August 27-September 2

Trap Pond State Park

Laurel, DE

Concerned that we wouldn’t find a place to stay during the Labor Day holiday, we made reservations at Trap Pond State Park.

The park is in a beautiful forest setting.  The first few days we were at the park there were only a handful of campers. 

We chose to stay at Trap Pond State Park because it was within an hour drive to Assateague Island National Seashore.

The island, along the coasts of Maryland and Virginia, is 37 miles long.  Most of the Maryland district is managed by the National Park Service with the State of Maryland managing two miles as a State Park.  The Virginia district is managed by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

We began our visit at the Assateague Island Visitor Center where we watched a short orientation film.

Assateague Island is the largest natural barrier island ecosystem in the Mid Atlantic states region that remains predominately unaffected by human development.

The island was going to be turned into a private resort but a storm in 1962 halted the plans for development when the nor’easter destroyed the few existing structures on the island.  Realizing that the island was too unstable to build upon, the firm that owned the land sold it to the federal government.

We came to the island in hopes of seeing its most famous residents, the bands of feral horses commonly known as Chincoteague ponies.

Local legend claims that the horses are descendants of animals that survived a shipwreck on the coast, but it is more likely that the horses are descendants of domestic horses confined on the island by local residents.

There are several warning signs to keep at least 40 feet away from horses and deer. 

It didn’t take long for us to get our first glimpse of the horses.

We drove directly to the far end of the island to South Ocean Beach where we walked the Life of the Dunes trail.

At the conclusion of the trail we walked across the boardwalk toward the ocean when we came upon these cuties.

 

Several people, including us, got closer and closer to the horses until a ranger warned us that we were in danger of getting a fine.

 

 

 

 

Our next hike was on the Life of the Forest trail.

The final hike we took was on the Life of the Marsh trail were we encountered more horses.

 

We stopped at the North Ocean Beach to take a few pictures before leaving the seashore.

For dinner we drove to nearby Ocean City and ate at OCM Crabs (Ocean City, Maryland)

For the remainder of our stay at Trap Pond we mostly stayed close to the park relaxing. 

 We did take advantage of the 5 miles bicycle trail with an access from the campground.

 

 

Another early evening we took advantage of the pontoon tour offered at the park.

On Saturday evening we attended a free concert at the park sponsored by Drive Sober, Arrive Alive. 

The featured band was the Reminders who played a mix of songs including Country and Gospel.