered; I wish dad were alive just so I could kill him myself. If I… [text illegible] …I can hear the asshole walk over the broken glass… I’m locked in the bedroom with a table jammed against the door, but “solid” is not a word I would use to describe it…
I’m gonna die here; I can feel it. I know I am. I don’t wanna die. I thought I did, but I don’t; I really don’t! God, it’s getting closer. Why? Why is this happening?! Its footsteps are so slow; why won’t it just get this over with?! Is it toying with me?! I don’t know what to do…
[remainder of page made illegible by ink smears]
I think it’s finally over… I heard its footsteps fade into the distance as they retraced their route over the broken glass, but not before it had its fun with me… I put all my weight into holding the door closed as it tried to force its way inside.
For the first several minutes, it just stood there, sniffing, before a high-pitched whine preceded the unmistakable sound of claws tearing at the wood. As its patience wore thin, the door began to splinter beneath its weight, and I knew that was my last chance to shoot it; by then, I didn’t care if it was a person, an animal, or both. In one motion, I raised the gun, stood, and fired through the door as its center cracked open like an egg with the creature’s last impact.
The resulting sounds were deafening; my ears rang from a combination of the gunshot, the exploding door, and the shrill cry of a wounded animal. I could barely hear its retreat over the buzzing in my brain. Only when I heard the swinging door slam shut did I lower the rifle and rush to the window.
I never entertained the notion of killing it. If things like that were easy to kill— it would already be on display at some museum where tourists could gawk at it. I was only trying to survive a little longer. No matter how hopeless your situation might be, it’s awfully hard to just roll over and die… Still… I had to get one more look at it; I had to know if I really saw what I thought I saw… And I did— I swear I did.
I’m not crazy; I’ve never been more clear in all my life since I stopped taking Dr. Nelson’s poison. There’s no better way to describe that thing other than a Dogman… It looks like a rabid Rottweiler suddenly learned to walk on its hind legs… It's hard to say whether its fur was black or just filthy and matted; its arms and legs were covered in patchy bald spots, but it was hard to see with only the light of a waning moon.
For one brief instant it turned towards the cabin, and I could see a bloody wound in its right shoulder. Overall, it seemed more angry than hurt or frightened. If I’m still here when it returns, I don’t think I’ll be this lucky a second time. I have to leave...
Date://____
I slept as long as I dared, but I have to go now; if I don’t find help by nightfall, I’ll have to decide whether to come back or keep going… Either way, I don’t expect to survive very long past that point… I’m gonna die, and this journal will rot away before another soul sees it. I don’t know… Maybe if I shove it under the floorboards, some of it will last long enough… Or it’ll rot away even faster… In the end, what does it really matter?
I bet Dr. Nelson tells everyone I likely killed dad before offing myself… I hope they don’t believe him… I’d give anything to… [remainder of entry illegible]
…
Though this is the final entry, it’s noteworthy to mention that several pages have been removed for time allowance.
…
Update: MAY 16, 2023
What started as an innocent college project turned deadly for one MSU student when a group of four returned to the Manistee National Forest to investigate a possible cold case from 1998.
Many details are still unknown as authorities have yet to provide an official statement, but some sources claim police failed to investigate due to a theory the journal may have been faked, or— at the very least— the product of a mentally ill teen. Regardless, the tragic death of 20-year-old Patrick Morris is all too real.
During the amateur investigation, students became startled by an unidentified source and fled the area. In their panic, they became separated and were forced to regroup at the parking lot as it grew dark. Three students returned safely, but all attempts to contact the missing fourth were met with failure.
The official search began shortly after, and a gruesome scene was soon discovered. What remained of Morris painted a clear— though horrific— picture of a wildlife attack. Be sure to stay tuned for further updates as the situation develops.
…

So in the most non ridiculing way I can say this; what makes you think aliens are real AND what makes you think they would come here, let alone be photographed?
For me, I will say that the idea that humans on Earth are the only intelligent life in the universe is the stupidest idea I’ve heard next to the earth being flat. Our Galaxy is immense, the “known” universe is infinite. It’s just impossible to think let alone believe we are all there is.
HOWEVER……
Any species that can travel through interstellar space is NOT going to just wander around our skies and let any random person with a cellphone record them. If you think a species is as advanced enough to have developed and mastered interstellar space travel, yet they can be captured on any old iPhone camera, that’s a special kind of dumb thinking. If you believe in something like warp travel, hyper space travel, traveling at the speed of light, any other type of interstellar travel, but yet you think they’re going to have landing gear lights as they just hover around a densely populated capital city? Really? You think an alien species is going to have all kinds of bling and LEDs all over their spaceship so that any random person can just look up and say hey look at that? Really? Do you believe these aliens are so advanced to travel across the universe but they’re that clueless that they’re just gonna be caught walking around in the woods in some backwoods state, or that they’re gonna leave evidence of their existence just laying around because their intelligence is just so far that they’ve advanced past common sense?
I said all that not as an insult but as a perspective I don’t think the general populace of “alien wishful thinkers” actually think from. IF aliens are real I think we can all safely assume they have advanced far beyond what we could understand. Our understanding of science is limited to our planet and resources and we can’t travel across the universe. So at a most basic level we can all agree an alien species is basically a hell of a lot smarter than we are or ever will be, BUT, we humanize them by putting OUR emotions and OUR logic on their supposed actions, and that’s just wrong. So because of this, WHY would such an advanced alien species come to earth let alone make themselves known to us when we as a species demonstrate every single day we are too stupid to “deserve” that or as if we could actually handle that? We literally kill ourselves because of the color of our skin. We pollute the only planet we can live on. We let ourselves starve to death and die in our own “3rd world” nations. Why would ANY species come here to hang out and get to know us? We’ll never use any advanced technology or knowledge to a beneficial purpose. We invent our own ways of destroying ourselves and our planet so “you” actually think some space traveling species is gonna come on down and have anything to do with us? Now I absolutely just put my own emotions and logic into a statement against aliens. But how about this: aliens being known to us and/or actually interacting with us is the same level of improbable as humans going to live with a colony of ants in order to advance the ants and make them better………

I wish I was kidding. I'm so tired of this. Every time something new happens people immediately ask "how are you feeling about all this?" and the honest answer is that this is just another chapter in the saga of SIL so I'm mostly apathetic at this point. She started "dating" when she was 12 and hasn't gone more than a few weeks without a man in her life ever since and she's currently about to turn 30 years old. Apparently, she was so unmanageable as a kid that her mom nearly shipped her off to a bootcamp but SIL got herself pregnant first by the good-for-nothing neighbor boy who sold drugs. MIL finally said "f**k it" and put her own daughter in the foster system. After floating around a bit, she landed with a real nice family where she stayed even after she aged out of the system. They helped raise her baby daughter and SIL eventually even married one of their sons and they both got a nice house together.
Fast forward two years and SIL has all but destroyed the house and any value it could have with all her poorly done DIY projects and the two dogs and 4 cats she adopted despite her husband not really wanting any of them as well as him being the only one working at the time. Needless to say, their marriage eventually turned toxic and SIL just decided to up and leave with her daughter one day. No plan, no money, no notice, no explanation. Just left. Bonus points: we found out she cheated on her husband multiple times during their marriage. The husband eventually rehomed all the cats but kept the two dogs for anyone who cares to know.
She then moved in with this couple who were barely a step above trailer trash for the simple fact that they lived in a row home and not a trailer. That's where she met who I will forever refer to as Worthless Weasel (WW) for that is exactly what he is. It's nothing you could point to but there's always something about him that makes your skin crawl and yep he's about "as useful as a poopy-flavored lolly pop". SIL wasted no time latching herself onto him cuz she just can't exist without a man at her side. "He's the love of my life. I just can't live without him." Barf.
To try and help SIL get back on her feet, MIL took her and WW in even though she couldn't stand him. How did SIL repay that kindness? By fighting and arguing with her every freaking day and also getting a dog without MIL's knowledge or permission. My poor husband's phone was constantly going off with one of them complaining about the other. That's the other thing about my SIL. She has yet to learn that she doesn't have to attend every fight she's invited to. No, she's compelled to rise to the smallest hint of bait. Everything requires a swift and immediate response. She once had a whole fight on Facebook with a woman about the drama that was happening at the time (don't worry, we'll get there) instead of doing what normal people do and f**king deleting the comments and blocking the woman. I even tried reasoning with her like "why are you even FB friends with this woman? Get rid of her." But no.
Anyway, so somehow WW got SIL convinced that he was all but incapable of fathering children because he'd only ever managed to father one kid despite being with his ex-wife for many years. I think we all know where this is going. Yep! She got pregnant. "We chose to have a baby." No dumbass, you chose to keep a baby. Huge fucking difference. At least the first time she had the excuse of being 15 and stupid. Now she was just plain stupid. She was living with MIL, had no job, still no money, WW had no job with every excuse in the book ranging from "boss is an ass" to "the work is too hard it hurts my back". To this day that piece of shit hasn't held a job for more than a few months.
While all this is happening, my poor niece was forced to be homeschooled cuz she was being bullied at school thanks to SILs growing reputation except SIL couldn't be bothered to make sure my niece was actually studying and doing her work so she was failing almost every class but art. Plus my niece was used as free childcare pretty much from day one since she's 10 years older than her little brother.
WW convinced SIL to move to a backwoods town in the middle of boondocks nowhere where he grew up cuz he had someone who was willing to give him a job and so they found a house they could rent for pretty cheap and moved out of MIL's house with the dog. This also made move #4 that my niece had to go through in as many years.
SIL gets a job taking care of adults with mental handicaps (yeah the irony wasn't lost on us) and WW quits the job after a couple months and decides he's gonna buy a bunch of recording equipment and run a sound studio out of the basement. He's convinced this is really gonna take off (spoiler: it doesn't). Most of his recording is of himself and what other people do come don't even get charged half the time. They never have money and are always struggling to make ends meet and there's never food in the house. Multiple times she begs us to send her $50 or something to buys some food. Always with a promise to pay it back that we know she'll never actually live up to. I offered multiple times to help her put together a very simple budget to follow that would help them actually manage their money and maybe even start savings. She repeatedly declined. They did buy a second dog though. MIL eventually moved in with them to help again so they could catch up on all the past due bills and actually pay all their bills in full all in the same month. Even that eventually fell apart though and MIL moved out and got an apartment nearby and has refused to help finance her any further.
Now this is where shit really starts to hit the fan. One day SIL lets it slip that WW sexually assaulted our niece. "Accidentally". He claimed he thought she was SIL despite being in a single bed in a separate room from the one he and SIL shared. Totally believable honest mistake, right? Instead of doing any of the most logical things, SIL covered it up. She told niece to say nothing and forget about it and even continued to leave niece home alone with WW while she was at work and would just call and check in once in a while. It bares mentioning that SIL was sexually abused for years as a child by MIL's boyfriend of the time. The difference being that when MIL found out she destroyed that man's life. Our niece finally got to the breaking point where she barricaded herself in the bathroom and threatened to harm herself. MIL happened to be there and together she and SIL tried to break down the door to get to her while niece called the police saying she was afraid for her life. Cops came, niece was removed and sent to a youth psychiatric facility for a bit, this is about the time we found out what happened to her, reported WW to the cops, shit hit the absolute fan, WW was arrested, SIL was arrested. She got out on bail but he couldn't afford his (boo hoo). Now ex-husband's parents quickly petitioned for emergency custody of niece (they're not blood but they're grandparents to her in every way that matters) and the court granted them custody. My husband and I offered to take in our little nephew for a while too so she could focus on sorting all the legal stuff out and could work more hours to make money to pay her fines and attorney fees. Some of you probably guessed it, but she refused. "I already lost my daughter, I can't lose my son too." That fact that she equivocated this all to "losing" her children spoke volumes to me. Children are not wayward hair ties. You don't "lose" them. Niece was taken away so she could be in a healthier environment that she needed and the courts had already set up custody meetings (half of which she never attended) where she could work to get custody back. The same was true for our offer to take in nephew for a while. It wasn't meant to be a forever thing (sorta) just a means of getting him away from the shit storm while it ran its course. She couldn't accept that. She refused the offer repeatedly.
WW had his court appearance and got his sentencing for corrupting a minor and several other things and somehow SIL's lawyer managed to convince a judge to change her charges from "child endangerment" to "harassment". Go ahead and insert your favorite "what!?" meme here. Fines are levied, parole time is set, and off she goes. During the time that all this is happening, she finally breaks it off with WW...and hooks up with WW's ex-BIL! All things considered, ex-BIL was pretty decent. Still didn't have much going for him but he was respectful to her and us and tried to help her get back on her feet. SIL couldn't talk enough shit about WW and how he manipulated her and for some time had her addicted to pain meds and how he put her in thousands of dollars of debt cuz he wasn't using her paychecks to pay bills (at least not entirely, just enough to keep the utilities on) and was instead spending the money on drugs. This is where that previously mentioned FB fight took place between her and one of WW's sisters who she never got along with. Eventually, ex-BIL left her though cuz WW was released and sniffing around and he was convinced that SIL was gonna go back to him. After he broke up with her, she did go back to WW even though we told her doing so would mean kissing her daughter goodbye. No court would ever allow niece to return there not to mention WW has a restraining order that he can't be anywhere near her until she's 22.
Things continued more or less as they had been before with the money struggles. They sub-rented one of the rooms in the house to a rotating door of people who were constantly stealing things so SIL claimed. She and WW get in a fight one day and he goes to hit her and apparently that's where the line finally gets drawn with her cuz she kicks him out and only allows him to come over to visit his son. SIL hooks up with someone else during that time and continues to rent out one of the rooms to some couple and we much later found out she had an affair with the wife. Money and drama ensue and the couple gets kicked out. All the while, nephew is practically non-verbal despite being 2 years old. SIL won't hear a word about it from us and finally it takes the pediatrician forcing her to enroll nephew in a special program that gets him the help he needs. He's doing better but he still has a way to go.
SIL goes through some short-term flings and eventually settles on a new guy. He moves in with her almost instantly and brings his cousin (who's more like a brother in closeness) along with him. For those wondering, yes we brought it up multiple times that the revolving door of men coming in and out of nephew's life was not, and is not, healthy. SIL on a whim decides to destroy every piece of furniture in the house that had anything to do with WW...which was apparently most of the furniture. Poor nephew eats his meals on a chair in the middle of the kitchen. There is no table.
She and new guy eventually get into a fight cuz he thinks she's cheating on him with his cousin. She swears she wasn't but since he was gonna accuse her she went and slept with him as a f**k you. So new guy left and SIL hooked up with cousin. By this point I've lost track of the "I love him", "He's my man", ride or die BS cuz it's the same with every single one of them. She's always said how her kids are the most important thing to her and she has done and would do anything for them. I think I nearly bit off my tongue when she said that. No, the one thing her actions have proven is that whatever man she has at the time will always be the most important thing in her life. Time and time and time again she's put a man before the wellbeing of her children. She still won't admit her part in why her daughter doesn't live with her anymore (and doesn't want to anymore but she's refusing to hear that).
Just when you thought this sage might be ending, there's a new twist! We're up to the present now. We found out just the other day that SIL is effectively homeless and has been for about 2 months which honestly explained a lot things that were going on with her. For reasons she won't tell us she's convinced WW conspired with her landlord to get her evicted. She hasn't been able to hold down a stable job since things wrapped up with her daughters court case so she also doesn't have a job right now. She won't tell us who she's living with or where. She's said that nephew is staying with one of WW's sisters and her half dozen kids but also won't tell us where they live or how to contact them. She still has both dogs though. Now she's let it slip that she got someone to beat the shit out of WW and shot his girlfriend(?) in the head and she is now unalive as the youth say. This all apparently happened because SIL's convinced this girlfriend broke into the house some time back and stole her phone.
So here we are. There's so many more stories and anecdotes I could add here but no one has enough time and alcohol for that. I tried to stick to the highlights. So yeah there it is.

Here's an additional story to my first one about my time on the North Slope:
It was March on the Slope. While still in the depths of arctic winter, with the equinox approaching the day/night cycle was becoming more even. My flight to the Slope was delayed due to a large blizzard which shut down the Deadhorse and Kuparuk airstrips. I spent three days waiting in Anchorage until the storm cleared and we were able to fly.
Landing at the Kuparuk airstrip it was evident the blizzard was more severe than we had initially thought. While whiteout blizzards are common, actually snow accumulation is not. This storm, though, was a monster. Snow drifts several stories tall ran up against the camp housing. Our work trucks and equipment were completely covered in snow and it took a full day of digging to get them out. As soon as the trucks were free we were off to our first job assignment. No time to rest in the oilfield.
Traveling anywhere after a storm this size is a nightmare. To get to the worksite we had a bulldozer escort us, breaking up any remaining drifts as we went. The dozer cleared our work area around the well house and we began to rig up our equipment. It took little time and soon we were back to the normal humdrum life of arctic oil well maintenance. Over the radio we got a call from the bulldozer operator as he left that he had seen a giant black animal headed our direction. He couldn't tell if it was a wolf or a big dog, but it was massive and moving erratically.
In the winter many animals aren’t active on the Slope. Caribou, musk oxen, and foxes are the usual wildlife you'll encounter out in the snow. The animals keep to themselves for the most part, but you learn very quickly to never look the animals in the eyes, if they approach you. This goes doubly for the white foxes and I advise you to do the same. The grizzlies are hibernating. The male polar bears are hunting on the sea ice, while the females are denned up with new cubs. Wolves aren't unheard of, but rarely leave the Brooke's Range mountains a couple hundred miles to the south. Whatever the operator saw, we would keep watch, but it wasn’t our problem. It was a problem for the bear police. We went about our work, albeit, cautiously.
It’s interesting to note that oil companies on the Slope have private security officers who, besides being private law enforcement, also try to minimize encounters with wildlife. We referred to them as the “bear police'', which is a cute name for a rather dangerous part of their job. These security officers are the only personnel on the North Slope (outside regular law enforcement) that can carry firearms. Their primary job when encountering large predators is to harass them until they leave. This is done with beanbag guns or loud noises at first. When that fails, or the animal is unusually aggressive, lethal force is needed.
We had settled into our work and forgot about the wolf, or dog, or whatever it was. I needed to take a leak. I got out of the truck and walked behind the wellhouse to take care of business.. My crewmate came over the radio telling me to get back in the truck. There was a wolf coming out from behind the wellhouse where I had just been and he was pacing after me. I didn’t look behind me. I just ran back and jumped into the truck. I’m not taking my chances even if it was a crewmate practical joke. Once inside I looked out and sure enough, trotting towards the truck was a large, black, male wolf. He approached our trucks and plopped down on the snow in front of us. This wolf looked rough, even by wild animal standards.. The right side of his face was mutilated and deformed. Missing his right eye and most of his skin and lips on that side of his head. The wound exposed large white teeth. Giving him the appearance of a wide crooked smile. He didn’t appear aggressive, but he didn’t take his good eye off of us. That one good eye was bright red in appearance. It was eerie. The way he sat there staring. Watching. Waiting.
We radioed the security officers for help and like a speeding bullet they showed up 40 minutes later. That whole time waiting the wolf never diverted his attention from us. If I hadn’t seen him breathing I would have assumed it was a statue. The security officers arrived and took some pictures for their reports. Then began the process of driving the animal back out into the tundra. Truck horns didn’t startle him. He didn’t even flinch. Charging him with their truck did nothing either. They then took aim with a beanbag gun and hit him square in the ribs. The wolf let out a yelp, but didn’t get up or move from his spot. The next beanbag hit him in the head and that jostled him enough to get up and leave. I was able to get one decent picture of this big guy before he left the worksite.
Security told us to call back if we saw the wolf again. They seemed confident he would move on and not be a bother anymore. The sun was setting and our job was still hours from wrapping up. Working a 13-15 hour day isn’t unusual. You either get used to the long hours or you find another line of work pretty quick. I was running the computer equipment inside the truck and weird data was coming back from the tools down in the well. They were blanking out and losing signal or they were reporting data backwards, but diagnostics wasn’t indicating any issues. To the computer systems everything was operating normally. I tried a few different things to fix the issue, but it persisted. One of the workers went out to the wellhead to check the gauges and cables, trying to isolate the problem from there.
He was outside for not more than five minutes before the night was pierced by a long, bellowing howl. This was immediately followed by the high pitched shriek of our crewmate. Throwing the door open I was able to catch a fleeting glimpse of a large, dark figure running behind the wellhouse. Our crewmate ran past us and jumped inside. Pale, sweating, and full of adrenaline he tried to relay what just happened. Through his panting he said he was in the wellhouse checking the cables when someone walked up behind him. Thinking it was one of us he started a conversation with his back turned. When he got no reply he turned and was met face-to-face with a seven-foot-tall black wolf standing on his hind legs. It stood between him and the door, growling. Without thinking he flung his pipe wrench at the beast and struck him hard in the chest. That’s when it let out a howl and ran off. Our crewmate was adamant this was the same wolf from earlier because its face was mangled in that crooked half-smile and one fiery red eye.
Myself and the others on the crew had a hard time believing he saw a giant wolf-man. We had no doubt he saw the wolf, but we reasoned that in his panic he hallucinated that it was upright like a man. But we'd all encountered enough weird things on the Slope to never count out the impossible. We radioed the security officers and told them the wolf had returned and waited inside the truck. What else could we do but wait? I wasn’t about to go there and fight Satan’s guard dog with a clipboard and a mouse pad. Every time we felt like things settled down outside we would hear a growl or something would push against the truck. Periodically, we could see something pacing in the dark just beyond the reach of the work lights. Even though we were inside a locked truck cabin it was still a very vulnerable feeling. We were very much trapped. I’m sure it felt similar to what divers experience inside a shark cage far out at sea.
All of this went on for an hour while we waited for someone to show up. Finally, coming up the road we could see headlights of three approaching vehicles. The security team had showed up, this time with actual rifles. Over the radio we told them what had been going on. You could feel their disbelief and eyes rolling through the radio. That sass and disbelief soon faded when we explored the worksite and found it covered in fresh large wolf tracks. The security team split up with two trucks headed out to search for the wolf while the last one remained with us as we loaded our equipment and finished our job. We didn’t hear or see anything else that night as we cleaned up, but we sure did keep our heads on a swivel.
The security officers didn’t find the wolf that night. A set of tracks left off the worksite and out into the open tundra. The officers commented that the tracks looked weird. This was due to them only seeing the back paw prints in the snow. The last security truck escorted us back to the main camp while the others continued their search into the night.
For the following week various reports came in across the oilfield of people seeing this mangled black wolf during the day. And at night reports kept coming in of a black beast walking upright and harassing or cornering workers. Security seemed to always show up minutes too late. During this timeframe many of the Alaska native workers were getting nervous. One of our friends in the camp workshop was from Nuiqsut. A small Inupiat village just west of the oilfield. He told us it sounded exactly like a “Ijiraq”. A shapeshifting creature that can take the form of any arctic animal while it hunts. He said it was obvious as the wolf was a normal (albeit deformed) animal in the daylight, but transformed into an upright monster after nightfall. The Ijiraq are thought to be Inuit hunters that traveled too far north and became stuck between the world of the living and the dead. They transformed into evil, deformed men with sideways mouths and eyes. They use their power of shapeshifting to hunt other Inuit, especially children. The Inupiat are weary of wild animals for this very reason.
A week following our encounter the security team was able to corner the wolf on a remote worksite. It had attacked and trapped two welders in their truck. Both workers had superficial cuts through their snowsuits, but were otherwise fine. Having no other choice the wolf was euthanized on the spot. Security shot the wolf once and instead of dropping dead it charged the officer that shot it. The wolf took three more high powered rifle shots before it eventually collapsed at the feet of the officer. Even then, paralyzed in the now crimson snow, the wolf was still growling through its crooked wide smile. After several minutes it finally succumbed to its wounds.
The wolf’s body was taken to the University of Alaska Fairbanks for dissection and examination. Outside of the facial deformities and gnarled appearance the biologist concluded it was an ordinary wolf from the Brooks range mountains. How it got hundreds of miles from home and why it stayed on the tundra is a complete mystery.

(Writing this at work while unable to remember the rank structure of the Purps)
Offical transcript between senior leadership of the Gainesville Garrison of the Shiv'alti Marines and the local human representative of the backwoods
COL: "So would you like to explain why one of my Pods and their vehicle are now out of commission after we had an agreement?"
CSM: "I have four dead Marines and two more that will never walk again, I WANT ANSWERS NOW!"
HREP: "Ladies, what y'all have failed to understand about this situation is the people around here... only want to be left alone... so when your Governorness decided to take land from all the families that had held them through war and economic failure... y'all struck quite the nerve... most of these folks' only legacy was that land and their time in the former military."
CSM: "And that excuses their terrorism against my Marines? I should have you shot for this level of stupidity." The hatred and a loud thump could be heard.
HREP: "Sarnt Major, some of the folks in those woods are still angry about a war from nearly a century ago...y'all don't seem to understand that the only reason our previous government didn't wipe them out is they know the land better than anyone and don't bite unless provoked."
A huff from the human representative could be heard.
COL: "As that stands that does not excuse the deaths or the letters to their fathers... so you will give us possible solutions that don't end without me writing anymore letters..."
The clack of a large hand gun being laid across the table can be heard. HREP: "Well then....I've got two options for ya... return the land and stay out of the woods.... or get someone else to write those letters...cause We, the people of Florida, are crazy enough to never stop if you push the wrong button."
The human representative can be heard stabbing a large knife through the desk of the Col.
HREP: "I hope we have an understanding. Otherwise, best hope y'all have enough body bags..."
The screech of wood on stone can be heard as the human rep gets up and walks out.
(Edit: spaced out)

This is not quite backwoods. But someone requested non-american stories and this happened in Norway, so here we go. Sorry for bad translation and such. And this is a true story that took place around 2003, and I appreciate any comment that can shed light over what happened (pun intended).
Some information: I'm from Oslo city, but when I was a teenager, we moved to a bit more remoted place about 30min outside the city. Mostly houses and woods, and moose, badger, fox, wolf and lynx around. But mostly lots of roe deers, who's way used to humans. No farms and stables in the nearby area. No homeless people and the teens who snuck out usually hung around the mall to steal fresh delivered Napoleon cake from the bakerys loading dock.
We lived quite central by a mall, school and such. There was a smal forest behind our house, maybe 5km radius.
One summer, 2 friends and I went camping for one night in the small forest. We were 14/15 years old girls. There was a bonfire place about 100 meter from my house, where we put up the tent. The ground is packed tight and has this hollow sound when you walk on it. The tent was big for 3 and kind of round. So it would be hard for someone to reach the top without collapsing on the tent wall. And it was an old tent and the fabric was quite rotten. It did not rain that night. We did not bring any food or food equipment, except candy that we had inside the tent.
What happened: We sat up gossiping and eating candy until midnight. When we tried to sleep, we heard hooves walking beside the tent. We laid still listening, pretty sure there were curious roe deers. But it was also this rattling sound of metal that seemed weird. Not like tin cans, but just like knight armour sound from movies. Suddenly it started to blow up with strong wind and we started talking to ease the atmosphere. The hooves and metal sound reminded me of a knight on a horse. Then my one friend said "that sounds like 2 knights". We brushed it off as roe deers, but we never heard them leave.
We kept talking when suddenly the wind ripped open a huge gash in the middle of the tent roof, right above me, and strong light, can only describe it as a lightning, came through the opening. We screamed and the wind stopped and the light disappeared as quickly as it came. We didn't hear anything around us, it was dead silence. No sound of footsteps or hooves, no sound of helicopter or anything.
We just looked at eachother and panicked out of the tent and run to my place for the rest of the night. Went back next morning and took down the tent and looked around. Found nothing that could help us figure out what happened. We did not drink or take drugs that night. My parents slept, so it couldn't be them messing with us.
I've been much around in this little forest in my teens. Never experienced weird things before or after. In the aftermath, we nervously landed on some kind of rare lightning and roe deers with one foot in a metal can. But we didn't believe that either.

[CONTEXT ON MEDICAL HISTORY & MY CHOICE TO BE CF] Allow me to explain a bit of my medical history before I get into the story. This is a long one. I apologize in advance.
I am part of a very rare cultural and ethnic subgroup of indigenous people originating in the lower portion of the Rockies- today known as CO & NM. To condense this as much as humanly possible without delving into the incredibly complex & nuanced discussion of CO and NM’s history- I am a member of the Genízaro nation. We are a group of metizaje Hispanos that hail from the San Luis Valley of Colorado, the Sangre De Cristo mountains, and many various historical indigenous land grant communities & villages make up this very unique portion of the country. If you have deep roots + multiple generations going back in the state of NM or CO, I am very likely related to you. Our culture comes from the Spanish Crown funded settler slave trade that existed long before the trans Atlantic slave trade. These Spanish settlers enslaved various tribes such as Kiowa, Apache, Ute, Diné, etc. We have our own dialect of Spanish found nowhere else on earth, unique spiritual practices & beliefs, unique foods, music, folk songs, traditions, feasts, and dances. Pretty damn cool right?
Unfortunately, a downside of this is possibly winning the genetic lottery cash prize- being related to a good ol’ spanish colonial family called the Baca family who did those of us in the Genizaro nation a fantastic service by passing on an extremely rare gene that causes a very unique manifestation of highly drug resistant epilepsy. This unique gene mutation called the “Common Hispanic Mutation” outside of causing horrible seizures, you also get a HUGE chance of passing that down to a child, particularly of the same sex- & girls seem to be the pattern in my family.
The drugs required to treat it are high level anti epileptic drugs. I currently take Keppra and Lamotrogine, or Lamictal. Well, something pretty damn horrifying about these drugs that at best, they maintain your seizures. At worst, if you get pregnant on them- your kid will literally be born with the most horrifying birth defects imaginable & will likely need the plug pulled. If they aren’t DOA, you will likely have to torture your damn baby by making them dependent on all sorts of shit the rest of their life. To me, I could never fathom ever putting an innocent human being through all that torture for the sake of,”awww, cute baby” bullshit. Part of me being CF is so I don’t pass this awful disease down & put someone else through hell, I enjoy my life, I enjoy my peace & quiet, I enjoy being “selfish”, & I am completely content with my ferrets & cat.
[CF RANT PORTION] Fast forward. I just got married in February. I had an incredible wedding, surrounded by people I love & adore.
But my sister in law. Oh my goddamn sister in law.
She got pregnant just barely after turning 19 and makes good & goddamn sure at every turn she wants ME to pay for her mistake. She works a dead end job for minimum wage in a meth town near where I was raised.
She leaves her 3 ish year old at home while she goes out with her mommy friends getting plaster drunk, her daughter destroys everything she gets her grubby little hands on, sobbing over money she doesn’t have with a SECOND baby on the way (unplanned), crying about how her daughter won’t listen to her, saying she just can’t figure out why her baby girl is so upset (maybe if you actually provided her proper attention), and asks every. single. time. when she calls my partner when I’m having a baby.
I cannot even stand to be around my legal niece because the kid is so fucking spoiled, breaks everything they touch, screams (stress is my biggest trigger for seizures, I have serious sensory issues too) at EVERYTHING, and her mom is a whiny pick me brat who can barely afford to take care of her. And ofc, it’s not my nieces fault. It’s her moms fault.
My MIL bails out my SIL all the fucking time- but god forbid WE ask ONCE if my MIL could help on a short month with a phone bill or the HOA.
Not me, my partner. I heard her WHINING to my partner and what a stick in the mud I was for not wanting to give her little angel a cousin.
SIL… I’m fucking 22 years old? Are you insane? I’m not even finished my undergrad? I just launched a fucking company? I just got added another fucking AED because I’m having so many damn seizures? It’s not normal to be pregnant at this age?
Every time I confront her? It’s tuck tail, run & hide. But oh when it’s my partner, it’s,”why is OP being SOOO aggressive???” “OP just NEVERRR wants to be around me or niece!!!” “OP hates niece because she doesn’t want to give her a cousinnnn!!!” “Why didn’t OP write niece a handmade cardddd!!!” “Why doesn’t OP have more pictures of niecee??” “Why doesn’t OP come down moreeee???” “MIL never gets to see you guys because you live in a different stateeee!!!” “OP NEVERRR comes to babysit niece!!!” “OP just cares about school and making money!!!!” “OP doesn’t care about MY DAUGHTERRRR!!!!” “OP buys nice clothes for herself but can’t buy ANYTHING for my daughterrr??”
No SIL, I don’t want to put an innocent human being likely through a lifetime of disability, hardship, suffering, torture, and possibly having to fucking pull the plug on her bc your spoiled brat of a baby is such a complete fucking terror because all you do is drink with your high school mean girl mommy backwoods friends who have literally never left 15 miles outside the town we grew up in???? Do people like this really think we ENVY them? Sorry, I’m not bringing a cousin for your fucking kid YOU can’t take care of because YOU want one. Tell me SIL- are you paying my child’s college fund? You paying for my kids probable genetic condition? You paying the extra principal on my mortgage rn so I can upgrade a house to HAVE a kid? What about the years of medical care they’ll need? Because I was raised,”if you have a kid you better make good & goddamn sure you can set it up for success”.
Much of what gives me solace is, I’ve known my partner since I was 12, so a decade now. We both went to the same school together & had the same friend groups. This is absolutely karma that’s been long overdue. 6 people who I grew up with when my partner and I first got together told me my SIL tried so hard to bully them ALL SIX of them ATTEMPTED SUICIDE. 😐
I’m just glad she’s getting what she fucking deserves. Am I wrong for this? Is it too much to just revel in her whiny ass misery?
I

( I apologize in advance for the length of this post. If you're not interested in reading about my sub-breakthrough trips, feel free to skip to number 6 below.)
As someone with experience in using psychedelics, including relatively high doses of LSD and 2CB, and a history of other drug use in general, I was curious to explore the effects of DMT and embarked on a journey to discover what the spirit molecule was all about.
For my DMT experiences, I used a Yocan Orbit vape pen. At first, I tried doses of around 20-30mg, but I wasn't able to break through. After a few attempts, I decided to increase my dose to 30-40mg, and that's when things really started to get interesting.
1) The first time I tried, I didn't vape it correctly and only experienced some closed eye visuals. I definitely had a nice rush, but was still very aware of my thoughts and my body, the room, the couch. It was an amazing feeling, but I knew this wasn’t it.
2) The second time was more intense. As soon as I took the second pull and exhaled, my vision started pixelating and a hurricane appeared in the room, everything was shaking. It was quite overwhelming with my eyes open, so I closed my eyes and took the last pull. I ended up in another world with lots of fluid colors and dynamic shape-shifting figures. The trip was very visual and uncontrollable, with no physical contact to the real world. It was accompanied by a general positive feeling, uninfluenced by external stimuli. This trip had nothing spiritual I think, although the time distortion was pretty neat, it definitely felt longer than a few minutes. At this point, I thought I had broken through, but looking back I guess not.
3) The third time, my experience is very fuzzy, I don’t have too many memories of the trip, though I distinctly remember visuals similar to my second trip, with lots of colors and Innerbloom-like imagery. I felt as though I had broken through again, but this time, it felt like an energy was trying to guide me towards choosing a cup of coffee. I felt as though I was on the verge of actually seeing physical entities, rather than just feeling their energy, but I was too distracted by the colors to focus. This time, I didn't hear any words, but I had a strange feeling that I was being observed and someone was counting on me to make a choice. Although it didn't feel like my choice of coffee (or whatever the drink was) had any real impact, I still had a positive and trippy experience overall. The visuals were mind-blowing and beautiful, but I realized that I needed to find a way to avoid getting too caught up in them. I encountered some elusive female creatures that I couldn't interact with, and I was left with the feeling that there was more to discover – perhaps taking a higher dose would allow me to navigate the experience better!
4) The fourth time, I felt like it was a short one compared to the previous ones. The time distortion was not as noticeable, but the trip was very colorful once again. I lost all sensations in my body and felt completely independent. The music I was listening to slowly faded away as I was transported to a world of colorful shapes. Some of the colors and shapes started transforming into these female creatures, with flowing animation all over their bodies and colors around their head that resembled hair. They moved gracefully but I couldn't figure out what they wanted. They didn't seem evil, but floated around like ghosts, and I think they had "legs" but preferred floating. I couldn't figure out how to interact with them, and at some point, they started speaking gibberish, but it was hard to make out. At some point, I couldn't tell if I was hearing the gibberish with my ears or another exotic sense. It felt like I was able to hear the gibberish through my ears, mouth, and eyes at the same time, which seemed impossible. Eventually, they got angry and left, and I opened my eyes, with slight distortions like at the end of my previous trips.
​
(Please note that the following two trips were taken on the same day while under the influence of 400mg MDMA, 20mg 2cb, and a few bumps of DCK, along with a couple of backwoods.)
​
5) The fifth time, it was a 420 celebration with a group of friends and we decided to do a nexus flip. After a few hours, we decided to vape some DMT. I prepared my dose, took a few hits, and was launched into the DMT realm. However, my friend who was already high on MDMA and 2CB, took the vape out of my hand and started asking me where the DMT baggie was. I couldn't hear or answer him, but he thought it was in one of my pockets. While I was tripping hard and hallucinating, I suddenly felt something grab my leg which startled me and I woke up panicked from my trip. I froze in fear, feeling like the DMT realm and the real world had merged. I observed this mystical land in detail with my eyes, and my friend resembled the green Aztec creature I had been interacting with in the other world. The hallucination eventually faded into a light acid trip visual, and my friend apologized for waking me up, saying he only wanted to find the baggie so he could trip too. I was angry with him because of the panic it induced, waking up in the middle of nowhere with God knows who. After taking a couple of minutes to breathe, I returned to chill with our other friends to continue the 420 celebrations. Although I don't remember many details from this trip, the hallucinations felt much more intense for the short time they lasted. However, it made me realize that I had not yet experienced a breakthrough, and that I had been in the waiting room this whole time. I was determined to have a true breakthrough, to experience the full extent of what DMT had to offer. I wanted to find myself transported to a completely different realm of existence, a place unlike anything I had ever experienced before. I had no idea what was in store for me later that day.
6) Breakthrough #1: The Puzzle Labyrinth
The sixth time was literally out of this world. I had just finished a previous DMT trip, but I needed one more before the day was done. It was in the evening, and I was with my 420 friends, who were all in a quiet chilling mood. I asked them to leave me alone during my trip, and I put on Moderator's "Words Remain" (Vinyl Extended Version) and took off on my last journey for the day. Once again there must've been around 40mg plus whatever residue was left from earlier, so definitely a breakthrough dose. I had also mastered the smoking technique by now so I knew how to maximize the effects. The come-up was pretty quick; it was a blast of black and white lines, and I ended up in a small, colorful room with a couple of puzzles on a table. Not jigsaw puzzles, but those little toys where you move squares around and it forms a picture or pattern, for example. This felt like a neutral, positive experience, nothing to complain about here. I can't remember all the puzzles, but I remember once I finished them, I was transported through a tunnel which dropped me into this much less colorful room, brown and grey, very ancient and tribal looking, which gradually became bigger as I looked around, and then it morphed into a labyrinth, with puzzles all over the walls. I was terrified, obviously not able to realize I was hallucinating. It was as if nothing mattered in the real world. No, it was as if this was the new world. The only thing that came to mind was to run. So I started to run through the labyrinth. This was a mistake, I think I should have stayed calm and oriented myself around the maze, or maybe tried some of the puzzles on the walls. But no, as soon as I started running, the corridors started closing. A huge slab of concrete would fall into place, blocking me from running and continuing my route. I couldn't figure out how to get around. Then a puzzle appeared, engraved into the slab. Not just any puzzle, the same ones as earlier, now only 100 times bigger and made out of concrete. I did my best to move the pieces around somehow and progressed, but I really should have stopped running. Because still in panic mode, I hit another block. Only this time the walls were closing in from the back. If I didn't solve the next puzzle, I would be crushed against the puzzle slab due to the closing walls. Now I can't remember if I solved the second puzzle or not, but all I know is that fast enough, I was crushed into the puzzle, maybe on the second or maybe third one. What followed after was a clear ego death. Even though I had never experienced one in my life with my previous tripping experiences, I knew this was it. I no longer had a body, only a spirit that would mold itself into a body based on whatever I was seeing/experiencing at the moment. It was terrifying; it felt like the end of the world, but I was finally at peace. Understanding that there was nothing above and nothing below me, that there was a world I existed in without occupying any physical place, just thoughts and experiences. It was so sad to see that, but something felt right. Nothing more, nothing less, it just was. I don't know if this makes any sense, but there were no borders. Everything melted into everything else. I had found my tiny spot in this puzzling life, but it felt so raw to witness this moment of death and giving yourself up to some supernatural spectacle. And for some reason, it was my turn to be the spectator to this magnificent phenomenon. Once the realization was made, I opened my eyes, and I thought it was over. I was wrong. As soon as I sat up, I saw my friends staring at me, but I was unable to rationalize or communicate anything because I was still tripping hard. My eyes had a blue filter, so it felt like we were underwater, and my perception of depth and distance was all messed up to the point where a friend sitting a meter away looked 10 meters away. The most messed up part was that the song I had put on was still playing - the entire closed-eye visuals trip lasted only three minutes, and now I was at the end with the trippy vocals. It was really intense, and I kept hearing gibberish in my head, like a digital voice talking to me, but I couldn't make anything out. However, I was quite aware that this wasn't real, that I was tripping hard on DMT, and that it was going to pass. As I said, my friends were staring at me with wide eyes, and when I was able to talk again very slowly, I mustered the force and courage to say, "I'm sorry if I did or said anything I shouldn't have." I didn't hear my voice, but I heard a digital echo of my voice. I had heard stories about people crying or screaming or whatnot, and I just hoped I didn't freak my friends out. They said nothing happened; they were just watching curiously. I still didn't remember that the wide eyes were probably due to the MDMA from earlier, but it hit me later. However, this whole time I still had the blue filter, and now this had disappeared and transformed into a glitchy screen filter, kind of Black Mirror style. And I kept hearing some weird female digital voice that I couldn't understand. This was a bit overwhelming because I thought maybe I had done too much DMT, and that the digital filter and voice wouldn't disappear. After about a minute, everything went away. I was relieved to not have become schizophrenic, and I was officially back in the real world. All in all, it was a terrifying experience to go through an ego death, to then wake up thinking I melted my brain. But it put things into perspective, and I guess it felt interesting coming to terms with life like that. DMT can really do some interesting things, and I was happy to finally have my real first breakthrough.
In conclusion, I must say that despite the overwhelming and terrifying experience I had, I truly loved my first breakthrough, looking through the lens of DMT. It was a journey of self-discovery and realization that allowed me to see the world in a different way. It's amazing how a small amount of this powerful psychedelic compound can have such a profound impact on our consciousness.

( I apologize in advance for the length of this post. If you're not interested in reading about my sub-breakthrough trips, feel free to skip to number 6 below.)
As someone with experience in using psychedelics, including relatively high doses of LSD and 2CB, and a history of other drug use in general, I was curious to explore the effects of DMT and embarked on a journey to discover what the spirit molecule was all about.
For my DMT experiences, I used a Yocan Orbit vape pen. At first, I tried doses of around 20-30mg, but I wasn't able to break through. After a few attempts, I decided to increase my dose to 30-40mg, and that's when things really started to get interesting.
1) The first time I tried, I didn't vape it correctly and only experienced some closed eye visuals. I definitely had a nice rush, but was still very aware of my thoughts and my body, the room, the couch. It was an amazing feeling, but I knew this wasn’t it.
2) The second time was more intense. As soon as I took the second pull and exhaled, my vision started pixelating and a hurricane appeared in the room, everything was shaking. It was quite overwhelming with my eyes open, so I closed my eyes and took the last pull. I ended up in another world with lots of fluid colors and dynamic shape-shifting figures. The trip was very visual and uncontrollable, with no physical contact to the real world. It was accompanied by a general positive feeling, uninfluenced by external stimuli. This trip had nothing spiritual I think, although the time distortion was pretty neat, it definitely felt longer than a few minutes. At this point, I thought I had broken through, but looking back I guess not.
3) The third time, my experience is very fuzzy, I don’t have too many memories of the trip, though I distinctly remember visuals similar to my second trip, with lots of colors and Innerbloom-like imagery. I felt as though I had broken through again, but this time, it felt like an energy was trying to guide me towards choosing a cup of coffee. I felt as though I was on the verge of actually seeing physical entities, rather than just feeling their energy, but I was too distracted by the colors to focus. This time, I didn't hear any words, but I had a strange feeling that I was being observed and someone was counting on me to make a choice. Although it didn't feel like my choice of coffee (or whatever the drink was) had any real impact, I still had a positive and trippy experience overall. The visuals were mind-blowing and beautiful, but I realized that I needed to find a way to avoid getting too caught up in them. I encountered some elusive female creatures that I couldn't interact with, and I was left with the feeling that there was more to discover – perhaps taking a higher dose would allow me to navigate the experience better!
4) The fourth time, I felt like it was a short one compared to the previous ones. The time distortion was not as noticeable, but the trip was very colorful once again. I lost all sensations in my body and felt completely independent. The music I was listening to slowly faded away as I was transported to a world of colorful shapes. Some of the colors and shapes started transforming into these female creatures, with flowing animation all over their bodies and colors around their head that resembled hair. They moved gracefully but I couldn't figure out what they wanted. They didn't seem evil, but floated around like ghosts, and I think they had "legs" but preferred floating. I couldn't figure out how to interact with them, and at some point, they started speaking gibberish, but it was hard to make out. At some point, I couldn't tell if I was hearing the gibberish with my ears or another exotic sense. It felt like I was able to hear the gibberish through my ears, mouth, and eyes at the same time, which seemed impossible. Eventually, they got angry and left, and I opened my eyes, with slight distortions like at the end of my previous trips.
​
(Please note that the following two trips were taken on the same day while under the influence of 400mg MDMA, 20mg 2cb, and a few bumps of DCK, along with a couple of backwoods.)
​
5) The fifth time, it was a 420 celebration with a group of friends and we decided to do a nexus flip. After a few hours, we decided to vape some DMT. I prepared my dose, took a few hits, and was launched into the DMT realm. However, my friend who was already high on MDMA and 2CB, took the vape out of my hand and started asking me where the DMT baggie was. I couldn't hear or answer him, but he thought it was in one of my pockets. While I was tripping hard and hallucinating, I suddenly felt something grab my leg which startled me and I woke up panicked from my trip. I froze in fear, feeling like the DMT realm and the real world had merged. I observed this mystical land in detail with my eyes, and my friend resembled the green Aztec creature I had been interacting with in the other world. The hallucination eventually faded into a light acid trip visual, and my friend apologized for waking me up, saying he only wanted to find the baggie so he could trip too. I was angry with him because of the panic it induced, waking up in the middle of nowhere with God knows who. After taking a couple of minutes to breathe, I returned to chill with our other friends to continue the 420 celebrations. Although I don't remember many details from this trip, the hallucinations felt much more intense for the short time they lasted. However, it made me realize that I had not yet experienced a breakthrough, and that I had been in the waiting room this whole time. I was determined to have a true breakthrough, to experience the full extent of what DMT had to offer. I wanted to find myself transported to a completely different realm of existence, a place unlike anything I had ever experienced before. I had no idea what was in store for me later that day.
6) Breakthrough #1: The Puzzle Labyrinth
The sixth time was literally out of this world. I had just finished a previous DMT trip, but I needed one more before the day was done. It was in the evening, and I was with my 420 friends, who were all in a quiet chilling mood. I asked them to leave me alone during my trip, and I put on Moderator's "Words Remain" (Vinyl Extended Version) and took off on my last journey for the day. Once again there must've been around 40mg plus whatever residue was left from earlier, so definitely a breakthrough dose. I had also mastered the smoking technique by now so I knew how to maximize the effects. The come-up was pretty quick; it was a blast of black and white lines, and I ended up in a small, colorful room with a couple of puzzles on a table. Not jigsaw puzzles, but those little toys where you move squares around and it forms a picture or pattern, for example. This felt like a neutral, positive experience, nothing to complain about here. I can't remember all the puzzles, but I remember once I finished them, I was transported through a tunnel which dropped me into this much less colorful room, brown and grey, very ancient and tribal looking, which gradually became bigger as I looked around, and then it morphed into a labyrinth, with puzzles all over the walls. I was terrified, obviously not able to realize I was hallucinating. It was as if nothing mattered in the real world. No, it was as if this was the new world. The only thing that came to mind was to run. So I started to run through the labyrinth. This was a mistake, I think I should have stayed calm and oriented myself around the maze, or maybe tried some of the puzzles on the walls. But no, as soon as I started running, the corridors started closing. A huge slab of concrete would fall into place, blocking me from running and continuing my route. I couldn't figure out how to get around. Then a puzzle appeared, engraved into the slab. Not just any puzzle, the same ones as earlier, now only 100 times bigger and made out of concrete. I did my best to move the pieces around somehow and progressed, but I really should have stopped running. Because still in panic mode, I hit another block. Only this time the walls were closing in from the back. If I didn't solve the next puzzle, I would be crushed against the puzzle slab due to the closing walls. Now I can't remember if I solved the second puzzle or not, but all I know is that fast enough, I was crushed into the puzzle, maybe on the second or maybe third one. What followed after was a clear ego death. Even though I had never experienced one in my life with my previous tripping experiences, I knew this was it. I no longer had a body, only a spirit that would mold itself into a body based on whatever I was seeing/experiencing at the moment. It was terrifying; it felt like the end of the world, but I was finally at peace. Understanding that there was nothing above and nothing below me, that there was a world I existed in without occupying any physical place, just thoughts and experiences. It was so sad to see that, but something felt right. Nothing more, nothing less, it just was. I don't know if this makes any sense, but there were no borders. Everything melted into everything else. I had found my tiny spot in this puzzling life, but it felt so raw to witness this moment of death and giving yourself up to some supernatural spectacle. And for some reason, it was my turn to be the spectator to this magnificent phenomenon. Once the realization was made, I opened my eyes, and I thought it was over. I was wrong. As soon as I sat up, I saw my friends staring at me, but I was unable to rationalize or communicate anything because I was still tripping hard. My eyes had a blue filter, so it felt like we were underwater, and my perception of depth and distance was all messed up to the point where a friend sitting a meter away looked 10 meters away. The most messed up part was that the song I had put on was still playing - the entire closed-eye visuals trip lasted only three minutes, and now I was at the end with the trippy vocals. It was really intense, and I kept hearing gibberish in my head, like a digital voice talking to me, but I couldn't make anything out. However, I was quite aware that this wasn't real, that I was tripping hard on DMT, and that it was going to pass. As I said, my friends were staring at me with wide eyes, and when I was able to talk again very slowly, I mustered the force and courage to say, "I'm sorry if I did or said anything I shouldn't have." I didn't hear my voice, but I heard a digital echo of my voice. I had heard stories about people crying or screaming or whatnot, and I just hoped I didn't freak my friends out. They said nothing happened; they were just watching curiously. I still didn't remember that the wide eyes were probably due to the MDMA from earlier, but it hit me later. However, this whole time I still had the blue filter, and now this had disappeared and transformed into a glitchy screen filter, kind of Black Mirror style. And I kept hearing some weird female digital voice that I couldn't understand. This was a bit overwhelming because I thought maybe I had done too much DMT, and that the digital filter and voice wouldn't disappear. After about a minute, everything went away. I was relieved to not have become schizophrenic, and I was officially back in the real world. All in all, it was a terrifying experience to go through an ego death, to then wake up thinking I melted my brain. But it put things into perspective, and I guess it felt interesting coming to terms with life like that. DMT can really do some interesting things, and I was happy to finally have my real first breakthrough.
In conclusion, I must say that despite the overwhelming and terrifying experience I had, I truly loved my first breakthrough, looking through the lens of DMT. It was a journey of self-discovery and realization that allowed me to see the world in a different way. It's amazing how a small amount of this powerful psychedelic compound can have such a profound impact on our consciousness.

The Backwoods Project is currently focused on approximately 45 acres around our home in the Alabama Piedmont. However, we currently have mostly unfettered access to a further 450 acres of family land surrounding our property. The project area is expected to expand over time as we take responsibility for managing more of the family land, but until then we have access to any plants on the larger property for the purpose of habitat preservation and propagation.
This list is intended to include all vascular plant taxa present in the aforementioned area except non-natives that were planted, i.e. non-natives growing wild are included, as are natives that have been planted, but not non-natives that were planted. Some of these plants have well-established populations, while others are present only as a single seedling. All are included. Non-natives and particularly invasives will be targeted for removal, while efforts will be taken to try and establish viable populations for introduced natives.
For a new taxon to be introduced to the project area, it must meet two criteria:

1. I must personally confirm that the taxon is currently growing wild somewhere in the Alabama Piedmont.
2. Using Weakley' Flora as the primary authority, the taxon must be listed as native to the Alabama Piedmont or any of the surrounding regions, i.e. the Alabama Mountains, Alabama Coastal Plain, Georgia Piedmont, Georgia Mountains, or Georgia Coastal Plain.

My experience suggests that the Alabama Piedmont's flora has been poorly documented, perhaps because of the paucity of public lands for naturalists to explore. In any case, it is my belief that many of the native taxa have gone undocumented..
The list below is currently incomplete and will continue to be updated and corrected. Definitions and notes on particular taxa will be included in a separate comment below. Strikethrough indicates taxa that, to my knowledge, have been recently extirpated from the land.
​

FORM	SCIENTIFIC NAME	COMMON NAME	ORIGIN	SE STATUS
Herb	Acalypha gracilens	Slender copperleaf	Native	Common
Herb	Acalypha ostryifolia	Hophornbeam copperleaf	Native	Common
Herb	Acalypha rhomboidea	Rhombic copperleaf	Native	Common
Tree	Acer floridanum	Southern sugar maple	Endemic	Uncommon
Tree	Acer leucoderme	Chalkbark maple	Endemic	Rare
Tree	Acer negundo var. negundo	Eastern ashleaf maple	Native	Common
Tree	Acer rubrum var. rubrum	Eastern red maple	Native	Common
Tree	Acer rubrum var. trilobum	Carolina red maple	Native	Common
Tree	Acer saccharum var. saccharum	Sugar maple	Native	Rare
Herb	Achillea gracilis	Eastern yarrow	Native	Common
Shrub	Aesculus pavia var. pavia	Red buckeye	Native	Uncommon
Herb	Agalinis fasciculata var. fasciculata	Beech false foxglove	Native	Common
Herb	Agalinis purpurea	Purple false foxglove	Native	Common
Herb	Agalinis tenuifolia	Slender false foxglove	Native	Common
Herb	Ageratina aromatica	Small-leaf white snakeroot	Native	Common
Tree	Albizia julibrissin	Persian silk tree	Invasive	Common
Herb	Aletris farinosa	Northern white colic-root	Native	Common
Herb	Allium ampeloprasum	Elephant garlic	Introduced	Uncommon
Herb	Allium canadense	Wild onion	Native	Common
Shrub	Alnus serrulata	Smooth alder	Native	Common
Herb	Amauropelta noveboracensis	New York fern	Native	Common
Herb	Ambrosia artemisiifolia	Common ragweed	Native	Common
Tree	Amelanchier arborea	Downy serviceberry	Native	Common
Herb	Amianthium muscitoxicum	Fly-poison	Endemic	Uncommon
Shrub	Amorpha fruticosa	Tall indigo-bush	Native	Common
Vine	Amphicarpaea bracteata var. bracteata	Hog-peanut	Native	Common
Herb	Andropogon gerardi	Big bluestem	Native	Common
Herb	Anemone quinquefolia	Wood anemone	Native	Uncommon
Herb	Angelica venenosa	Hairy angelica	Native	Common
Herb	Antennaria plantaginifolia	Plantain pussytoes	Native	Common
Herb	Antennaria solitaria	Southern single-head pussytoes	Native	Rare
Vine	Apios americana	Common groundnut	Native	Common
Herb	Apocynum cannibinum	Indian-hemp	Native	Common
Shrub	Aralia spinosa	Devil's walkingstick	Native	Common
Herb	Arisaema acuminatum	Florida Jack-in-the-pulpit	Native	Unreported
Shrub	Aronia arbutifolia	Red chokeberry	Native	Common
Shrub	Arundinaria sp. 1	Alabama cane	Endemic	Uncommon
Herb	Asclepias amplexicaulis	Clasping milkweed	Native	Common
Herb	Asclepias tuberosa var. tuberosa	Eastern butterflyweed	Native	Common
Herb	Asclepias variegata	Redring milkweed	Native	Common
Herb	Asclepias verticillata	Whorled milkweed	Native	Uncommon
Tree	Asimina triloba	Common pawpaw	Native	Common
Shrub	Asimina parviflora	Small-flower pawpaw	Endemic	Common
Herb	Asplenium platyneuron	Ebony spleenwort	Native	Common
Herb	Athyrium asplenioides	Southern lady fern	Native	Common
Herb	Aureolaria flava	Smooth oak-leech	Native	Common
Herb	Aureolaria pectinata	Southern oak-leech	Endemic	Common
Herb	Aureolaria virginica	Downy oak-leech	Native	Common
Shrub	Baccharis halimifolia	Eastern silverling	Paranative	Common
Herb	Baptisia albescens	Spiked wild indigo	Endemic	Rare
Tree	Benthamidia florida	Flowering dogwood	Native	Common
Liana	Berchemia scandens	Alabama supplejack	Native	Rare
Tree	Betula nigra	River birch	Native	Common
Herb	Bidens aristosa	Tickseed-sunflower	Native	Common
Herb	Bidens frondosa	Devil's beggarticks	Native	Common
Liana	Bignonia capreolata	Cross-vine	Endemic	Common
Herb	Boehmeria cylindrica	Swamp nettle	Native	Common
Herb	Borodinia canadensis	Sicklepod	Native	Rare
Herb	Brickellia eupatoroides	False boneset	Native	Common
Herb	Briza minor	Lesser quaking grass	Introduced	Uncommon
Herb	Bromus commutatus	Meadow brome	Introduced	Common
Shrub	Callicarpa americana	American beautyberry	Native	Common
Shrub	Calycanthus floridus	Sweetshrub	Endemic	Common
Herb	Campanula divaricata	Southern harebell	Endemic	Rare
Liana	Campsis radicans	Trumpet-vine	Native	Common
Herb	Capsella bursa-pastoris	Common shepherd's purse	Introduced	Common
Herb	Cardamine hirsuta	Hairy bittercress	Introduced	Common
Herb	Carduus nutans	Musk thistle	Introduced	Uncommon
Herb	Carex atlantica	Prickly bog sedge	Native	Uncommon
Herb	Carex blanda	Charming sedge	Native	Uncommon
Herb	Carex complanata	Hirsute sedge	Endemic	Common
Herb	Carex crinata var. crinata	Fringed sedge	Native	Uncommon
Herb	Carex intumescens var. intumenscens	Bladder sedge	Native	Common
Herb	Carex lurida	Sallow sedge	Native	Common
Herb	Carex nigromarginata	Black-edged sedge	Native	Common
Herb	Carex picta	Painted sedge	Endemic	Uncommon
Tree	Carpinus caroliniana var. virginiana	American hornbeam	Native	Uncommon
Tree	Carya glabra	Pignut hickory	Native	Common
Tree	Carya illinoisnensis	Pecan	Paranative	Rare
Tree	Carya ovalis	Red hickory	Native	Rare
Tree	Carya pallida	Pale hickory	Endemic	Common
Tree	Carya tomentosa	Mockernut hickory	Native	Common
Tree	Castanea alabamensis	Alabama chinquapin	Endemic	Unreported
Shrub	Ceanothus americanus var. americanus	Common New Jersey tea	Native	Common
Tree	Celtis laevigata	Sugarberry	Native	Common
Tree	Celtis pumila	Georgia hackberry	Native	Uncommon
Vine	Centrosema virginianum var. virginianum	Butterfly pea	Native	Common
Shrub	Cephalanthus occidentalis	Buttonbush	Native	Common
Herb	Cerastium glomeratum	Sticky mouse-ear	Introduced	Common
Tree	Cercis canadensis	Eastern redbud	Native	Common
Herb	Chaerophyllum tainturieri	Southern chervil	Native	Common
Herb	Chamaecrista fasciculata var. fasciculata	Common partridge pea	Native	Common
Herb	Chamaecrista nictitans var. nictitans	Common sensitive pea	Native	Common
Herb	Chamaelirium luteum	Fairy-wand	Native	Common
Herb	Chasmanthium sessilifolium var. sessilifolium	Longleaf woodoats	Endemic	Common
Herb	Chelone glabra	White turtlehead	Native	Common
Herb	Chimaphila maculata	Striped wintergreen	Native	Common
Shrub	Chionanthus virginicus	White fringetree	Endemic	Common
Herb	Chrysopsis mariana	Maryland golden-aster	Native	Common
Herb	Cicuta maculata	Water-hemlock	Native	Common
Herb	Cirsium carolinianum	Soft thistle	Endemic	Rare
Herb	Cirsium horridulum var. horridulum	Bristle thistle	Native	Common
Herb	Cirsium nuttallii	Nuttall's thistle	Endemic	Rare
Herb	Cirsium vulgare	Bull thistle	Introduced	Uncommon
Shrub	Citrus trifoliata	Hardy orange	Introduced	Uncommon
Liana	Clematis terniflora	Sweet autumn clematis	Introduced	Uncommon
Liana	Clematis virginiana	Virgin's-bower	Native	Common
Shrub	Clinopodium georgianum	Georgia calamint	Endemic	Uncommon
Herb	Clitoria mariana var. mariana	Pigeonwings	Native	Common
Herb	Collinsonia canadensis	Northern horsebalm	Native	Common
Herb	Commelina communis	Asiatic dayflower	Introduced	Common
Herb	Conoclinium coelestinum	Blue mistflower	Native	Common
Vine	Convolvulus catesbyanus	Catesby's bindweed	Endemic	Common
Herb	Coreopsis auriculata	Lobed tickseed	Endemic	Uncommon
Herb	Coreopsis grandiflora var. randiflorag	Large-flowered tickseed	Native	Rare
Herb	Coreopsis major	Woodland tickseed	Endemic	Common
Shrub	Corylus americana	American hazelnut	Native	Rare
Shrub	Corylus cornuta var. cornuta	Beaked hazelnut	Native	Rare
Tree	Crataegus iracunda var. iracunda	Forest hawthorn	Endemic	Uncommon
Tree	Crataegus marshallii	Parsley hawthorn	Endemic	Common
Tree	Crataegus ravenelii	Ravenel's hawthorn	Endemic	Rare
Tree	Crataegus spathulata	Littlehip hawthorn	Endemic	Common
Shrub	Crataegus uniflora	One-flower hawthorn	Native	Common
Herb	Crotalaria sagittalis	Common rattlebox	Native	Uncommon
Herb	Crotalaria spectabilis	Showy rattlebox	Introduced	Common
Herb	Croton glandulosus var. septentrionalis	Sand croton	Paranative	Common
Vine	Cuscuta compacta	Sessile dodder	Native	Common
Herb	Danthonia sericea	Silky oat-grass	Native	Common
Herb	Desmodium canescens	Hoary tick-clover	Native	Common
Herb	Desmodium marilandicum	Maryland tick-clover	Native	Common
Herb	Desmodium paniculatum var. paniculatum	Panicled tick-clover	Native	Common
Herb	Dianthus armeria ssp. armeria	Deptford pink	Introduced	Unreported
Herb	Dichanthelium boscii	Bosc's witchgrass	Native	Common
Herb	Dichanthelium commutatum var. commutatum	Variable witchgrass	Native	Common
Herb	Dichanthelium laxiflorum	Open-flower witchgrass	Native	Common
Herb	Diodia virginiana	Large buttonweed	Native	Common
Vine	Dioscorea villosa	Wild yam	Native	Common
Tree	Diospyros virginiana	American persimmon	Native	Common
Herb	Diphasiastrum digitatum	Southern running-cedar	Native	Common
Herb	Doellingeria umbellata var. umbellata	Parasol whitetop	Native	Rare
Herb	Eclipta prostrata	False daisy	Native	Common
Herb	Elaeagnus umbellata	Autumn-olive	Introduced	Common
Herb	Eleocharis obtusa	Blunt spikerush	Native	Common
Herb	Elephantopus carolinianus	Leafy elephant's-foot	Native	Common
Herb	Elephantopus tomentosus	Common elephant's-foot	Endemic	Common
Herb	Endodeca serpentaria	Virginia snakeroot	Native	Common
Herb	Epifagus virginiana	Beechdrops	Native	Common
Herb	Eragrostis spectabilis	Purple lovegrass	Native	Common
Herb	Erechtites hieraciifolius	American burnweed	Native	Common
Herb	Erigeron annuus	Annual fleabane	Native	Common
Herb	Erigeron canadensis	Common horseweed	Native	Common
Herb	Erigeron philadelphicus var. philadelphicus	Philadelphia fleabane	Native	Common
Herb	Erigeron pusillus	Southern horseweed	Native	Common
Herb	Erigeron strigosus var. strigosus	Common daisy fleabane	Native	Common
Herb	Eryngium yuccifolium var. yuccifolium	Northern rattlesnake master	Native	Rare
Herb	Erythronium umbilicatum var. umbilicatum	Dimpled trout lily	Endemic	Rare
Shrub	Euonymus americanus	Heart's-a-bustin'	Native	Common
Herb	Eupatorium album	White boneset	Native	Uncommon
Herb	Eupatorium capillifolium	Common dogfennel	Native	Common
Herb	Eupatorium compositifolium	Coastal Plain dogfennel	Native	Unreported
Herb	Eupatorium hyssopifolium	Hyssop-leaf boneset	Native	Common
Herb	Eupatorium rotundifolium	Roundleaf boneset	Native	Common
Herb	Eupatorium serotina	Late boneset	Native	Common
Herb	Eupatorium torreyanum	Torrey's bonset	Endemic	Rare
Herb	Euphorbia corollata	Flowering spurge	Native	Common
Herb	Euphorbia nutans	Nodding spurge	Native	Common
Herb	Euphorbia pubentissima	False flowering spurge	Endemic	Common
Herb	Eurybia divaricata	White heart-leaf aster	Native	Uncommon
Herb	Eutrochium fistulosum	Hollow-stem Joe-Pye-weed	Native	Common
Tree	Fagus grandifolia var. caroliniana	American beech	Native	Common
Vine	Fallopia convolvulus	Climbing buckwheat	Introduce	Uncommon
Herb	Fragaria ×ananassa var. ananassa	Garden strawberry	Paranative	Rare
Herb	Fragaria virginiana	Virginia strawberry	Native	Uncommon
Tree	Fraxinus americana	White ash	Native	Common
Tree	Fraxinus pennsylvanica	Green ash	Native	Common
Tree	Frangula caroliniana	Carolina buckthorn	Native	Common
Vine	Galactia regularis	Eastern milkpea	Native	Common
Herb	Galax urceolata	Galax	Endemic	Uncommon
Herb	Galium aparine	Catchweed bedstraw	Native	Common
Herb	Galium circaezans	Forest bedstraw	Native	Common
Herb	Galium sherardia	Blue field-madder	Introduced	Common
Herb	Galium uniflorum	One-flower bedstraw	Endemic	Uncommon
Herb	Gamechaeta impatiens	Elegant cudweed	Introduced	Common
Herb	Gamochaeta purpurea	Spoonleaf purple everlasting	Native	Common
Liana	Gelsemium sempervirens	Yellow jessamine	Native	Common
Herb	Gentiana saponaria	Soapwort gentian	Native	Uncommon
Herb	Gentiana villosa	Striped gentian	Endemic	Uncommon
Herb	Geranium carolinianum	Carolina crane's-bill	Native	Common
Herb	Geranium maculatum	Wild geranium	Native	Common
Herb	Geum canadense	White avens	Native	Common
Herb	Glandularia canadensis	Rose vervain	Native	Uncommon
Tree	Gleditsia triacanthos	Honeylocust	Native	Common
Vine	Gonolobus suberosa var. suberosa	Eastern anglepod	Endemic	Common
Herb	Goodyera pubescens	Downy rattlesnake orchid	Native	Rare
Herb	Gratiola virginiana	Virginia hedge-hyssop	Native	Common
Tree	Halesia tetraptera	Common silverbell	Endemic	Common
Shrub	Hamamelis virginiana var. virginiana	Northern witch-hazel	Native	Common
Herb	Helenium amarum	Bitterweed	Introduced	Common
Herb	Helianthus angustifolius	Narrow-leaf sunflower	Endemic	Common
Herb	Helianthus atrorubens	Appalachian sunflower	Endemic	Common
Herb	Helianthus divaricatus	Woodland sunflower	Native	Uncommon
Herb	Helianthus microcephalus	Small-head sunflower	Native	Common
Herb	Helianthus tuberosus	Jerusalem-artichoke	Introduced	Uncommon
Herb	Heliopsis helianthoides var. helianthoides	Eastern false sunflower	Native	Uncommon
Herb	Hexasepalum teres	Poorjoe	Native	Common
Herb	Hexastylis arifolia	Little brown jug	Endemic	Common
Herb	Hieracium gronovii	Beaked hawkweed	Native	Common
Herb	Hieracium marianum	Maryland hawkweed	Native	Rare
Herb	Houstonia caerulea	Quaker-ladies	Native	Common
Herb	Houstonia purpurea	Summer bluet	Native	Uncommon
Herb	Houstonia pusilla	Tiny bluet	Native	Common
Herb	Houstonia tenuifolia	Diffuse-branched bluet	Endemic	Rare
Shrub	Hydrangea arborescens	Wild hydrangea	Native	Common
Liana	Hydrangea barbara	Climbing hydrangea	Endemic	Common
Shrub	Hydrangea quercifolia	Oakleaf hydrangea	Endemic	Common
Herb	Hylodesmum nudiflorum	Naked tick-trefoil	Native	Common
Shrub	Hypericum crux-andreae	St. Peter's wort	Endemic	Uncommon
Shrub	Hypericum densiflorum	Bushy St. John's wort	Endemic	Unreported
Herb	Hypericum drummondii	Nits & Lice	Native	Common
Shrub	Hypericum frondosum	Golden St. John's wort	Endemic	Rare
Herb	Hypericum gentianoides	Pineweed	Native	Common
Shrub	Hypericum hypericoides	St. Andrew's cross	Native	Common
Herb	Hypericum mutilim var. mutilim	Common dwarf St. John's wort	Native	Common
Shrub	Hypericum nudiflorum	Streambank St. John's wort	Endemic	Rare
Herb	Hypericum punctatum	Spotted St. John's wort	Native	Common
Shrub	Hypericum stragulum	Straggling St. John's wort	Endemic	Rare
Herb	Hypopitys sp. 3	Eastern pinesap	Native	Uncommon
Herb	Hypoxis hirsuta	Common stargrass	Native	Common
Tree	Ilex opaca	American holly	Native	Common
Shrub	Ilex verticillata	Winterberry holly	Native	Common
Shrub	Ilex vomitoria	Yaupon	Native	Uncommon
Shrub	Illicium floridanum	Florida-anise	Endemic	Rare
Vine	Ipomoea coccinea	Scarlet creeper	Native	Uncommon
Vine	Ipomoea hederacea	Ivy-leaf morning glory	Paranative	Common
Vine	Ipomoea lacunosa	Small white morning-glory	Native	Common
Vine	Ipomoea pandurata	Wild potato vine	Native	Common
Vine	Ipomoea purpurea	Common morning glory	Introduced	Common
Herb	Iris cristata	Dwarf crested iris	Native	Uncommon
Herb	Iris verna var. smalliana	Upland dwarf iris	Endemic	Common
Shrub	Itea virginica	Virginia sweetspire	Endemic	Common
Vine	Jacquemontia tamnifolia	Common jacquemontia	Introduced	Common
Tree	Juglans nigra	Black walnut	Native	Common
Herb	Juncus acuminatus	Sharp-fruited rush	Native	Common
Herb	Juncus effusus	Soft rush	Native	Common
Herb	Juncus tenuis	Path rush	Native	Common
Tree	Juniperus virginiana	Eastern redcedar	Native	Common
Shrub	Kalmia latifolia	Mountain-laurel	Native	Common
Herb	Krigia biflora ssp. biflora	Two-flower dwarf-dandelion	Native	Common
Herb	Krigia cespitosa	Weedy dwarf-dandelion	Native	Common
Herb	Krigia virginica	Virginia dwarf-dandelion	Native	Common
Herb	Kummerowia striata	Japanese-clover	Introduced	Common
Herb	Lactuca canadensis	American wild lettuce	Native	Common
Herb	Lactuca floridana	Woodland lettuce	Native	Common
Herb	Lamium amplexicaule var. amplexicaule	Henbit deadnettle	Introduced	Common
Herb	Lamium purpureum	Purple deadnettle	Introduced	Common
Herb	Lepidium virginicum	Virginia pepperweed	Native	Common
Shrub	Lespedeza bicolor	Shrubby bushclover	Introduced	Common
Herb	Lespedeza cuneata	Chinese bush-clover	Introduced	Common
Herb	Lespedeza hirta var. hirta	Hairy bush-clover	Native	Common
Herb	Lespedeza procumbens	Trailing bush-clover	Native	Common
Herb	Lespedeza repens	Creeping bush-clover	Native	Common
Herb	Lespedeza violacea	Wand bush-clover	Native	Common
Herb	Lespedeza virginica	Slender bushclover	Native	Common
Herb	Liatris elegantula	Shaggy blazing star	Endemic	Uncommon
Herb	Liatris microcephala	Small-head blazing star	Endemic	Uncommon
Herb	Liatris squarrulosa	Appalachian blazing star	Native	Rare
Herb	Ligusticum canadense	American lovage	Endemic	Uncommon
Shrub	Ligustrum sinense	Chinese privet	Introduced	Common
Herb	Lilium michauxii	Carolina lily	Endemic	Common
Herb	Linaria canadensis	Blue toadflax	Native	Common
Shrub	Lindera benzoin	Northern spicebush	Native	Common
Herb	Linum striatum	Ridgestem yellow flax	Native	Common
Tree	Liriodendron tulipifera var. tulipifera	Tulip-poplar	Native	Common
Tree	Liquidambar styraciflua	American sweetgum	Native	Common
Herb	Lobelia cardinalis var. cardinalis	Cardinal flower	Native	Common
Herb	Lobelia georgiana	Georgia lobelia	Endemic	Rare
Herb	Lobelia inflata	Indian-tobacco	Native	Rare
Herb	Lobelia puberula	Downy lobelia	Endemic	Common
Herb	Lolium arundinaceum	Tall fescue	Introduced	Common
Herb	Lolium multiflorum	Italian ryegrass	Introduced	Common
Liana	Lonicera japonica	Japanese honeysuckle	Introduced	Common
Liana	Lonicera sempervirens	Coral honeysuckle	Native	Common
Herb	Lorinseria areolata	Netted chain fern	Native	Common
Herb	Ludwigia alternifolia	Seedbox	Native	Common
Herb	Ludwigia decurrens	Wingstem primrose-willow	Native	Common
Herb	Luzula acuminata var. carolinae	Carolina woodrush	Native	Uncommon
Herb	Luzula echinata	Hedgehog woodrush	Native	Common
Herb	Lycopus virginicus	Virginia bugleweed	Native	Common
Vine	Lygodium japonicum	Japanese climbing fern	Introduced	Uncommon
Shrub	Lyonia ligustrina var. foliosiflora	Southern maleberry	Endemic	Rare
Tree	Magnolia grandiflora	Southern magnolia	Endemic	Rare
Tree	Magnolia macrophylla	Bigleaf magnolia	Endemic	Common
Tree	Magnolia tripetala	Umbrella magnolia	Endemic	Common
Tree	Magnolia virginiana var. australis	Southern sweetbay	Native	Common
Herb	Maianthemum racemosum	Eastern Solomon's-plume	Native	Common
Herb	Malaxis unifolia	Green adder's-tounge	Native	Rare
Tree	Malus angustifolia	Southern crabapple	Endemic	Common
Herb	Medeola virginiana	Indian cucumber-root	Native	Uncommon
Herb	Melica mutica	Two-flower medic	Native	Common
Vine	Melothria pendula	Mouse melon	Native	Common
Vine	Mikania scandens	Climbing hempweed	Native	Common
Vine	Mimosa microphylla	Eastern sensitive-briar	Endemic	Common
Vine	Mitchella repens	Partridgeberry	Native	Common
Herb	Modiola caroliniana	Bristly-mallow	Paranative	Uncommon
Herb	Monarda austroappalachiana	Ocoee beebalm	Endemic	Unreported
Herb	Monarda fistulosa var. mollis	Eastern bergamot	Native	Uncommon
Herb	Monarda punctata var. punctata	Eastern horsemint	Endemic	Common
Shrub	Morella caroliniensis	Pocosin bayberry	Endemic	Rare
Shrub	Morella cerifera	Waxmyrtle	Native	Rare
Tree	Morus rubra	Red mulberry	Native	Common
Herb	Mosla dianthera	Mosla	Introduced	Uncommon
Liana	Muscadinia rotundifolia var. rotundifolia	Muscadine	Endemic	Common
Herb	Nabalus serpentaria	Lion's-foot	Native	Common
Herb	Narcissus pseudonarcissus	Daffodil	Introduced	Uncommon
Herb	Neottia bifolia	Southern twayblade	Native	Rare
Herb	Nothoscordum bivalve	Crow-poison	Native	Common
Tree	Nyssa biflora	Swamp tupelo	Endemic	Rare
Tree	Nyssa sylvatica	Black tupelo	Native	Common
Herb	Oenothera biennis	Common evening-primrose	Native	Common
Herb	Oenothera fruticosa var. 1	Glandular narrow-leaf sundrops	Endemic	Uncommon
Herb	Oenothera laciniata	Cut-leaf evening-primrose	Native	Common
Herb	Ophioglossum pycnostichum	Southern adder's-tongue	Native	Uncommon
Herb	Orbexilum pendunculatum	Western Sampson's snakeroot	Native	Common
Herb	Onoclea sensibilis	Sensitive fern	Native	Common
Herb	Osmunda spectabilis	American royal fern	Native	Common
Herb	Osmundastrum cinnamomeum	Cinnamon fern	Native	Common
Tree	Ostrya virginiana	American hophornbeam	Native	Common
Herb	Oxalis articulata	Pink-sorrel	Introduced	Rare
Herb	Oxalis colorea	Tufted woodsorrel	Endemic	Common
Herb	Oxalis dillenii	Southern yellow woodsorrel	Native	Common
Herb	Oxalis violacea	Violet woodsorrel	Native	Common
Tree	Oxydendrum arboreum	Sourwood	Native	Common
Herb	Oxypolis rigidior	Cowbane	Native	Common
Herb	Packera anonyma	Appalachian ragwort	Native	Common
Herb	Panicum virgatum var. virgatum	Switchgrass	Native	Rare
Herb	Parthenium integrifolium var. integrifolium	Common wild quinine	Native	Uncommon
Liana	Parthenocissus quinquefolia	Virginia creeper	Native	Common
Vine	Passiflora incarnata	Purple passionflower	Native	Common
Vine	Passiflora lutea	Yellow passionflower	Native	Common
Tree	Paulownia tomentosa	Princess tree	Introduced	Common
Herb	Pedicularis canadensis	Wood-betony	Native	Common
Herb	Peltandra virginica	Green arrow-arum	Native	Common
Herb	Penstemon australis	Southern beardtongue	Endemic	Common
Herb	Persicaria longiseta	Longbristle smartweed	Introduced	Common
Herb	Persicaria punctata	Dotted smartweed	Native	Common
Herb	Phytolacca americana	American pokeweed	Native	Common
Herb	Phlox amoena	Hairy phlox	Endemic	Common
Herb	Phlox carolina	Carolina phlox	Native	Common
Herb	Phlox divaricata var. laphamii	Western blue phlox	Native	Common
Shrub	Phlox nivalis ssp. nivalis	Trailing phlox	Endemic	Rare
Shrub	Phoradendron leucarpum ssp. leucarpum	American mistletoe	Native	Uncommon
Herb	Phyllanthus caroliniensis	Carolina leaf-flower	Native	Common
Herb	Physalis angulata	Smooth groundcherry	Native	Common
Herb	Physalis virginana	Virginia groundcherry	Native	Common
Herb	Pilea pumila	Greenfruit clearweed	Native	Common
Tree	Pinus echinata	Shortleaf pine	Native	Common
Tree	Pinus palustris	Longleaf pine	Endemic	Uncommon
Tree	Pinus strobus	White pine	Native	Rare
Tree	Pinus taeda	Loblolly pine	Endemic	Common
Tree	Pinus virginiana	Virginia pine	Native	Common
Herb	Piptochaetium avenaceum	Eastern needlegrass	Native	Common
Herb	Pityopsis aspera var. adenolepis	Pineland silkgrass	Endemic	Uncommon
Herb	Pityopsis nervosa	Common silkgrass	Native	Uncommon
Herb	Plantago aristata	Buckthorn plantain	Paranative	Common
Herb	Plantago lanceolata	English plaintain	Introduced	Common
Herb	Plantago rugelii	American plantain	Native	Common
Herb	Plantago virginica	Virginia plantain	Native	Common
Herb	Platanthera ciliaris	Yellow fringed orchid	Native	Rare
Herb	Platanthera clavellata	Small green wood orchid	Native	Uncommon
Tree	Platanus occidentalis var. occidentalis	American sycamore	Native	Common
Herb	Pluchea camphorata	Camphorweed	Native	Common
Herb	Pleopeltis michauxiana	Resurrection fern	Native	Common
Herb	Poa annua	Annual bluegrass	Introduced	Common
Herb	Podophyllum peltatum	May-apple	Native	Common
Herb	Polygala ambigua	Loose milkwort	Native	Uncommon
Herb	Polygala curtissii	Appalachian milkwort	Endemic	Common
Herb	Polygala nana	Candyroot	Endemic	Uncommon
Herb	Polygonatum biflorum var. biflorum	Small Solomon's seal	Native	Common
Herb	Polypremum procumbens	Rustweed	Native	Common
Herb	Polystichum acrostichoides	Christmas fern	Native	Common
Herb	Potentilla indica	Mock strawberry	Introduced	Common
Herb	Potentilla simplex	Old-field five-fingers	Native	Common
Herb	Prunella vulgaris var. lanceolata	American selfheal	Native	Common
Tree	Prunus alabamensis	Alabama cherry	Endemic	Uncommon
Tree	Prunus alabamensis × serotina	Hybrid cherry	Endemic	Rare
Tree	Prunus americana	American plum	Native	Common
Shrub	Prunus angustifolia	Chickasaw plum	Native	Common
Tree	Prunus caroliniana	Carolina laurel cherry	Endemic	Uncommon
Tree	Prunus persica	Peach	Introduced	Uncommon
Tree	Prunus serotina var. serotina	Eastern black cherry	Native	Common
Tree	Prunus umbellata	Hog plum	Native	Common
Herb	Pseudognaphalium obtusifolium	Eastern rabbit-tobacco	Native	Common
Shrub	Ptelea trifoliata var. trifoliata	Common wafer-ash	Native	Uncommon
Herb	Pteridium pseudocaudatum	Southern bracken	Native	Common
Herb	Ptilimnium capillaceum	Eastern bishopweed	Native	Common
Liana	Pueraria montanta var. lobata	Kudzu	Introduced	Common
Herb	Pycnanthemum curvipes	Tennessee mountain-mint	Endemic	Rare
Herb	Pycnanthemum incanum var. puberulum	Southern hoary mountain-mint	Endemic	Common
Herb	Pyrrhopappus carolinianus	False dandelion	Native	Common
Tree	Pyrus calleryana	Callery pear	Introduced	Common
Tree	Quercus acutissima	Sawtooth oak	Introduced	Rare
Tree	Quercus alba	White oak	Native	Common
Tree	Quercus coccinea	Scarlet oak	Native	Common
Tree	Quercus falcata	Southern red oak	Endemic	Common
Tree	Quercus marilandica var. marilandica	Blackjack oak	Native	Common
Tree	Quercus michauxii	Swamp chestnut oak	Endemic	Common
Tree	Quercus montana	Chestnut oak	Native	Common
Tree	Quercus nigra	Water oak	Endemic	Common
Tree	Quercus rubra	Northern red oak	Native	Common
Tree	Quercus ×saullii	Saul's oak	Native	Rare
Tree	Quercus stellata	Post oak	Native	Common
Tree	Quercus velutina	Black oak	Native	Common
Herb	Ranunculus abortivus	Kidney-leaf buttercup	Native	Common
Herb	Ranunculus recurvatus var. recurvatus	Hooked buttercup	Native	Common
Herb	Ranunculus sardous	Hairy buttercup	Introduced	Common
Herb	Rhexia mariana var. mariana	Maryland meadowbeauty	Native	Common
Herb	Rhexia virginica	Virginia meadowbeauty	Native	Uncommon
Shrub	Rhododendron canescens	Piedmont azalea	Endemic	Common
Tree	Rhus copallinum var. latifolia	Eastern winged sumac	Native	Uncommon
Shrub	Rhus glabra	Smooth sumac	Native	Common
Herb	Rhynchosia tomentosa	Erect snoutbean	Endemic	Common
Herb	Richardia scabra	Rough Mexican-clover	Introduced	Uncommon
Shrub	Robinia hispida var. hispida	Common bristly locust	Endemic	Uncommon
Shrub	Robinia hispida var. kelseyi	Kelsey's locust	Endemic	Unreported
Shrub	Robinia hispida var. rosea	Boynton's locust	Endemic	Unreported
Tree	Robinia pseudoacacia	Black locust	Endemic	Common
Shrub	Rosa carolina var. carolina	Carolina rose	Native	Common
Liana	Rosa multiflora	Multiflora rose	Introduced	Common
Liana	Rubus flagellaris	Common dewberry	Native	Common
Shrub	Rubus pensilvanicus	Pennsylvania blackberry	Native	Common
Liana	Rubus trivialis	Southern dewberry	Native	Common
Herb	Rudbeckia hirta var. hirta	Woodland black-eyed Susan	Native	Common
Herb	Ruellia caroliniensis	Carolina wild-petunia	Endemic	Common
Herb	Rumex crispus ssp. crispus	Curlyleaf dock	Introduced	Common
Herb	Sabatia angularis	Rose-pink	Native	Common
Tree	Salix nigra	Black willow	Native	Common
Herb	Salvia lyrata	Lyreleaf sage	Native	Common
Herb	Salvia urticifolia	Nettle-leaf sage	Endemic	Uncommon
Shrub	Sambucus canadensis	Common elderberry	Native	Common
Herb	Sanguinaire canadensis	Bloodroot	Native	Common
Herb	Sanicula canadensis var. canadensis	Black snakeroot	Native	Common
Tree	Sassafras albidum	Sassafras	Native	Common
Herb	Saururus cernuus	Lizard's-tail	Native	Common
Herb	Sceptridium biternatum	Southern grapefern	Native	Common
Herb	Schizachyrium scoparium var. scoparium	Common little bluestem	Native	Common
Herb	Scleria oligantha	Littlehead nutrush	Native	Common
Herb	Scutellaria elliptica var. elliptica	Hairy skullcap	Native	Uncommon
Herb	Scutellaria ovata var. ovata	Heart-leaf skullcap	Native	Rare
Herb	Senna obtusifolia	Sicklepod	Introduced	Common
Herb	Sericocarpus caespitosa	Clumped whitetop aster	Native	Common
Herb	Silene virginica var. virginica	Fire-pink	Native	Common
Herb	Silphium asteriscus var. latifolium	Starry rosinweed	Endemic	Common
Herb	Silphium compositum var. compositum	Carolina rosinweed	Endemic	Common
Herb	Sisymbrium officinale	Hedge mustard	Introduced	Rare
Herb	Sisyrinchium angustifolia	Narrowleaf blue-eyed-grass	Native	Common
Herb	Sisyrinchium atlanticum	Eastern blue-eyed-grass	Native	Common
Herb	Sisyrinchium rosulatum	Annual blue-eyed-grass	Endemic	Rare
Herb	Smallanthus uvedalia	Bear's-foot	Native	Common
Liana	Smilax bona-nox	Fringed greenbrier	Native	Common
Liana	Smilax glauca	White-leaf greenbrier	Native	Common
Vine	Smilax herbacea	Smooth carrionflower	Native	Common
Liana	Smilax laurifolia	Laurel-leaf greenbrier	Native	Uncommon
Liana	Smilax rotundifolia	Common greenbrier	Native	Common
Herb	Solanum carolinense var. carolinense	Common horsenettle	Native	Common
Herb	Solidago altissima var. pluricephala	Southern tall goldenrod	Native	Common
Herb	Solidago caesia	Bluestem goldenrod	Native	Common
Herb	Solidago erecta	Slender goldenrod	Native	Uncommon
Herb	Solidago nemoralis var. nemoralis	Eastern grey goldenrod	Native	Common
Herb	Solidago odora	Licorice goldenrod	Native	Common
Herb	Solidago patula	Swamp goldenrod	Native	Rare
Herb	Solidago rugosa var. rugosa	Wrinkle-leaf goldenrod	Native	Common
Herb	Solidago vaseyi	Vasey's goldenrod	Endemic	Common
Herb	Sophronanthe pilosa	Shaggy hedge-hyssop	Endemic	Uncommon
Herb	Sorghastrum nutans	Yellow Indiangrass	Native	Common
Herb	Spigelia marilandica	Indian-pink	Endemic	Common
Herb	Spiranthes lacera var. gracilis	Slender ladies'-tresses	Native	Rare
Herb	Spiranthes tuberosa	Little ladies'-tresses	Native	Uncommon
Herb	Steironema ciliata	Fringed loosestrife	Common	Native
Herb	Stellaria media	Common chickweed	Introduced	Common
Herb	Stellaria pubera	Star chickweed	Native	Common
Herb	Stenanthium gramineum var. gramineum	Eastern featherbells	Endemic	Uncommon
Shrub	Stewartia ovata	Mountain camellia	Endemic	Unreported
Vine	Strophostyles umbellata	Perennial fuzzy bean	Native	Common
Herb	Stylosanthes biflora	Pencil-flower	Native	Common
Shrub	Styrax americanus var. americanus	American snowbell	Native	Uncommon
Shrub	Styrax grandifolius	Bigleaf snowbell	Endemic	Common
Herb	Symphyotrichum concolor var. concolor	Eastern silvery aster	Native	Common
Herb	Symphyotrichum dumosum var. dumosum	Long-stalked aster	Native	Common
Herb	Symphyotrichum georgianum	Georgia aster	Endemic	Rare
Herb	Symphyotrichum patens var. patens	Common clasping aster	Native	Common
Herb	Symphyotrichum pilosum var. pilosum	Hairy white oldfield aster	Native	Common
Herb	Symphyotrichum racemosum var. subdumosum	Small white oldfield aster	Native	Uncommon
Herb	Symphyotrichum shortii	Short's aster	Native	Rare
Herb	Symphyotrichum undulatum	Wavy-leaf aster	Native	Common
Tree	Symplocos tinctoria	Sweetleaf	Endemic	Common
Shrub	Swida amomum	Silky dogwood	Native	Common
Shrub	Swida foemina	Southern swamp dogwood	Endemic	Common
Herb	Taenidia integerrima	Yellow pimpernel	Paranative	Unreported
Tree	Tamala palustris	Swamp bay	Native	Rare
Herb	Taraxacum officinale	Common dandelion	Introduced	Common
Herb	Tephrosia spicata	Spiked hoarypea	Endemic	Common
Herb	Tephrosia virginiana	Goat's-rue	Native	Common
Herb	Thalictrum thalictroides	Rue-anemone	Native	Common
Herb	Thaspium chapmanii	Chapman's meadow-parsnip	Native	Rare
Herb	Tiarella wherryi	Wherry's foamflower	Endemic	Uncommon
Tree	Tilia americana var. heterophylla	Mountain basswood	Native	Common
Herb	Tipularia discolor	Cranefly orchid	Native	Common
Shrub	Toxicodendron pubescens	Southeastern poison-oak	Native	Uncommon
Liana	Toxicodendron radicans var. radicans	Eastern poison-ivy	Native	Common
Shrub	Toxicodendron vernix	Poison sumac	Native	Rare
Herb	Tradescantia ohiensis	Ohio spiderwort	Native	Common
Herb	Tragia urens	Wavyleaf noseburn	Endemic	Rare
Herb	Trichostema dichotomum	Common blue curls	Native	Common
Herb	Trichostema setaceum	Narrow-leaf blue curls	Native	Uncommon
Herb	Trifolium campestre	Hop clover	Introduced	Common
Herb	Trifolium dubium	Little hop clover	Introduced	Common
Herb	Trifolium incarnatum	Scarlet clover	Introduced	Common
Herb	Trifolium repens	White clover	Introduced	Common
Herb	Trillium catesbyi	Bashful wakerobin	Endemic	Common
Herb	Trillium maculatum	Spotted trillium	Endemic	Rare
Herb	Triodanis biflora	Southern Venus's looking-glass	Native	Common
Herb	Triodanis perfoliata	Venus's Looking-glass	Native	Common
Tree	Ulmus alata	Winged elm	Native	Common
Tree	Ulmus rubra	Slippery elm	Native	Common
Herb	Uvularia perfoliata	Perfoliate bellwort	Native	Common
Herb	Uvularia sessilifolia	Merrybells	Native	Common
Tree	Vaccinium arboreum	Farkleberry	Endemic	Common
Shrub	Vaccinium elliottii	Mayberry	Endemic	Common
Shrub	Vaccinium fuscatum	Black highbush blueberry	Native	Common
Shrub	Vaccinium pallidum	Hillside blueberry	Native	Common
Shrub	Vaccinium stamineum var. stamineum	Common deerberry	Native	Common
Shrub	Vaccinium virgatum	Rabbiteye blueberry	Endemic	Unreported
Herb	Valerianella radiata	Beaked cornsalad	Native	Common
Herb	Verbascum blattaria	Moth mullein	Introduced	Common
Herb	Verbascum thapsus ssp. thapsus	Common mullein	Introduced	Common
Herb	Verbena brasilliensis	Brazilian vervain	Introduced	Common
Herb	Verbena rigida	Slender vervain	Introduced	Common
Herb	Verbesina occidentalis	Southern crownbeard	Endemic	Common
Herb	Vernonia flaccidifolia	Tennessee ironweed	Endemic	Rare
Herb	Vernonia gigantea	Giant ironweed	Native	Common
Herb	Veronica arvensis	Corn speedwell	Introduced	Common
Herb	Veronica hederifolia	Ivy-leaf speedwell	Introduced	Uncommon
Herb	Veronica persica	Bird's-eye speedwell	Introduced	Uncommon
Shrub	Viburnum acerifolium	Mapleleaf viburnum	Native	Uncommon
Shrub	Viburnum nudum	Southern wild-raisin	Native	Common
Shrub	Viburnum rufidulum	Rusty blackhaw	Native	Common
Vine	Vicia caroliniana	Carolina vetch	Native	Common
Vine	Vicia sativa ssp. nigra	Narrowleaf common vetch	Introduced	Common
Herb	Viola hastata	Spearleaf violet	Native	Rare
Herb	Viola hisutula	Southern wood violet	Native	Common
Herb	Viola palmata var. palmata	Southern three-lobed violet	Native	Common
Herb	Viola pedata var. pedata	Common bird's-foot violet	Native	Common
Herb	Viola primulifolia	Primrose-leaf violet	Native	Common
Herb	Viola rafinesquei	Wild pansy	Native	Common
Herb	Viola sagittata	Arrowleaf violet	Native	Rare
Herb	Viola sororia var. sororia	Common blue violet	Native	Common
Herb	Viola tenuipes	Southern wedgeleaf violet	Endemic	Uncommon
Liana	Vitis aestivalis var. aestivalis	Summer grape	Native	Common
Liana	Wisteria frutescens	American wisteria	Endemic	Rare
Liana	Wisteria sinensis	Chinese wisteria	Introduced	Common
Herb	Youngia thunbergiana	Tall false hawksbeard	Introduced	Unreported
Shrub	Yucca filamentosa	Curly-leaf yucca	Endemic	Common
Shrub	Xanthorhiza simplicissima	Yellowroot	Endemic	Common

​

TOTAL	563
Native/Para	497	Trees	84
Endemic	119	Shrubs	68
Rare	61	Lianas	23
Unreported	12	Vines	26
Invasive	-	Herbs	362

Chikmagalur is notable for its tranquil setting, lavish backwoods, and elevated mountains. It is usually alluded to as Karnataka’s “espresso area” and is eminent for its espresso.
These Chikmagalur places draw in different travelers every year because of their excellence. Investigate them and figure out which places you need to investigate and the best resorts in Chikmagalur on your forthcoming excursion.
Tarikere Taluk’s slope town of Kemmangundi is surrounded by verdant knolls. The slope town filled in as the mid-year retreat for the Karnataka rulers. Why not, with such glorious slopes, rich valleys, and serene environmental factors? From the high mark of the notable visitor house Raj Bhavan, you can see shocking nightfalls and dawns. The Z point, where you can partake in the broad perspectives on the valley, is another notable attract this area. Quite possibly Chikmagalur’s best draw, it tends to be seen in only two days.
Trivik Chikmagalur, a 38-section of land espresso manor in Karnataka that faces the dazzling Mullayangiri Slopes with a marvelous combination of the western ghats, makes a significant commitment to the property’s exceptional engaging quality. Chikmagalur, the origin of espresso, is known as the fragrant scent of rich espresso. An ideal occasion and long-lasting recollections are guaranteed by the delicate breeze that invites you to the curious town. The best resorts in Chikmagalur are the ideal safe house for anybody looking for a top-notch occasion insight with a portion of warm, customized friendliness. As you loosen up in your private jacuzzi and appreciate heavenly local food at Arabica, our multi-cooking diner, take in a broad perspective on the serene valley underneath. From the pool, you can see the Mullayangiri Valley and the western ghats, otherwise called the SHOLAS.
The very much-kept espresso estates that extravagantly encompass this wonderful town are a notable element of movement bundles to Chikmagalur. You will experience various streaming mountain streams as you travel to Chikmagalur excursion programs. Rough mountain territory encompasses this local area, giving admittance to some fabulous climbing ways. Travelers revere the Chikmagalur luxury resort there accordingly.

First
Jack POV
The flight was relatively uneventful, with only brief breaks over the course of a few hours to make sure that the entire flock of scouts was still together. Though before long, the destination came into view along the horizon. Jack had been here before, and it was one of the many people places that were on the far fringes of Vitmori's territory.
Since Vitmori originally sent him off to find food and seeds, he made it a personal task of his to at least visit a few of these places in all directions. While he hadn't found any people places to the far south, he did find a very large lake that stretched out far in all directions in front of him. To the north, he found a few people places that had something like Vitmori's garden room, but much bigger and outside, unlike Vitmori's. Each people place had walls of stone surrounding most of the buildings, though some of the buildings were outside the stone walls and were accompanied by open-air garden rooms. Each of the northern people places had the same kind of symbols on the stone walls and seemed to encompass the longest stretch of Vitmori's fringe territory. Between the people places were small stone towers with armored people patrolling the land, much like Legosi and his wolves, so whoever runs these people places had a much larger territory than Vitmori currently had. Still, they didn't seem to approach Vitmori's land, so he had nothing to report. The far east and west fringe territories had similar styles of stone-walled people places, though the symbols on the walls were distinctly different, so Jack could guess that other masters ran them than the northern people places.
Regardless, this people place looked much like the others from a distance, Jack following along after the messenger hawk as they soon flew over the stone walls without a fuss. Jack mentally orders his birds to disperse and take positions around the people place while he personally follows after the messenger, stopping short as he finds a perch on a tree between a few of the buildings. The messenger swoops down to an open seating area; from what Jack could gather, the bird touches down at a table with a black-furred catkin woman in black leather armor and a nicely dressed young human woman with vibrant pink hair.
The human woman seemed to smile brightly at the bird as she clapped her hands together. "Aha! Mishi is back." She gushed as she reached out and tickled the bird under its beak, Mishi cawing out cheerfully enough with the flutter of their wings.
The young woman continued to dote on the bird for a few moments before the catkin woman cleared her throat. "Ma'am... There's a letter in the harness."
The young woman perked up again as she peered around to the back of her dear bird and scratched its beak again. "Ah, good work Mishi; you found them already? Good bird, such a good bird." She mused affectionately, getting distracted momentarily before the catkin woman cleared her throat again. "Ah, right, right." She murmured, half apologetically, as she reached around behind the bird, Mishi standing perfectly still as the young woman pulled the scroll out of the harness. Unfurling it, she begins looking it over. "Oh my, looks like Father's business partners had some trouble... Poor things." She said, seemingly sincere as she passed the scroll over to the catkin woman.
The catkin woman's green eyes scan the scroll thoughtfully as she nodded intently. "I see..." Is all she really says before handing the scroll back to her ward. "What are your orders, ma'am?"
The young woman smiles brightly as she affectionately massaged Mishi's head with a finger. "We ought to help them, of course; we can't just leave the poor things out in that ghastly forest. Perhaps we can also bring them back." She pondered aloud as she now flashed a toothy grin. "Wouldn't Father be proud if we brought them all along for a visit?"
The catkin woman flicked a tail thoughtfully before giving the young woman a nod. "I believe we can manage that, ma'am. We can head out after breakfast."
The young woman let out a sweet little laugh, catching the attention of some young men nearby who watch her curiously for a moment, that is, until a sharp glare from the catkin woman makes them turn away. "This is going to be just brilliant, Dhalia; I can't wait to go home after all this time in this sad little backwood. Oh, I wonder if they'll have any pretty toys with them. I just can't wait for tomorrow now." She gushed enthusiastically before sipping at her tea and continuing to dote upon Mishi.
Having seen enough, Jack takes to the wing, leaving one of his crew birds behind to maintain a watch as the flock begins to leave a chain of scouts as per Vitmori's instruction.
Ferodias POV
"So... Y-you're really from another world? I mean, you've always seemed odd, and I truly mean that in the most loving way. But another world?" He added quickly, his tail curling thoughtfully.
Historietta appeared rather bashful, she had thought about this conversation for years now, but she honestly never thought she would be having it, nor that it would be this way. "Yes... I came from a world called Earth, just like Vitmori." She explained as she scratched the back of her neck, not too sure what else to say. "I uh... I need to know what happened on my homeworld. I... We as a people were aware of things called zombies, but at least in my time, they were just stories, imaginary monsters that were great material for survival fantasies." She bit her lip, her nerves getting to her as she began messing with a strand of hair around the base of her neck. "Anyways... I want to... No, I need to visit him and hear his story directly... Please? Darling, I swear I'll be careful."
Ferodias' ears twitch and flick thoughtfully, glancing over at Historietta and looking away; he deeply considers the revelation before him. In the end, there was one thing he needed to say to her as he looked to Historietta once more and stood from his seat at his desk. He walks around his desk, coming up beside Historietta, who averts her gaze anxiously. He reached out, his soft, fluffy hand tenderly taking up her chin as he coaxed her to look up at him as he gazed intently into her eyes. "Tori... I just want you to know... I don't care where you came from or whoever you used to be... You're my Empress and the love of my life." He said as he leaned in and lovingly touched his forehead to hers, gently nuzzling as a murr rumbled from his throat. "If you want, we can talk about this more once you get back."
Historietta couldn't help but feel her cheeks flush, even if they had been more than intimate for many years. "Oh, Fero... You're too good for me..." She whispered hotly back to Ferodias as she gazed into his eyes in return. "I promise I'll tell you about everything when I get back." She murmured back as she affectionately kissed Ferodias' furry chin. Pulling back, she smiled some more as she fiddled with a strand of her hair. "I suppose I ought to start packing... I've got a long walk ahead of me." She said, offering a sheepish smile.
Ferodias' tail flicked as he flashed a toothy smile and stood tall again before taking a couple of steps back and sitting on his desk. "A walk? Do you think I'm going to let my darling Empress walk? Of course not; this is now an imperial visit we're dealing with. No, no, I'll be making some arrangements... You'll be taking an escort of Drakewardens instead of the carriage that Reyvyre and Reonim were originally going to take. I'll of course, inform the two of them about the change in plans. I want you safe after all, and I'll spare no expense in that endeavor." He then smiled thoughtfully as he scratched his furred chin thoughtfully. "And that gives me an idea for yet another gift for Vitmori." He considered as his ears waggled with delight. "The very idea that we can form an alliance with a person with the influence and power of a dungeon core... The idea is as ridiculous as the idea that there could be other worlds, but here we are with both truths as real as you or me." He chuckled softly as he rubbed the back of his neck. "I do think that this alliance is already a done deal darling, but do please keep an ear out to see if there's anything else we can do... As Reyvyre said, he wants to trust and needs to be trusted." His tail curled as he tilted his head a bit. "I'm sure as kin of the same world, and he'll be more willing to connect with you. If Reyvyre is anything to go by, I'm certain he'll be as eager to meet you as you are to meet him." He considered as he flashed a confident smile.
Historietta smiled as she nodded, standing as she stepped closer to Ferodias before draping her arms around him. "You're the best Fero, my love, I'll be missing you every day." She mused affectionately before pulling away and heading towards the door, casting one more look at Ferodias and stepping out.
Ferodias sighed wistfully, already missing her as he scratched his throat absently. He then stood as he walked around and settled back in his seat, leaning back and closing his eyes after staring at the ceiling for a moment. "Another world, huh... What a woman..." He mused with a warm smile as his tail curled and flicked.
Prev First Next
RoyalRoad
Patreon

So there's a "park" in Tucker, Georgia called John's Homestead. What it actually is is an old vacant farmhouse that sits awkwardly in disarray alongside a busy highway. Some hundred year old homestead donated to the county to build a park and trail system over a few good acres. Although the adjacent highway is often busy, this particular patch could almost pass as the rural backroad it once was.. the homestead, two churches established a century ago, old cemeteries, and a few acres of wood in between bustling urban communities.
To be honest, I don't remember much of the history of the place, aside from the land owner being named John Johns, and an old picture of him didn't look too happy. I know the entire property creeps me out, though.
I only went a handful of times. Not too far down the trail from the parking area, which is maybe a quarter mile from the homestead, I suddenly felt like I was being watched. It suddenly got quiet. I still made it to the old house, then circled back around.
I stopped another time and had the same creepy feeling the whole time.. and I'm telling you, you feel so far off the road and into the woods, despite having that highway running virtually right beside you the entire time.. so I told myself I wasn't going back.
... but I did one more time. I really wanted to take a stroll before dark and I was running late coming home, so I pulled over to John's Homestead. I don't remember it feeling too weird on the trail, maybe it was the heavier evening traffic I could easily hear through the trees, maybe it was the two middle aged women on a blanket near the small stream sipping wine (ONLY time I ever encountered others on the small trail), but the walk to the house was fine. I get to the house, walking around it, notice how pitch black it seems inside despite the apparent lack of complete and intact boarding on doors and windows. It's got a chain link around it since it was deemed structurally unsafe. Very suddenly I realize it's about to get dark on me and that feeling starts creeping back, so I swiftly walk back towards the trail.
I'm just a few steps back into the wooded area when I hear a loud THUD. Something big hit the ground. My brain is trying to convince me it was a tree limb, but I immediately realize there were no snaps or cracks. I look around for just a few seconds but briskly walk my way out of there and get to my car as it's getting just too dark to see.
Didn't think much of it until I read a few days later that human remains were found just a few feet away from where I was standing when I'd heard the noise. Other than a body found, the county never released an identity or any more details, and this was over a year ago.
So maybe this little spot in Tucker isn't exactly "backwoods" now, but what's there that feels off? Why did this one small stretch of woods never get developed, what's so special about this particular crumbling house? It looks so out of place in the bigger picture of the area. What the hell did I hear? Who was found dead, and what happened?
https://www.ajc.com/news/crime/breaking-human-remains-found-behind-tucker-church-police-say/HX65GUTZYBHYFG7K6OP7FNRQNU/
Johns Homestead Park https://maps.app.goo.gl/L85zk5ez1bJNLRPR6

The further we get from S14, the more I realize I love it. It is far and away my favorite post-S6 season. What's more, I even enjoyed it as it aired (!), and didn't have to learn to love it after the fact (as many of us did with S7 and S11). Why was S14 so great? Let's dive in.
(Also- I'm going to compare S14 to S15 a lot, b/c S15 is in my recent memory. This is not a S15 diss post!!! I have *moderately* enjoyed S15. It is better than S13 at least).
Possible reasons:

• Very strong cast that was edited well. I'd like to break down the idea of a "strong cast" a bit further. A "strong cast" doesn't just mean queens that are good drag queens or good at drag race. It means queens that are compelling characters to watch on drag race as a TV show. What are the characteristics that contribute to that?

1. Strong personality in werkroom/on stage, or being a good narratogiving good confessional (ex. Katya, Gia Gunn, Bianca Del Rio)
2. Edited to have coherent narrative that involves conflict and/or growth- either internal, with the show, or with another contestant (ex. Adore, Laganja, Gottmik)
3. Provide unique and/or emotionally compelling drag in segments of the show that allow queens to have individual creative authority (ex. Anetra's lip syncs, BendelaCreme's Snatch Games, Symone's runway package, Willow's talent show performance)
4. Provide stellar but standard performances in run of the mill challenges on the show (ex. Courtney's Rusical performance, Loosey's Joan Rivers Snatch Game, Bianca's roast set)
5. Deliver "so bad it's good" challenge performances, (ex. LalaRi's Bag Ball look, Kahmora Hall's acting challenge performance, Sugar and Spice's Snatch Games)

Let's compare a few season to see how queens stack up according to these characteristics. If a queen only somewhat fulfilled a characteristic, I put it in parentheses ().
​

Season 14	Season 6	Season 15
June Jumbalaya (1), 2	Magnolia 1	Irene (1)
Alyssa Hunter (3)	Kelly 5	Poppy
Kornbread 1, 2, 3	Vivacious 1, 3	Sugar 2, (3), 5
Orion (2)	April 3	Amethyst 3
Maddy (1), 2, 3	Gia 1, 2	Robin
Kerri 1, 3	Milk 1, 2, 3, (4)	Aura (1)
Jasmine 2, 3	Laganja 1, 2, (4)	Jax 3
Jorgeous (1), 3	Trinity 2, 3, (4)	Spice (1), 2, (3), 5
Deja, 1, 4	Joslyn 1, 2, 3, 4, 5	Malaysia (2)
Daya 1, 2, 3, 4	Bendela 1, 2, 3, (4)	Marcia 2, 3, (4)
Bosco 1, 2, 3, 4	Darienne 1, 2, 4	Salina 1, (2), (5)
Angeria 1, (3), 4	Courtney 1, 2, (3), 4	Loosey (1), 2, 4, (5)
Lady Camden 1, 2, 3, 4	Adore 1,2, 3, 4	Luxx 1, 2, 4
Willow 1, (2), 3, 4	Bianca 1, 2, 3, 4	Mistress 1, 2, 4
		Anetra 1, 2, 3, 4
		Sasha 1, 3, 4

​
Looking at S14 and S6 as compared to S15, a big difference we can see is that the early outs have multiple characteristics to their names, especially the number 1. characteristic- a big personality. Of course, S15 suffers *a lot* in this regard from its giant cast and shortened run time.
Another thing that S14 and S6 share is that most queens have the 3. characteristic- they showcase drag perspectives or performances that feel unique on Drag Race. Ex. Alyssa and April both have very strong and interesting runway packages. Kornbread delivered a stellar talent show performance. Vivacious, with her background in the NYC club kid scene, was a style of queen we hadn't seen on drag race before. This is another place that S15 really suffers- we just haven't seen most of the queens do anything really uniquely interesting this season. The only exceptions to that have been Anetra, Sasha, and Jax's lipsyncs, Marcia and Anetra's talent show performances, Sasha's first acting challenge, and, dare I say it... Amethyst's snatch game as Tan Mom (that one might be a personal preference lol).
Lastly, with S6 and S15, we can see that almost all of the late-out/finalist girlies have most of the characteristics. On S15, Anetra is the only one that does. I definitely think this a reason why she is so popular in the fandom right now. I also think this shows why Sasha has gotten less popular in the fandom as the season has gone on- she hasn't had any sort of narrative arc (characteristic 2) on the show. Even though Willow didn't have conflict with other girls or with herself on the show, in her confessionals, she presented the meta-narrative of having conflict with the show itself- she had to play the long game and gradually acclimate the judges and the show to the weirder and more interesting parts of her drag. Bianca, though she had a similar competitive arc (dominating the competition) and character archetype (statesman of drag, too big for the show) to Sasha, had a much stronger narrative arc- she had lots of conflict with the younger girls on the season, and gradually had to learn to care for them and not present herself as a stone cold b*tch. Sasha is amazing, and fully realized, and not afraid to be stupid from the get-go, and... not that interesting of a Drag Race character.
​

• This is more cut and dry- S14 had a lot of great lip syncs, from a lot of different queens, to multiple types of songs. (Again, contrast this to S15- we've had good lip syncs, but they've all been similar high energy pop numbers, delivered by the same 3 queens).

1. Deja in "Fallin'"
2. Jasmine in "Sugar Mama" (this was the only valid use of the floor hump move (Sorry, Anetra))
3. Lady Camden in "One Way or Another"
4. Jasmine and Jorgeous in "Something's Got a Hold on Me"
5. Camden in "Don't Let Go"

​

• Unique challenges, good performances from the cast in standard challenges, and challenges that manage to reference and make fun of the lore of the show without becoming entirely recursive.
• Unique challenges

1. Lip Sync Lalaparuza (since this is the first time we saw it in a non-all-stars season, with actual stakes attached to it)

• Good performances in "standard" challenges

1. "Menzeses" (this was the panel hosting challenge)
2. 60s Girl Groups
3. Moulin Ru: the Rusical
4. The Ross Matthews Roast (I'm not sure we've had such a large group of good roast performances since S5)

• Good "reference but not recursive" challenges

1. "She's a Super Tease"- allowed queens to poke fun at previous character archetypes and drama on the show, gave queens individual creative power to decide how they wanted to do it
2. "Save a Queen"- brought back queens that the audience could already connect with, let current queens interact with them and build commercials that played with and made fun of the moments they were known for on their original seasons.
3. "Daytona Winds"- made fun of the way the show's acting challenges had become somewhat earnest affairs in overracting that had moved away from the show's original premise of acting challenge as parody

Note: "Daytona Winds 2" in S15 is a great example of a Drag Race challenge that is *too* recursive.
​

• The judges, especially RuPaul, like this group of queens. There are a lot of queens this season that are confident onstage and in front of the judges (Willow, Bosco, Camden, Angeria, Deja, Daya, Kerri, Kornbread, Jorgeous), and this enables the judges to be more comfortable and playful with the contestants. For example, contrast S14's "Who murdered Snatch Game" scene to like... *all* of the judging on UK3. Completely different vibes, and S14's is eminently more enjoyable to watch. (For what it's worth, S14 is also relatively devoid of queen archetypes that Ru doesn't like, I'll get into that later though).

​

• S14 definitely *does* have pacing issues, but there are very few individual episodes that I don't care for. I don't care about the first ball, or the opening talent show episodes, but that's about it. As for queens not going home... the twist to bring back the first eliminated queens is redeemed by what a great character Daya makes herself into. The episodes where no one goes home, while stalling the momentum of the season, are individually some of the best episodes in the season, with various redeeming qualities (Daytona Wind, Menzeses, Snatch Game, Moulin Rouge). I think S14's competitive tension, much like S6, suffers the most in the last couple episodes- by the Ross Matthews Roast, the frontrunners (Willow, Camden) and finalists (Angeria, Bosco, Daya) are set. The major character arcs of the season have concluded. We don't lose much by losing Deja and Jorgeous. What remaining competitive tension might be salvaged in "Catwalk"- will Daya become a frontrunner? which of the top 5 will be eliminated?- is completely neutered by throwing another win to Camden and allowing a top 5. Bad job editors. That said, the top queens and their performances still make these episodes fun.

​

• The top 5 queens, for the most part, are strong characters, good performers, do interesting drag, and are edited well on the show, and the top 3 did things that were completely novel to the show.

​
Angeria is the only one who suffers here. Her competitive narrative on the show doesn't really progress beyond the first few episodes. She emerges as an early frontrunner and...that's about it. She's fun in confessionals, but she has a pretty laidback personality, so she doesn't get into fights with other girls and build her narrative that way. Her drag persona (backwoods glamorous pageant queen who has a bit of a silly edge) is fairly well-realized, familiar on the show, and established early on in the season. We don't learn anything new about Angeria after the first few episodes. She's a good enough performer to stay in the top for most of the season, but she's not quite canny enough to channel her own style or personality through the Drag Race challenges in ways that would make her stand out, beyond her initial talent show performance. The dichotomy between pageant glamour and a silly personality *is* interesting, but the show's not really interested in exploring that. On the runway, her aesthetic is top of the line pageant drag. It's good and lands on the side of "expensive and elegant" pageant-wear over "expensive and tacky" pageant-wear... but it is pageant-wear and we've seen it before. I don't know if Angie would be a great pitch for All Stars, and I don't know that her WtW would go outside the pageant-queen high-kick/strut box, but I would love to see her on a DragCon panel or a podcast.
Bosco's greatest virtue to the season is as a narrator- whether in challenges (Menzeses, Roast), confessionals, or on the main stage with the judges. Bosco's also not afraid to narrate her own inner turmoil (it is her brand of comedy), which is fantastic, given that her latter season arc has her ping-ponging between top and bottom placements in an ever more fragile metal state. Does her competitive narrative ever really have legs after the Rusical? Nope. Camden absolutely kneecaps her. And a standout Roast performance can only redeem so many bra and panty sets. But do I care? Nope. Bosco still makes the journey fun for us. What's more, we don't get many burlesque queens on the show that make it far, so while the bra and panty sets were repetitive unto Bosco, they still felt more interesting to me than a lot of Deja's takes that ranged in the "this popular drag designer made this for me and 20 other queens, but the other 19 paid more for it" and "Jiggly might have worn this on S4" styles, or the back half of Angeria's pageant closet. Even when Bosco's fashion was bad, it was interesting. That short short little wig? I still don't know how I feel about it. The last episode's crylon Judy Jetson space hooker hunger games mom, *with* the short short little wig? Nothing has ever been so delightfully crunchy. Bosco will be an absolute blast on all stars, the bras and panties will be ever more expensive, and she'll come a lovely 3rd alternate ala Jujubee.
Daya- rarely in recent seasons have we gotten a good villain storyline, even more rarely did the villain become an antihero, and never until Daya did we get a queen that battled back from: first bootness, a family connection to an earlier season queen the judges considered "superlative," and the producers' disinterest in her and dismissal as a filler queen. The fandom loves Daya and rightfully so. Daya showed in spite of all of that that she could produce great TV and be a great drag race queen. I would also count Daya's aesthetic eye as second only to Willow's this season (babydoll dresses aside. we all have our weaknesses.) Daya delivered several standout looks that took a defined aesthetic and gave it a distinctly Daya twist (chaps look, KISS look, catwalk video, final runway). I have no complaints with Daya, only with the producers' treatment of her. They continued to do her dirty! Her narrative would've been better served by a final win in "Catwalk," which in turn with her finale performance, should've propelled her to the final 2 over Camden. That aside, can't wait to see what she'll do on All Stars. Will she win? I have complete faith in Daya. I have 0% faith in the editors. Look for a weird joint-style win ala Trinity and Monet in All Stars 4.
​
Willow- there is no doubt to me that Willow ran S14 just as much as Symone ran S13 or Sasha is running S15, but it wasn't smothering in the way that 13 or 15 felt. Granted, Willow had better, more interesting competition. But Willow was also super savvy. She didn't need all the screentime or talk from competitors in the world to make it clear that she was a winner, not when she put her screentime to such good use. Though Willow was comparatively quiet and laidback, she was never boring. (Her edit was a *little* boring. Just a steady upward trajectory. But sue me for liking a bitch who knows she's in her top era!). She was great in confessional, with a sense of humor- blunt, morbid, and a bit smug- not often seen on drag race. In drag, she showed that she could be a great drag race queen (Super Tease, Menzezes, ball challenges, Daytona Winds), great at fitting her own aesthetic into drag race challenge roles (Green Fairy in Moulin Ru, 60s Girl Groups), and most importantly, an interesting queen outside of drag race.
Any time that Willow was able to deliver her own signature drag on the show, she was doing something completely unique to what we've seen on Drag Race. Let's go through the highlights:

• Talent show performance: Willow's talent show performance is visceral in a great way- digging into spaghetti with bare hands, tossing it in the bath, tossing the toaster and then herself in the bath- these are all actions that evoke very strong emotions- gluttony, disgust, horror, fear- specifically as they connect to the body and physical sensation. These are not emotions the Drag Race (vs. Dragula) generally draws on. Disgust appears on drag race occasionally, but typically in cheap jokes that are pretty played out (ex. feigning disgust at the scent of a vagina). And for a show that is based around the malleability of the body, Drag Race is remarkably squeamish about bodily sensations beyond sexual arousal (ex. feigning an orgasm is always ok, but making a fart joke or wearing a dress with period blood is not). However, there's a good reason that drag outside of Drag Race is often interested in evoking negative emotions. Emotions like disgust, shame, horror, and fear are strong enough to produce bodily sensations, often the same ones that lust or love produce. The body and its nervous system are great at crossing wires, so this means that these negative emotions do often become sexual referents in the form of kink. Willow doesn't draw on that sexual association in her talent show beyond the aesthetic juxtaposition of a hot girl in a bikini shoving her face with pasta, but...
• She gets into it a bit more in her lyrics for "Bad Boy Baby"- "His body is splattered on the asphalt/Yeah but it's kind of hot/Like he dropped a hot bowl of spaghetti." The lyrics explicitly intertwine the emotion of lust with the body, gore, horror, and disgust.
• A couple of Willow's runways also play towards the emotions associated with kink, in a way we haven't seen on the show before. Again, for a show that plays a lot with sexual presentation and attraction, Drag Race doesn't give much due to fetish beyond the very mainstream themes of leather, latex, bondage, and whips. I'd really argue that these themes are so mainstream as to have become largely divorced outside of explicit BDSM settings from their invoked emotional referents- fear, pain, anticipation, helplessness- that provoke bodily sensation. Willow's latex hair wedgie Matrix outfit (wow what a combo of words), and hobble panty dress for the Heart On runway are fresh takes on kink on the show.
• A *lot* of Willow's runway presentation deals with bodily distortion and the separation of the body from a cohesive whole into its component parts (ex. the latex wedgie with disembodied hands to hold her hair, spring runway with head trapped in a house, 2nd ball challenge outfit with crazy long arms, Donatella lips on frills runway, all 3 finale outfits- intro catwalk, I hate people, final lipsync). And yet again, Drag Race has historically been willing to play with bodily proportion and distortion... but only in the hyper-feminine direction of more hips and tits, and played out plastic surgery jokes.

All this to say is a was a lot of fun to see Willow turn drag race tropes on their heads. And Willow's just really good. She's an underrated winner. I wouldn't want to see her on Drag Race again, or work the world. She's way too cool for the Drag Race brand. She would be cool even if she never did drag again. I will very happily go see anything she independently produces.
​
I've saved Camden for last, because if you thought this post was already way too long, watch me write another 5000 words about drag race and its relationship with male drag. But before I get into all that, let's talk about Camden as a drag race character.
If Daya is the girl production hated, Camden is the girl they loved. I love a hidden frontrunner storyline, and production did a great job with Camden's. Once her edit picked up steam in Daytona Winds, it didn't slow down again. Camden was the girl that got to gradually steamroll the other frontrunners (Daya- Daytona Winds, Catwalk (however dubious), Bosco- Lalaparuza, Moulin Ru), only to face defeat at the hands of her final competitor, Willow, at the finale. Where Willow found success at shaping her challenge roles to fit her already well-defined drag aesthetic, Camden was the rare contestant who successfully expanded her drag repertoire to fit the challenges.
Camden also benefitted from being an archetype we haven't seen much of on Drag Race. You could call her a theatre queen, but that's not really true to her personality or her edit. Off-Broadway queens on the show are generally edited to have an off-putting sense of delusion, desperation, and self-seriousness. Camden, with the confidence that came from actually having performed professionally for years, was none of these things. I read her as a better-realized and more interesting variety of Shuga Cain's or Gottmik's archetype- a queen that turned to drag for personal reasons after already achieving professional success in a separate sphere, fell absolutely in love with drag, and was still figuring out how their personality and performance translated between their in and out of drag selves. Camden had the *large* benefit over Shuga and Gottmik of entering drag with: - classical dance training and performance experience, - a much more interesting set of aesthetic references, -amateur acting and comedy experience. Camden was having just as much fun as Shuga at figuring out who she could be in drag, but she and the edit were much better at letting us know about it- like Bosco, she was great at narrating herself, which made for a really fun journey from week to week with her.
Her aesthetic and performance choices were also hilariously chaotic throughout the season. In situations where she had creative control, she might choose to: -repeatedly reference Bunheads (I cannot emphasize enough how much this was a choice), or she might completely rock a 90s London underground raver look and performance, or she might show up in very expensive Frozen cosplay, or she might provide the look of the night as a crystallized porcelain ballerina, or she might show up in a cotton candy meets Flintstones outfit of Salina-Estitties-bad proportions (love u Salina <3), or she might show up as a slutty horse, carriage, bridle, and all... the list goes on and I don't want it to end!
I also appreciate the level of commitment Camden displayed towards her more questionable choices; when Michelle advised against a joke about yelling into Ross's asshole for the roast, Camden made it longer for her set. When Camden showed up to the finale and started off with a questionable choice- pony play outfit of dubious proportions- she continued making questionable choices all the way through the final lipsync performance!
And for all that we learned about Camden's drag on S14, I feel there's still more to unpack. Rarely is Drag Race this good for a queen. I cannot wait to see Camden on All Stars. Will she win? She will make it to the finals. She will make it to the final lip sync. But I cannot tell you if she will give an incredible and captivating lip sync performance or if she'll choose to make another bunheads reference. Only time will tell.
Now to unpack the most interesting things Camden did on S14, and why they were cool to see on Drag Race. This is actually a bit similar to Willow- both Willow and Camden at their best work in similar ways against the way that Drag Race generally chooses to frame the nexus of sexuality, gender, and attraction.
The vast majority of gendered drag presentation that we see on drag race runs very femme, and by virtue of that, we see a lot of interpretations of female sexuality. It's usually straightforward- glamorous, sexy, and it's subversive mostly in the fact that it's a queer reclamation of female sexualities as seen by the male gaze. I would say this is a true even of the femme dom portrayals that we see on Drag Race (ex. Jaida in Madonna rusical)- it's a pretty mainstream and straight idea of what a femme dom is supposed to be. Less frequently we see straight or queer female sexualities centered in a women's gaze (ex Joey Jay <3). Rarely do we see hard butch, nongendered, or androgynous presentations- to the point that it *really* starts to stand out when we do (ex. Mo Heart's butch queen on UK vs the world, Victoria Scone's genderbend on Canada vs. the world, Raja's androgynous looks on All Winners).
Notice that these are all runway examples that I've cited. We really don't see looks that range past mild butch in challenges (Snatch Game excepted). Queens may be interested in exploring all this, but drag race as a production and the judges are not. As for masculine presenting drag, it's even more rare. Queens may go in boy drag for challenges, but almost never on the runway. This is key.
When queens are in boy drag in challenges (rare SG examples excepted), they are:

• playing male characters with no sexual presentation (ex. boy characters in the S15 Rusical, Alaska's pee-wee herman drag on S5 in the children's show skit)
• playing heterosexual male characters that depict hetero male sexuality as a completely hokey premise and joke (ex. mini challenges throughout the years, TMZ reporters room in comedy sketch in all stars 5)
• playing a "neutered" gay or effeminate man with no effective sexual potential when presented out of female drag (ex. Sasha in S15 Rusical)

Most often when the show needs to display masculine-presenting sexuality for a challenge, they use a pit crew member or an outside actor (ex. Leland in Moulin Ru, Danny Trejo in Daytona Winds 2). (Leslie Jordan is a lovely exception to this by virtue of being Leslie Jordan). Even here, these men are rarely presenting queer male sexuality. They are almost always playing it straight. (For more on the drag queen/gogo boy dichotomy, see How to be Gay, there's some paragraphs on this somewhere in there.)
To explain why drag race does this, Sasha's performance in the latest Rusical is key. As an effeminate man on the drag race stage (that's the label we'll use for Carl since he *is* straight(?) married to female Preacher Teacher- she's kinda more butch than him tho), Carl has no sexual power or potential in his male drag. Carl's frumpy clothes and Sasha's performance illustrate this pretty well. For the effeminate or queer man on drag race to unlock his sexual potential, he must put on femme-presenting drag. See: Carl in the final number once transformed into Ethel Sperman.
This is why we don't see masculine-presenting drag on the runway, especially drag that reads as queer masculine. The runway, being a *pure presentation of aesthetics and form,* is the most direct embodiment of the transcendence that drag allows for the long-shamed "feminine" aspects of queer male sexuality to their glorification and empowerment when presented in the male-as-female drag form.
(Note: there is a lot to unpack with the term "feminine" and its relation to queer male sexuality. I'll keep it short here and say that when I say "feminine" in this context, I'm referring specifically to the aspects of weakness/sexual submission that are often implied in the term, and become shameful or transgressive when juxtaposed with traditional ideas of male sexualities).
I think for Rupaul on the show, especially in the earlier seasons, the link between the shame of queer male sexuality and the transcendence of that sexual shame that could only be reached through glamorous, regal, sexual, feminine drag was really really strong. There is a reason the first 3 winners of the show all fit that ideal. I think that goes a *long* way towards explaining:

• why Ru had problems with trans queens being on the show (Ru's perspective: what is drag doing for you if you've already embraced and accepted the feminine pieces of you in a very visible way/ are you still doing drag if you're not achieving this specific variety of emotional catharsis through it)
• why Ru and the judges reacted so badly to Alaska's male drag on S5 and Milk's "werkroom Ru" on S6 (male drag can't be drag b/c feminine transformation and its emotional underpinnings are essential to my idea of what drag is)

At the time, these all seemed like things that undermined the central thesis of the show. This also explains:

• why Ru can't connect with mentally well-adjusted queens (why do drag if you aren't trying to solve your personal problems with it/you've already come to terms with your femininity)
• why Run can't connect with "theatre queens" (you're coming to drag from a professional angle instead of a personal angle, so i don't find your drag emotionally compelling)

Also! Who's the queen we see in male drag in challenges on the show the most? It's Ru! RuPaul! (ex. acting scenes on S6 final challenge, RudePaul on S10, court room reporter on All Winners). RuPaul doesn't go in drag on the show to play characters other than RuPaul the Glamazon, and he expects contestants to treat their drag the same.
Also!Also! There is clear reasoning for why Ru would feel this way about drag- the gay culture of the 90s and 00's was *so* different to today, and before drag race and the efforts of a lot of advocacy, there was a much larger stigma in the gay community towards feminine men, trans women, and drag queens. If you want to hear more about this I think Bianca or Courtney talk about it together on a podcast somewhere.
Drag race and RuPaul's allowance towards all these things has gradually changed thanks to awesome queens being on the show and fans wanting better for queens, but the effects of that viewpoint on the show are still really strong. So it's fun to Camden work against these ideas on S14.
To me, Camden's big standout moment is as Freddie Mercury on the runway and the "One Way or Another" lip sync. Camden's usual drag, as much as she goes towards any aesthetic, is very femme, Spice Girls-sexy. I don't find it particularly compelling, and I don't feel that she's adding much femininity or sexuality as compared to her character on drag race out of drag.
Freddie Mercury is different. Camden plays Freddie on the runway and in the lip sync very sexually. It is unequivocally a performance of powerful queer male sexuality. We really have not seen that on drag race before, especially on the runway. What's even better is how much fun Camden is having with it. You can really see the joy as she performs. She's having fun and feels more powerful in this queer male drag than her usual femme drag- and that in itself is incredibly empowering.
(Camden feeling more powerful in male drag works for the same reason that "Joey Jay is gay" does. Joey says as much in her lyrics, but there's a truth to it that goes beyond that. Like Camden, Joey is gay and femme enough already out of drag that her drag transformation might actually reveal more masculine or dominant aspects or her personality. If for a typical queen, drag goes something like "he's so gay she's straight," for Joey it goes "he's so gay she's masc.")
The same is true of Camden's other standout performances during the season. In the Lalaparuza, she has to lip sync against Bosco, the sexiest queen of the season, while not dressed in her super femme-presenting drag. As Camden puts it "how am I supposed to lip sync to this super soulful song dressed as Sonic the Hedgehog's bitch girlfriend?" But she makes the choice to perform the song sexually in spite of that, and she does it really well, to the point that the show has other contestants comment on it. See: Daya "I'm so hot for Camden right now." For Camden that feels like another really emotionally strong moment.
The last piece of this narrative is Camden's performance in Moulin Ru as the androgynous cabaret host. Although the character's dress and physical presentation is androgynous, Camden brings a queer masculine-coded sexuality to her performance that feels like a continuation of her discovery as Freddie Mercury. And like with Freddie, she performs the role very successfully and has a ton of fun doing it.
What's even better is just to see all these performances get rewarded by the judges on Drag Race. I really don't know how they would've been received on earlier seasons. But I'm glad we have them now, and I'm glad that queens continue to push Drag Race to expand its aesthetic bubble.
This concludes my thesis.