DE Delaware Seashore State Park

I've just spent three days at a conference (a very good one!) in Ocean City, MD, and since it is Sunday and time to head home I decided to go for my Sunday 10. I had to combine two hikes and combine miles because DE doesn't have many long-distance trails. I combined two hikes within the Delaware Seashore State Park complex that covers DE's coastal areas from Bethany Beach north along the Coastal Highway to Dewey Beach.  I started/finished with a 3.9 loop and cross-over (using linking trails) at Fresh Pond State Park in Bethany.

Loblolly Pine - a mother tree among a nursery of young pines and other species.

This park is dissected by a number of straight canals that were used to drain the land for farming or for transporting goods and services around the back bay area. I do not recommend hiking here in the warmer months as it must be a mosquito factory. I read the reviews on All Trails and sure enough people complained about the insect hoards.

Loblolly cones have horizontally keeled scales with single sharp spines

Loblolly pines were the dominate forest species here and there were young pines shooting up in nurseries around mother trees where ever a bit of sunlight showed through. Competing for canopy space were sweet gum, red maple, ironwood, and birch but the entire forest floor was covered in a velvety soft and quiet blanket of shed needles that marked the dominance of this great southern pine.

Eastern Red Cedar in a pine nursery

Our only native juniper is actually named Eastern Red Cedar which is a confusing name-switch, but Juniperus virginiana was found in all the places where fields or pasture may have once been. An old hay barn and various farm structures still stand throughout the northern reach of this park so it hasn't been too long since crops and animals were raised here. I kept hoping for a Saw-Whet owl tucked up in a ERC but didn't find one. I did find a Great Horned Owl feather, though!

Sweetbay Magnolia - a young and single specimen

My best find was a very young Sweet Bay Magnolia, the only native representative in DE of an ancient tree family, a very primitive group that goes almost as far back in the fossil record as the pines. I remember finding Magnolia leaf fossil in Wyoming high up in the Bear Tooth Range on a dig many years ago. The along the edge of the plate of stone I held out to the dig manager who inspected it was the faint impressions of its amazing flower. The Pleistocene glaciation wiped most of the 23 species of Magnolia off the map and it is only in the U.S. Southeast Appalachians and Coastal states like Delaware where they survive. Only the Sweet Bay is found here but further south and in the mountains I've found the Large-Leafed and Mountain Magnolias.

Lolblolly seedling in a bed of Prickly Pear Cactus.

Prickly Pear Cactus in the only native species of cactus in Delaware and though it is somewhat cold tolerant, it does go into a withered state and no less prickly! I watched a loose beagle rocket through the woods dragging his leash behind him and then holler and yelp when he blundered into a blanket of cactus. His owners came running up to catch him but he wanted nothing more to do with those woods and quickly retreated into their arms.

Indian River Inlet Bridge has a pedestrian lane!

After almost four miles at Fresh Pond, I drove a few minutes north to the Indian River Inlet park. I birded the jetties for about an hour then took the pedestrian crossing over the bridge. It was a great viewpoint to observe the swirling currents and the breadth of the wild beaches north.

Arctic Long Tailed Duck - I counted 50 around the jetties.

Bufflehead Ducks

From the height of the bridge looking through the North and South Jetty to the Atlantic

As I was walking the paved paths along the water, past the paved campground, and down the paved roads to get to Burton's Island I was starting to get hot! I can't imagine this place in the heat of summer. Another reason I love walking and hiking in winter. I walked past the marina where the state parks, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the Coast Guard keep their big boats. Impressive!

Causeway to Burton's Island

Crossing old dunes to the forest

Sinkhole in the marsh

I crossed over the causeway to a trail section that crosses an old dune complex. At one time this was oceanfront and may soon be ocean front again. This area has had several episodes of submersion and exposure so old dunes can be found well inland hidden by forest and fields.  Soon I was looking out across marshy coves and expanses of tidal marsh.

Grand old Pitch Pine with a twisty top

Google Map view of Burton's Island, the marina, paved campground, inlet, and beaches.

Like most of the inland bay islands, Burton's Island is slowly giving ground to rising waters. The trail is only a mile long loop and covers the frontal dune and two high points reachable by long stretches of boardwalk.  As I walked along these fragile connectors of wood and decking, I thought about how tied to the sea these places are. There are surviving copses of pine and hardwoods surrounded by marsh and what must have been livable ground nested beneath swaths of reeds. The trail is not long and soon I'd made it to the end where I could see across to the inlet bridge before the path turns back on itself . I surveyed the eroded banks and noted how many trees had pitched into the salty water. An old woodland was being exposed by the scouring, stumps and clay, even a deer track preserved in hard bottom.

Reeds laid low by storm waters and high tides.

An osprey nest on the eastern edge of the islet.

My winter walk was generally minus the birds and I wondered how this island, much of it untouched by the trail, could be seen by water. I made a note to come back with my canoe and paddle the sandy outline of its edges come spring when the shore birds return. For now, it was gloriously still and quiet and I visited the old dune of my way to the causeway.

Twisted in the wind

Indian River Inlet Bridge through a tangle of pitched-over woodland.

I would NOT want to be out here on a buggy summer day! That said, I do hope to return with my boat and paddle around the edges to do some birding... The parking area (I walked in) might be tricky to find as you must drive through the marina to reach it. It was a great walk across the inlet bridge though and I highly recommend parking at the south jetty and walking over to Burton's. I logged six miles (that included a bit of beach wandering) for a pleasant, uncrowded walk that combined with the Fresh Pond unit made 11 miles for my Sunday 10.

Notes:

What Burtons Island looks like with birds!
http://www.dnrec.delaware.gov/Admin/Documents/burton-island-trail.jpg.pdf