One of the trails that was recommended to us was the Hunters Beach Trail. Like a lot of the trails in Acadia, the trailhead is only marked by a wooden marker, which is really easy to miss when driving by. I loved having the AllTrails App, as it had the trail and gave directions on how to get to it.
The parking lot was small, maybe room for 3-5 cars.
The trail itself wasn’t difficult, as it was relatively flat. However, there were tree roots everywhere! It made the hike a little slower as we watched where we stepped. We did come back with one twisted ankle when a tree root sneak attacked and wasn’t laying as flat as it appeared to be.
There were a couple of little bridges and a small boardwalk. A lot of the trail ran next to the creek, which led to the open water. The beach was beautiful, but rocky.
School is winding down. The boys and I decided to take a hike in Acadia. Well, ok…I decided to drag them away from video games for a hike. I found one that was listed as easy on the AllTrails app, but looked like it might keep them occupied. It was a combination of two trails, Homans and Emery. I would say this trail was more towards the moderate level since it was mostly stone steps in both directions.
There were a couple of spots where the trail narrowed or you might have to duck down to get through. It was still a nice trail with some great views at the top. You could see a creek winding through a meadow, the town below, and the ocean. Nick liked all the rocks to climb and only hurt himself 2 or 3 times.
It was a neat trail, but not one to do if you have knee or ankle problems. My ankle twinged a few times even with hiking boots on.
One of things we never do back home is wake up early to catch the sunrise. Apparently, this the thing to do when near Acadia! The sun rises a bit earlier here, so we woke up at 3:30 am to make it up to Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park. (Starting 5/26, you will need to buy a car pass ($6) to access Cadillac Mountain.)
The parking lot was already pretty full, but we did find a spot. We walked across the rocky top and found a spot to watch Mother Nature’s show. It was an amazing view overlooking the city, the islands, and the bay/ocean. When the sun peaked over the edge, the pinks and reds were reflected in the water.
I probably will not make a habit of watching the sunrise often, but it was definitely worth getting up early for.
We spent a couple of hours walking around Central Park. It is so much bigger than I thought it would be. It is 843 acres! There are several bridges, a playground, a zoo, a fountain, a lake, and a castle. We didn’t even see all of it. If we had more time, we would have taken the Blue Line bus tour around the park to hear all of the different tidbits about it.
We didn’t really have a plan in mind, just wandered through the park enjoying the beautiful weather.
There was a large open field in the park where we saw people throwing the Frisbee, picnicking, reading, and sunbathing. We saw a lot of Speedos.
Ben brought us to Belvedere Castle and Turtle Pond. Nick enjoyed seeing all the turtles; they were swimming and lounging on the rocks. Belvedere Castle was open, but there was really only one room open. The stairs to go up were closed off.
It was an amazing park in the middle of a huge city.
We’ve moved to Pennsylvania and although pretty, there were not many activities close to the campground except hiking.
For Mother’s Day, we headed to the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area to go on a hike. The Delaware Water Gap is an elongated park, and we were hiking to Mount Minsi, which was towards the bottom of the park. The park had several hiking trails and a beach area.
I used our trail app and found the Mount Minsi via Appalachian Trail hike. It was supposed to be 5 miles, listed as moderate, and followed part of the Appalachian Trail. Ben has wanted to hike part of the Appalachian Trail for a while, so we wanted to take advantage of the fact that it was pretty close by (about a 30 minute drive). I looked at the pictures and thought it didn’t look too bad and it had great reviews. (Spoiler: I was wrong.)
The trail was a lot more crowded in on the way up than we expected. There was a small parking lot by the trailhead that was almost completely full. There was also a smaller lot a little up the hill, which was also full. I thought that on Mother’s Day, that it wouldn’t be that busy, but I was wrong. It still wasn’t super packed, but still had about 30 people pass us.
Now, I know I already gave the spoiler that I was wrong about the trail difficulty. Our hike ended up being 5.6 miles (Ben’s tracker said 5.8 miles and I did accidentally pause the recorder at one point on mine, so somewhere in that range) with an elevation gain of 1086 feet. My theory was that people were too busy trying not to trip and fall that they didn’t take pictures of the hard parts for their reviews. 😉 The trail was mostly a loop, which we always like in a hike. It started as an out and back, then splits to the right and left. We ended up taking the right side of the path, which probably is the only reason we finished the hike. The left side was a lot more narrow, rockier and had more climbing (at least for my shorter legs) over rocks. Either way, you are climbing uphill and coming downhill on the way back.
Parts of the trail
There are bears in the area, so we did bring our bear spray. We did not see any though. We heard birds, but the only wildlife we saw were several millipedes along the trail. We looked them up when we got home and discovered they were the ironworm/American Giant Millipede.
The top of the trail has two lookouts, and I would recommend seeing both since you are already there. The first overlooks a neat rocky hillside and has a nice space to sit and take a break. The second lookout also has a few nice large rocks to overlook the Delaware River.
Views along the trail
I’m glad we did it, although we (especially the adults) were exhausted at the end. Ben and I were sore even the next day. Hikes like this one make me miss having a tub to soak our feet in!
DETAILS:*
TICKETS: Free, except for beach or river access. COVID Restrictions: Visitor Centers closed, masks required
HOURS: Most is open 24 hours, per website
PARKING: Yes, but some lots are small
BATHROOM: Not at trailhead. Visitor Centers are closed, although we did see a bathroom that was open on the other side of the Bushkill Meeting Center.
TIME RECOMMENDED: 1-4 hours
*Details correct at the time of posting, but please double check before you go.
This preserve is tucked back in among farms and private residences. hiking, saw a few farms/peacocks/sheep, nice view of the bay and lighthouse. We heard a few birds, but didn’t see that many. We did see a skull of some kind along the path and a few white tail deer rain in front of us.
We went to check out Assateague Island based on the recommendations from the Pearl Market. The park spans the border of Maryland and Virginia. We decided to go to the Virginia side, as it was closer. The Virginia part of the park is also the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge.
We stopped first to see the beach (Atlantic Ocean) and the Visitors Center. The Center was closed, but they did have maps, passport stamps, and a Ranger there to ask questions. The park has hiking trails, the beach for swimming (does not always have a lifeguard), and allows fishing/crabbing.
Virginia fences the horses to keep them away from roads, which is good but also means that the horses are farther away. At times, it seemed like you were just looking at a farm/ranch’s fenced in horses. Maryland does not fence the horses, so they do wander into the road, etc.
We did a couple of hiking trails (the Woodlands and Lighthouse). Both trails were either nicely paved, a boardwalk, or pretty even dirt paths. The Woodlands trail wandered through the woods and had a few areas to view the horses if they were nearby. The Lighthouse trail had a vault toilet and a parking lot, and (surprisingly) led to the lighthouse. The lighthouse was closed, although you could walk around it. The one thing I wished they did was put the trail lengths on the maps. There was a map at each trail head sign, plus the ranger gave us a trail map at the Visitor Center; however, neither of the maps, nor the app, had the trail lengths listed. When I looked later, I did find the trail lengths on a separate website. We had a nice time walking around.
We did not get to the Wildlife Loop, as it is pretty long and we would have had to wait for a couple more hours to drive it. It is open only for walking or bicycles until 3:00 pm. After 3:00 pm, you can drive the Loop.
We had a pretty mild day, but in the summer I would bring lots of water, sunscreen, and bug spray. The Ranger told us the mosquitoes are horrible when it gets warmer.
DETAILS:*
TICKETS: Included with Interagency Pass (America The Beautiful annual), or $10/1 day, $25/7days. There is also a refuge annual pass option and a beach parking pass option. COVID Restrictions: masks required/social distancing. Visitor Centers closed, lighthouse closed.
HOURS: Park hours vary based on season. January-March 15th 6:00 am-6:00 pm, March 15th-April 6:00 am-8:00 pm. May-September 15th 5:00 am-10:00 pm, September 15-October 6:00 am to 8:00 pm, November-December 6:00 am to 8:00 pm. The Visitor Center also has different hours of operation.
PARKING: Yes
BATHROOM: Yes
TIME RECOMMENDED: 1-3 hours
*Details correct at the time of posting, but please double check before you go.
Although it is very pretty to look at the Chesapeake Bay, we normally aren’t ones to just sit and stare at the ocean. We found a couple of hiking trails/boardwalks/paths in the area. The first one we tried (other than the great Wildlife Refuge) was the Cape Charles Natural Area Preserve.
This preserve area was a little weird. The parking lot was right next to a Fuji company building and it also bordered on a construction site for parts of the trail. There were two paths you could take at the small parking lot. To the left was a boardwalk that went over a pond. That one was a little boring. To the right was a dirt path that changed into a boardwalk. It went through the woods, where it also branched into two paths. The left path went through the woods and ended with a small seating area. The right/straight path meandered parallel to the construction site for a little bit, and also led to a view of the Bay. There was no beach access however, as the boardwalk stopped a little before the sand.
We heard some birds in the woods, but didn’t see a lot of animals along the paths.
I would definitely bring bug spray during the warmer months. I would also take my time on the boardwalks. There were several boards that were loose or felt a little soft, as well as sections that seemed to sway when we were walking on them. It wasn’t a bad trail area, but it was a little boring.
Kiptopeke State Park was a nice little state park near Cape Charles, Virginia. It had a small swimming area, a fishing pier, and a few hiking trails. There was a campground, cabins for rent, and a nice picnic area (with a restroom).
Map, self-service admission booth, observation landing by picnic area, office and little library
We had a lovely sunny day to explore this park. We brought a lunch with us and sat in the gazebo for a picnic lunch before setting off for exploring. We wandered down to the fishing pier where we saw the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, and some old pier pilings, and an artificial reef made from old WWII ships (they are made of concrete!). There were a few kayakers and fishermen out. My absolute favorite part of the park was seeing dolphins in the Bay. We saw about 4 of them swimming and cresting out of the water. We hadn’t seen any dolphins yet on this, even with all our ocean visits. I was happy we got to see them.
Dolphins, pelican, birdConcrete Fleet ships making up a man-made reef.
The hiking trails led you among the woods, along the coast, and by fields for butterflies. We came across several offshoot trails that were not on the map, so just pay attention to where you are.
It was a great hike and worth the $7 we paid to get in. As a bonus feature, there was a Little Library by the office!
After crossing the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel (going north from Williamsburg to the Eastern Shore/Cape Charles), there is a Welcome Center. We were pretty early for our check-in time for our campground which wasn’t very far away, so I decided to pull in for a bathroom break. It was a pretty standard welcome center with local information, maps, and bathrooms. It had car parking and larger spots for trucks and RVs. The employees were nice and had a few suggestions.
The best part was an unassuming arch behind the welcome center. The arch leads to a path through the trees to the Eastern Shore Wildlife Refuge (ESWR). There are some great trails there. One was the Butterfly Trail, which would be great when more things were in bloom, although we did see a couple along the way. We took the trail to a secondary parking lot, where we then took the Wildlife Loop. This loop led to a bunker and a huge gun (66 feet!), and an observation tower. Once at the top of the platform, you had some nice views of the Chesapeake.
Bottom Right: ESWR Visitor Center and stamp post.
There is a Visitor Center (and its own parking lot) as well, but it was currently closed. However, outside the Visitor Center, they had some informational pamphlets about birds, as well as stamps for passport/stamp books, if you collect those. There was no paper there for the stamps however, so you may want to bring your own.
DETAILS:*
TICKETS: Free. COVID Restrictions: masks, social distancing, ESWR Visitor Center and Fishermans Island closed.
HOURS: Dawn to Dusk
PARKING: Yes (at Eastern Shore Welcome Center and at ESWR Visitor Center)
BATHROOM: Yes (use the one at the Eastern Shore Welcome Center, not the closed ESWR Visitor Center)
TIME RECOMMENDED: 1-3 hours
*Details correct at the time of posting, but please double check before you go.
