ASSATEAGUE ISLAND NATIONAL SEASHORE

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	Summary of activities: Tour the visitors center Watch a short documentary film about the history of the wild horses Search for and photograph the horses

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The entrance sign at the northern end of Assateague Island National Seashore

An afternoon view of our campsite from the front

A little bit closer view

And finally a view from the beach

We had this early morning visitor to our campsite nearly every day

One of the horse viewing boardwalks over the salt marshes

There are always faraway views of the horses in the marshes

There are currently a total of 81 horses in the Maryland District of AINS

Unfortunately on average one horse a year is struck and killed by a vehicle

When startled they are also a danger to riders on the bike path

They invade the campground every day

And the beaches in the too

You never see a horse by itself, there is always a group of 3 or more

All in all they are magnificent beasts

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Assateague Island National Seashore is a beautiful place. With it's pristine and nearly empty beaches to the vast wide open salt marshes on the bayside of the island, there is much to enjoy for the nature lover. But let's face it, the star of the show here are the wild horses that have full range of the entire island. For over 300 years they have been here and it wasn't until the 1960's there was an easy way on or off the island. It is a long and tall bridge that the horses don't seem interested in traversing. They do swim of course, but everything they need is here on the island. In the 1980's The National Park Service began a program of birth control for the horses by darting the females. Each mare is permitted to have a single foal in her third or fourth year, this not only controls the population of horses but selectively controls the gene pool of the new additions. This is the only interaction between the horses and the National Park Service, everything else is left up to Mother Nature.

There is a law and a hefty fine for anyone on the island that fails to maintain a 40 foot distance from any wild horse, but that seems to go largely unheeded by most everyone we saw. At least we didn't see anyone feeding them or get bitten or kicked by getting to close.

I imagine this is a comfortable place to visit in the spring and fall seasons, but being here in the summer like we are, the mosquitoes and biting black flies have to be dealt with or at least tolerated. With no electricity or air conditioning the temperatures, when in the shade, are not so bad as long as there is that ocean breeze blowing through the campground.

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for more info visit
ASSATEAGUE ISLAND NATIONAL SEASHORE
website link

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Until next time

TWO PEAS

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