Back to Assateague

Sunday morning’s sunrise was gorgeous. I woke up just in time to catch it from the balcony of our room.

I love sunrise at the beach. What’s nice is that I automatically wake up for it, without the obnoxiousness of an alarm, no matter how deeply asleep I might be. (Side note: After the torture device — futon — that we sleep on in the Sabbaticalville apartment, a motel bed is pure luxury.)

Assateague is only 8 miles from Ocean City. Although it’s south of where we ultimately were heading (back to Sabbaticalville via the coastal route), it was close enough to make another trip back there and spend a little more time on the hiking/nature trails.

We took our time on this trail, enjoying the beauty of the dunes. We saw plenty of evidence of horses, but not a single horse appeared before us as we walked this trail. I don’t know if you can read it on the above sign, but there’s a warning for would-be hikers about the strenuousness of walking in soft sand. It’s a good workout, that’s for sure. Well worth it, too.

Look at that sky! It was the most amazing shade of blue.

I think that’s pretty much the only wildlife we saw, a buzzard circling overhead.

The wind does some pretty interesting things to the trees and other plant life on the island.

Back in the 1950’s, as I mentioned in a previous post, developers came to the island in hopes of making money by turning it into another “Gold coast” of vacation homes, motels, hotels, condos, etc. Thankfully, Mother Nature had other things in mind and a series of strong storms in the 1960’s pretty much leveled the island and the developments, thereby convincing investors to leave the island to the gulls and other wildlife.

Not knowing this at the time we took our little hike, we were a little puzzled by the presence of what appeared to be an old road.

A little further on, we were enlightened.

Enough of the blah, blah, blah from me. Let’s just go for a walk and let the wonderful dune trail of Assateague speak for itself.

Doesn’t the following tree almost invite you to have a seat and enjoy the beauty of the place?

Ah yes, sunbathing on the dunes:

Too bad it was so cold and windy. It’s hard to work on one’s tan in those kind of conditions.

Next: Leaving Assateague.

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