April 10, 2004

Assateague

After lunch we headed back to the park and to our camp site. I started setting up camp while Katie ran off with the camera to get pictures of a small deer. After the tent was up we went out to watch some kite surfers, and Katie discovered a sea squirt that had washed ashore. To 'save' the squirt she took it back to the water, saving it from the small kids that descended on the beach a moment later.

We headed down a nature trail, stopping to read the signs and survey the area they discussed. Part of the raised walkway we were on was covered by broken clam shells. Katie asked why and I explained to her about the gulls dropping them to crack them open. She doubted that was really what was going on, but a few minutes later we got to watch several gulls crack open a few for our benefit.

Back at camp I made dinner while Katie took pictures of the ponies, then we headed back down to the bay to watch the sun set.

As we wondered back to the camp we sat on the picnic table as a guy walked toward the shower with (obviously) fresh clothes, a towel, and a toiletry bag. A woman passing him in the opposite direction said "Gonna get a shower?"

"No, I'm going around camp popping everyone with my towel"

"Here's your sign." My daughter thought this was quite funny, so we played this game countless times throughout the next few days anytime either of us did something silly or asked a question with an obvious answer.

Shortly afterward we turned in for the evening to get our rest for the paddle out to the back country site in the morning.

On day 2 we woke early, packed camp and headed over to Ferry Landing as a man in a yellow kayak was heading out. We spent a good half hour to 40 minutes packing everything into the kayaks. After stuffing our sleeping bags between our feet we paddled off.

We started out at low tide, and choosing the near shore track we had to push through some low areas during the 5 mile paddle to the Pine Tree camp site. As we passed Tingles Island we spotted the yellow kayak dude heading out into deeper water.

At Pine Tree we set up camp and had lunch. While finishing up our meal the truck came to clean out the porta-potty and Katie and I headed out for a walk to the beach.

On the road we found a dead raccoon, or at least what was left of what we thought to be a raccoon. Over at the beach the air blowing off the ocean was cold. Although the wind was blowing hard, the waves were tiny and all locally wind blown. It would have been a great day to paddle on the ocean if not for the wind.

On the walk back Katie spotted something leftover from a marine animal. Far from the beach, our best guess was that it was a dolphin tail that had been dragged up by an animal.

We walked to the old building near the camp ground, crossing a Small bridge and found a recently deceased raccoon. We walked around a little bit more and headed back to camp where we found the camp site now occupied by two more couples.

The first had been kayaking the entire length of Assateague. The next day they would leave and paddle to the National Park, and the following day end their trip in Ocean City. THe second couple arrived by canoe and after unloading 2 very large bags had their camp quickly set up.

For dinner we boiled water and poured it into Mountain House dehydrated food packages. Later in the evening we retired just as Katie spotted a tick crawling on the outside of the tent.

On day 3 we rose early to paddle some of the back country guts into the island. I was looking forward to this as I've always paddled point to point at Assateague, and have never taken the time to explore the interior waters. After slipping in to our dry suits we paddled off into the gut on the north side of the camp site.

In short order we were scooching across shallows using our hands. We'd find deeper water and paddle a bit, only to run aground a few minutes later.

We were treated to a show as a king fisher tried to find a mid-morning meal, and we paused for a few minutes to watch it hunt. We paddled on toward the north, spotting snowy egrets ahead.

We slowly approached the egrets so Katie could take some pictures, then paddled on toward a large pond we could see over the short grasses. On entering the pond the water grew very shallow. We got out of our kayaks and walked about 50 yards across the pond. Not finding any deeper water, we trekked across land about 250 feet and put our kayaks back into the water in a deep gut that led out to the bay near the south end of Tingles Island.

We paddled back to our camp site and all the previous day's campers had left. Katie and I had lunch, and with a full belly and a full morning workout Katie wanted a nap before we explored the gut on the south side of the camp.

During our nap a canoe couple paddled up and noisily poked around our camp reading our back country permit and wondering where we were.

After our nap the wind had picked up a bit. We put our dry suits on again and paddled around to the south side of the camp site and into the south gut. We paddled under the small bridge and a good distance toward the beach before turning to head back out. To our left the gut continued on and we followed it back out to the bay. Katie didn't want to paddle in the wind/waves so we turned our kayaks back in to the gut, retracing our steps back to camp.

For dinner we boiled more water for dehydrated dinners and later made some raspberry crumple while sitting around a small campfire before we called it a day.

When we woke on our last day we took our time tearing down camp and packing the kayaks. Once set to go we climbed back in our dry suits one last time for a paddle back to our car.

The paddle back was a little sad for me. I have such a great time paddling and camping with my daughter. The last time we did this trip she needed a tow part of the way in and back, but today she covers the miles like a pro. The time flew by as we guessed at the miles we had paddled. We weren't quite sure where the landing was, and we poked in and out of a few places near shore till we found the right place.

We unloaded the kayaks and loaded the car. Katie and I snapped a few more pictures on the road out of the park. We stopped at Buster's once again for lunch before heading home.

(The rest of the pictures to be posted soon)