Astral Nomads

One man, one woman, one rabbit......traveling with the stars.

Friday, October 29, 2010

We Return to Conquer Assateague


After being thwarted in our initial campaign to discover the wild
ponies of Assateague, we decided to launch a second effort and were amply rewarded. Assateague is about 10 miles south of Ocean City on a long barrier island that was created when the Great Nor-Easter of 1933 cut a new inlet to the bay just south of Ocean City proper. It is a wonderland of salt marshes, dunes, and scrub pine forests. And, of course, home to a variety of wildlife, most notably the pesky ponies that avoided us during our initial foray.






The access road into Assateague for non-off road vehicles, like our mighty Hyundai Access, only extended for about four miles onto the island. After that, you need four-wheel drive because the roadway turns to sand. Within the parts of the park that we were able to access, however, there are two short but spectacular hiking paths, one (pictured immediately above) that highlights the raw beauty of the dunes and one that highlights the forest of loblolly pines and fresh and saltwater marshes.





'Day after day, alone on a hill........'. 

There's one parking area that has a walkway up to the top of  dune that provides a great view of the Atlantic Ocean. The sea was quite calm today, almost lake-like in its gentle shimmer. 





The three pictures above are from the forest trail. The last one could almost be a Monet.







We saw this family of ponies on our way out of the park. The stallion had a shock of blond rock-star hair that reminded us of Bon Jovi. Rock on, little pony, rock on.

4 comments:

  1. Great shots!! I have never been to Assateague but Michael has and said it was wonderful and it looks it by your photos.

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  2. It's a magical place with desolate heather topped dunes and a forest full of loblolly pines and mini-swamps that open up to a delightful salt marsh. So glad we got to explore here, it might just be a future camping destination!

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  3. Hi!

    Hope you don't mind if I follow along on your adventure! It sounds wonderful and your photos are lovely. Wishing you safe travels.

    - Darrelle Anne

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  4. @Little Green Squirrel: Of course we don't mind. Thanks for the wishes. Should be fun. We've only just begun.

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