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Paddling Dragon Run in Virginia's Middle Peninsula is a real trip. With the Dragon Lady in her lair Date published: 5/22/2004
AT LONG LAST I have seen the Dragon, and it was worth the wait. On a map you'll find Dragon Run on Virginia's Middle Peninsula, but the name's a misnomer. Dragon Run rises in Essex County, then flows eastward through Middlesex, King and Queen, and Gloucester counties, emptying into the Piankatank River, a Chesapeake Bay tributary. It is large enough to be called a river, and over its 35-mile course flows through one of the wildest, most beautiful hardwood swamps on the East Coast. Ten years ago Hal Wiggins and I attempted to paddle a section of the upper Dragon only to be turned back by low water and impenetrable vegetation. Even so, the peek we got into this lair of the wild was enough to keep the fires burning. Luck was with us when we tried again a week ago, because we went with Teta Kain, Doyenne of the Dragon. It is doubtful anyone who ever met Kain has forgotten her. It isn't just her energy, her enthusiasm for the swamp, her astounding knowledge of all things Dragon and outdoors. It isn't even her talents with camera, canoe or as a storyteller. Kain, 67, a retired Air Force surgical nurse who lives in Gloucester, redefines the term "Renaissance man," lending it a definite feminine twist. We met Kain--Teta to one and all--on a sultry afternoon at a landing belonging to Friends of Dragon Run, of which she is president. She paddled with us to Big Island, a 26-acre untouched sanctuary surrounded by virgin cypress swamp. Kain apologized for not camping with us, but had to rush home to see Smarty Jones go for his historic win at The Preakness. (Her excitement the next morning telling us about it was contagious.) With our tents set up beside the meandering river, we set off to hike two of the three trails running more than a mile around the wild island. I had figured the bird-finding would be great in mid-May--it was better than that. I lost count of the spring migrants passing through that place--redstart, three varieties of vireo, more than a dozen warbler species and both summer and scarlet tanagers. I kept neither a list nor a species count, but there was plenty of action.
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