Dragon Hunting....

A little over a year ago, I asked my son if he wanted to go Dragon hunting. He said yes of course. We were living in Maryland and nearby was this totally magical state park, Patapsco Valley State Park. We set out in an area we hadn't been through before, looking for signs of Dragons and documenting them with pictures. Here is a narration of that journey....

Expedition leader: Brandon



The first sign we came across were these peculiar trees. It was rumored that in the presence of Dragons, these trees would not lose their leaves in winter, and the leaves would turn sort of white instead of normal fall colors.






Scorched and fallen trees are a sure sign of Dragons. Everyone knows this. Now, we did not expect to really find any Dragons. They are a mystical, magical, and loner sort of creature. We expected them to be well hidden, but we certainly found a lot of evidence that some might be around.











The railroad tracks were not a good sign. Too much civilization/industrialization. But, in such a populated area, the Dragons could use the noise to help mask their movements. We weren't sure about this.





We decided to head up this ridge to get a better vantage point of the whole valley and hopefully spot some signs that we were missing down in the brush. It wasn't an easy climb, but we made it. It did help us in our search though. At the top we found some places where it looked like Dragons liked to slide down.












We also found a tree that looked like young Dragons had scratched up. They are intelligent creatures you know, and territorial.















Dragon berries. Very important in a young Dragon's diet.















Shallow rivers and streams are very important. They are a source of water for the Dragons. The rocks also help the Dragons stay clean and scratched. Dragons have a hard time finding anyone that will scratch them you know.



We had traveled a long way by this point. We stopped to eat a snack and drink some. When we got up to continue on, we saw that we had been visited while we were resting. There was nothing in the woods around us when we sat down, but when we got up, we found three cairns around us. Now we knew we were close!



The great Dragon Expedition leader takes a leap of faith....


We found some rocks that looked like adult Dragons had been sharpening their talons on.


And that was the last clue we found that day. We never did see a Dragon, but we sure had a lot of fun looking! If you want to see more of Patapsco, check out my link on the right to my picasa page. There is an album there dedicated to Patapsco.

~Mike