In these times of the coronavirus, the public health strategy of “social distancing” is hard on people because humans are, by their nature, a social species. We evolved to hunt, live, play and survive in groups. But the virus takes advantage of our evolution and spreads through groups. So we have to know our enemy and work against our very nature to save lives. In my effort to practice an extreme form of “social distancing” – and escape the claustrophobia of working at home – I set off with my kayak and a few supplies to the most isolated place I could think of: the pathless, maze-like wilderness of rivers and marshes at the heart of the Blackwater Wildlife Refuge, on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.