Thursday, September 16, 2010
Lake Somerset Campground, Pocomoke City, MD - June 7-13
This campground is fairly expensive & does not meet our standards. It is fairly dumpy, with run-down buildings, lots of residential older mold-covered trailers, inadequate sewer facilities (overflow problems -- yuck!), very close to a busy highway, minimal electric, and bright security lights. But it is nicely situated for the many things we want to see in this part of the Delmarva Peninsula. There really isn't anything better that meets our needs. After sightseeing here, we have concluded that, bad as this campground is, there isn't one better in the area, outside of the State Park with elec only & no pets.While here we visited the Blackwater NWR near Cambridge. Pocomoke is an Indian word meaning "black water" -- the water is dark because of its high acidity from filtering through the rich soil of the wetlands. There are many wetlands, which are instrumental in keeping the Chesapeake Bay clean. This is a small refuge with several short hiking trails & a driving loop with observation points. You can see Osprey nesting on special platforms built in the water. There are also Bald Eagles in residence; we were lucky enough to see 1 mature & 3 juveniles. While hiking one of the trails, we saw our first Yellow-billed Cuckoo. The next day we took in the local sights in Pocomoke City. They have Costen House, a Victorian Italianate home built shortly after the Civil War; the art deco Mar-Va Theater, built in 1927 (being restored); & the Sturgis one-room school museum, which once served as a school for African American children & now has been restored to serve as a museum of local African-American history. We walked on the 2-mile Pocomoke City Nature & Exercise trail, which includes several sections of floating boardwalk. The exercise area was no longer usable, but the trail itself was quite enjoyable & led to several overlooks along the river. This area is a major chicken raising area, mostly for Tyson. In the town we noticed the "Delmarva Poultry Justice Alliance". We thought of the movie "Chicken Run"; however it seemed to be about rights for migrant workers, not the chickens themselves.
Sunday we went to Janes Island SP near Crisfield. We rented a tandem kayak & paddled on their kayak trails for about 2 hours. We think we are better suited for singles, but this was a lot of fun! While here we saw our first Tree Swallow, famed for their voracious appetites for mosquitoes. We cheered them on! Then we went to Crisfield & walked around the harbor, eating a late lunch. Crisfield is the crab capitol of the world, so we had some famous MD crabcakes. We were starving after all that hard paddling. From Crisfield you can take toll ferries to historic Smith & Tangier Islands, located in the Bay about halfway to Point Lookout, VA.
We went to Chincoteague NWR, located on the south end of Assateague Island in Virginia. On the way we passed the NASA Wallops Island Flight Facility & stopped at the Visitor Center. It was quite interesting; we especially enjoyed the 20-min movie of antics in weightlessness by astronauts. The NWR has 15 miles of hiking trails, many ideal for bikes; a lighthouse; a wildlife driving loop (open to cars after 3 pm); & miles of lovely Atlantic beach. While here we saw the famous Chincoteague ponies, some with foals (but not the famed Misty, or even the statue of her); a Delmarva Fox Squirrel (endangered), which is only found in this very small area; & Sitka elk, which were introduced to the island in the 1920s. We hiked the trail to the lighthouse, which was built in 1867 & is 142 feet fall. The shifting sands of the barrier island have caused to lighthouse to be fairly far inland. It is painted red & white in vertical stripes & gives a double flash every 5 seconds. It is visible for 22 miles. We also strolled on the beach, enjoying the cool ocean breezes. When leaving the area, we also checked out a few campgrounds in the town. We found Maddox & Tom's Cove to be nice but expensive (over $30). Inlet View is run-down & unacceptable for about $25.We had 2 more days of sightseeing in this area. The first day we tried to go on several hiking trails. The first one was in Furnace Town, a restored village. We had no interest in the village, but you had to pay the entrance fee even to hike on the half-mile trail. No thanks. Five minutes out on the next trail, we suddenly noticed that we were COVERED in TICKS. YUCK! Run back to the truck, pick off ticks for about 1/2 hour -- and every half hour for the rest of the day. We chickened out of the next trail which was in a Cypress Swamp -- figured it would be Tick City, too.
Our final day was a real success. We went to Assateague Natl Seashore at the north end of Assateague island. Chincoteague is at the southern end (in VA). We hiked the nature trails, got lots of good information about ticks at the ranger station (we're still waiting for someone to give us a good reason for ticks to exist!) & enjoyed the lovely beach. We saw the Great Black-backed Gull. We also saw a pair of Willets with 2 or 3 chicks, protecting the chicks so vocally, you couldn't help but notice them.
# posted by Doug and Willie @ 9:06 PM 
