I'm planning to thru-hike next year & would like to blog from the trail. I would like to write about the plants & animals I find on the trail, but it would help if I already knew as much as possible about identifying the plants & wildlife. You cannot really know a thing if you can't name it.

I've been learning a lot from field guides & other books, but does anyone know of any classes or seminars/other events that teach about botany or wildlife? I live in Frederick, Maryland, if that's any help.

I've read Thoreau's Walden & Annie Dillard's Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, and I really enjoy how intimately they describe their observations of nature.