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Hike maryland A GUIDE to the Scenic Trails of the Free State Other Guides by Bryan MacKay Bryan MacKay Cycle Maryland Photographs by Debi and Bryan MacKay Paddle Maryland Maps by Bill Nelson JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY PRESS • BALTIMORE Assateague Island National Seashore: North Beach County: Worcester Distance: Up to 5 miles one way; out-and-back hike Difficulty: Moderate to strenuous. Flat; sandy terrain Dogs: Prohibited Why It’s Special: A natural and wild ocean beach with excellent wildlife watching opportunities (especially birdwatching) More Information: Assateague Island State Park, http://dnr.maryland.gov /publiclands/Pages/eastern/assateague.aspx, (410) 641- 2120. Assateague Island National Seashore, www.nps.gov/asis, (410) 641- 1441 Street Address: Assateague Island National Seashore, 7206 National Seashore Lane, Berlin, MD 21811 GPS Coordinates: 38.247595, 75.154568 (National Seashore Visitor Center) ssateague Island forms the easternmost boundary of Mary- A land. A barrier island separated from the mainland by a shallow coastal bay, Assateague is a study in contrasts. To the north is Ocean City, an intensively developed vacation destination with the highest population density in the state on holiday summer weekends. Just across the inlet, much of the upper five miles of Assateague exists as de facto wilderness, where visitors are few in number and minimal in their impact. Protected by Assateague Island National Seashore and Assateague Island State Park, this land of sand and sea is a special and enticing place. Beachwalking is a familiar seashore activity, but few places on the East Coast have as long a stretch of truly deserted beach as 1 2 HIKE MARYLAND ASSATEAGUE ISLAND NATIONAL SEASHORE: NORTH BEACH 3 Assateague. For this reason, a natural community of plants and ani- Ocean mals dominates the life of Assateague, and we humans are only tem- 50 City porary visitors and observers. For anyone interested in the natural Assateague Island National world, especially in birds, there are few better places in Maryland. Seashore: North Beach Even if you just want to get away from it all, Assateague is a great place to hike. A note of caution: this ten-mile out- and- back walk is a long and difficult hike if completed in its entirety. Walking over sand is more tiring than walking over almost any other type of surface. In summer the beach can be very hot, although heatstroke can be easily avoided N by taking occasional swims in the ocean. Bring lots of sunblock to avoid burning. Be sure to carry at least two quarts of drinking water 611 per person; in addition to the heat and lack of shade, salt spray and a constant breeze can be desiccating. Insect repellent is a must if you plan to explore the area behind the dunes; the regular southerly d n a l breeze usually keeps the winged hordes at bay on the forebeach. So s I e u come prepared, especially if you bring children. g a e t a s s A ATLANTIC Trip Description Sinepuxent OCEAN Bay Begin your hike from the day- use parking lot of Assateague Island State Park, operated by Maryland’s Department of Natural Re - sources. There is parking here for hundreds of cars, usually sufficient . d if you arrive before 11 a.m. or after 4 p.m. in beach season and always R nt oi National P ample at other times of the year. An entrance fee is charged. Chang- th Seashore u o Visitor S Center ing houses with warm- water showers, flush toilets, drinking water, and a seasonal snack bar are available. 0 .5 1 mile . Unlike most of the other hikes in this book, this one offers you r Assateague Island D P e State Park d i the chance to see lots of wildlife even before you leave the parking s y a lot. A small contingent of the Assateague pony herd often patrols the B parking lot for handouts, soliciting donations of food as their own special token of admission and leaving the unwary with a fragrant reminder of their visit wedged in shoe soles, on sandal bottoms, or bite, so avoid feeding them (it’s against park regulations) and keep between the toes. Most visitors are enchanted by the famous ponies, your distance. The parking lot is also frequented by gulls (mostly and a few minutes of observation will reveal the degree of poor judg- laughing gulls in the summer and ring- billed gulls in the winter), ment of which humans are capable in their effort to experience wild- crows, and grackles, all of whom will scavenge shamelessly through life up close and personal. Although the ponies are generally docile, the accumulated trash discarded by your fellow visitors. Although all they can become quite persistent in their pursuit of food and may be of this animal activity is artificially induced by us humans, the park- short- tempered and even aggressive on occasion. Ponies kick and ing lot is nevertheless a great place to observe behavior. Students of 8 HIKE MARYLAND ASSATEAGUE ISLAND NATIONAL SEASHORE: NORTH BEACH 9 Directions From Baltimore or Washington, cross the Bay Bridge and continue south on Route 50 through Easton, Cambridge, and Salisbury. Just PIPING PLOVERS before the bridge to Ocean City, turn right on Route 611 at the prom- The month of May on Assateague Island is a busy time, with life inent sign marking the Assateague Island National Seashore. Fol- returning to the wide sand beaches and washover flats. Birds low Route 611 for 5.8 miles. Just before crossing the bridge onto swirl overhead: gulls, terns, plovers, willets, and sandpipers, Assateague Island, be sure to stop at the Visitor Center, where there many of them nesting alone or in colonies on the deserted sand, are interesting displays, information, ranger- led talks, drinking far from human disturbance. One species, the uncommon and water, and flush toilets. To reach the trailhead parking lot, continue diminutive piping plover, has an influence on beach regulations straight ahead over the Verrazano Bridge to the entrance kiosk for and the hiker experience far beyond what one would expect Assateague Island State Park. A fee is charged. Park in the bathing based on its tiny size and rarity. Between mid- April and about beach parking lot straight ahead. mid- July, foot travel on Assateague’s North Beach is limited to the intertidal zone in order to permit piping plovers to nest, in- cubate eggs, and raise chicks to fledging. The United States Fish Other Outdoor Recreational and Wildlife Service lists piping plovers as “threatened,” a des- Opportunities Nearby ignation that requires management of the birds’ habitat so as to Camping facilities are available at both the state park and the na- maximize their chances of reproductive success. tional seashore. The state park has hot- water showers and flush Piping plovers are small, rather nondescript shorebirds that toilets; it is so popular that reservations are a must. The national sea- resemble a number of sandpiper species referred to by frustrated shore sites have only portable toilets and cold- water showers. In hot beginning birders as “peeps.” Piping plovers are pale, with feath- weather, a screen house is a virtual necessity, providing refuge from ers similar in color to dry beach sand. They have yellow- orange the sun and bugs. Because of the physical discomfort of camping on legs, a yellow bill with a black tip, a white rump, and a black par- the beach, consider camping at the Shad Landing area of Pocomoke tial collar. Piping plovers migrate, overwintering in the southern River State Park, about a forty- five- minute commute away. United States and the Bahamas. It is possible to walk the many miles of beach south of the state In 1986, when piping plovers were added to the federal En- park. If you’re interested in solitude or nature, however, forget it. dangered Species list, there were just 790 breeding pairs on the Bathers dominate the beach near campgrounds, while surf fisher- Atlantic coast. (There is a smaller, disjunct population found near men in oversand vehicles occupy the beach at regular intervals south the Great Lakes.) After three decades of intensive regulatory pro- to the Virginia line. tection of their nesting beaches, that number of breeding pairs For bicyclists, a ten- mile paved bike path traverses the length of has more than doubled to just under 2,000, and the total popula- tion is estimated at about 8,000 birds. At Assateague, there has the developed part of Assateague Island. been on average about 42 pairs, each of whom usually produce Paddling a canoe or kayak in the back bay (Assawoman Bay) of just one fledged offspring each year. But piping plovers typically Assateague Island can be pleasant if it’s not too windy and you stay lay four eggs to a clutch. Why the low birth rate? The high mor- close to the shore. Seasonal rentals are available at the Old Ferry tality is blamed on natural causes like predation and weather. Landing in the National Seashore. While most piping plovers nest on North Beach, a few colonize the dozen miles of coast to the south, between the campgrounds and the Virginia border. Despite the fact that oversand vehicles (continued ) (continued ) 10 HIKE MARYLAND NASSAWANGO CREEK PRESERVE: LEIFER TRAIL AND FURNACE TOWN 11 are permitted on this stretch of beach, piping plover reproduc- tive success has been surprisingly good, with a high of almost three young fledged per breeding pair in 2014. Closure of some beaches to oversand vehicles for the protection of piping plovers and other nesting shorebirds has been controversial, especially Nassawango Creek in North Carolina, but Marylanders seem to accept North Beach closures without much fuss.