DoorCountyNatureNut.com is a personal project of a nature freak and former state park naturalist who’s lived in Door County for 17 years.

In spring of 2006, I drove into Door County’s Peninsula State Park seeking a few minutes of solace. Within moments I realized that I was back home where I belonged. That feeling of unrest, that maddening and upsetting inability to fully relax, all the tensions and demands that had been swirling around in my head…….. disappeared. I felt relaxed, at peace, happy and free.

Since that day, I’ve made very good use of my state park stickers. If it was possible to wear a park sticker out, I very well might have. I can be found in a park nearly every day, sitting quietly watching birds, hiking on a rough root-wracked trail, relishing the view across the water, or suddenly freezing perfectly still to watch for the cause of a distant rustle in the woods. Rain or shine, light or dark, cold or warm… about the only time I don’t visit a park is when I am sick, because I much prefer to be in bed when I feel like crud.

My favorite palette is a sunny day in an upper mixed deciduous forest. However, I equally enjoy a rocky shoreline on a calm sunny day, as well as picking submerged rocks in the shallows to examine the invertebrates hiding beneath. My only real request: no people!! There is no more perfect song to my ears than the unspoiled, uninterrupted chorus of birds, trees, critters and water as they come together.

The equipment and books I refer and link to on this site are hand-picked and personally recommended. They are books that I use, have used, and wholeheartedly recommend to anyone who wants to learn about the things and places I talk about. I learned how to identify birds in Peterson’s. My own binoculars are Bushnell’s (I have always owned Bushnell’s, by the way). My boots are a trusty 20+ year old pair of Reeboks that fit like no other boot I have ever tried on.

— Karin