The Kayak Chronicles ©

by Darren Caffery

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KAYAK CAMPING AT ASSATEAGUE ISLAND

Assateague Island National Seashore, Maryland

April 17-18, 2005

The early morning call to the Assateague State Park Ranger's station resulted in good news. The winds had died down, there was water in the bay and the park service was issuing back country camping permits to those who wanted to paddle and camp. Those who want suggestions on how to prepare for a camping and paddling trip such as this should check out JSSKA member, "Wild Bill" McArthur's website.
 
After breakfast, Frank, Eric, Bob, Mike, Barb, Blair, Corey, Craig and myself broke down camp at Pocomoke State Park on Sunday morning and headed down to Assateague Island. After our night of car camping, we had to re-organize our gear for our primitive camping stay on Assateague Island National Seashore. We arrived at Ferry Landing at around 10 am and after loading our gear we were on the bay by 11 am.
 
The air temperature was in the 60's and the sun was shining bright when we launched.  There was very little wind.  We paddled out about 150 yards into the Chincoteague Bay before making a southerly course along the shoreline.  We maintained a nice leisurely paddling pace of about 2-3 miles per hour and reached our destination of the Pine Tree campsite after about 5 miles and about 2 hours of paddling. The paddle to the campsite was generally uneventful. The water was very shallow in some areas and often resulted in a 'drag' feeling but luckily, no one ran aground.
 
We arrived at the Pine Tree site at about 1 pm, unloaded our gear, set up camp then ate lunch.  The campsite was atop a small hill and heavily wooded with tall pines.  There was also a good deal of brier throughout the campsite and some ticks were observed on some paddlers and gear shortly after our arrival to the site. The sites had a fire ring, picnic table, and the ground where we laid our tents was soft with pine needles.  A porta potty was accessible near the where we landed our kayaks.
 
After lunch, I decided on an afternoon nap so to the tent I went. Within minutes, the camp was quiet and everyone else was napping too, with the exception of Eric and Barb.
 
We snoozed in the mid afternoon for about an hour and one by one woke up and began stirring about the campsite. After everyone emerged from their tents, we took a group hike up the trail from our camp.  On the trail we encountered the skeletal remains of what looked like a raccoon and Blair picked it up and made believe he was eating it while some others snapped pictures. After about a 1/2 mile hike, we finally reached the dunes of the beach.  We were very surprised to see some off road vehicles on the beach. After some brief beachcombing, we trekked back to our wooded campsite.

Upon our return from the ocean, we relaxed at the site and began preparing dinner. As we were preparing dinner, another paddler from our club, Ken had arrived by kayak to the campsite and increased our group number to ten.
 
I ate the remains of my mesquite barbeque chicken breasts with some rice. Individually wrapped in tin foil, I cooked the chicken pieces in a small pan on my propane cookstove. The tin foil helped the chicken remain tender and juicy. Yummy.
 
As the sun set over the bay, the temperature began to drop so we started a campfire which kept us warm well into the night. We gathered by the fire and chatted and drank hot chocolate and red wine to keep warm. As it got later, the group dwindled and the fire grew smaller. The campsite was well illuminated by a small sliver of moon which cracked between the trees.  I retired to my tent by 10:30 pm and was sleeping like a baby in no time.
 
We awoke early on Monday morning and after some hot tea and instant cinnamon oatmeal by a morning campfire, we broke down our camp, and began hauling our gear down the hill to our kayaks.
 
Bob, Eric and Ken saw the rest of us off as they were going to launch a bit later.  It was very sunny and temperatures already in the 60's.  A slight breeze from the south helped us paddle back to Ferry Landing from the campsite. We launched at about 9 am and took an offshore course northward up to the landing.  We passed an area where there were quite a few horses grazing in the marsh so we paddled over to take some pictures.  After about 2.5 miles we passed Tingles Island. On the last lap back to the takeout,  Blair and I decided to add some distance to our trip and paddle along the western shore of Great Egging Island while the rest of the group paddled directly to the takeout. We all landed at about 11 am after about 2 hours of paddling.
 
After unpacking the kayaks and loading them onto our vehicles, we were on our way back to NJ.
 
All in all, despite having to change our initial plan, it was a great trip. In addition to Assateague, we got to paddle a portion of the Pocomoke. The camping and the company were excellent and made for a great 4 day weekend. It was so great to escape all the NJ hustle and bustle for a while.

[Paddling the Pocomoke]   [Friends of Assateague State Park]   [More Pictures]