Assateague Island National Seashore

Assateague Island National Seashore, located on Maryland's eastern shore, was a pretty place, but not quite what we expected it to be. We backpacked 4 miles down the beach to a backcountry camping area where we originally planned to stay two nights, but ended up only staying one. Much of the 4 mile hike involved either hiking the soft sand on the far edge of the beach or navigating around fishermen's poles and vehicles parked on the beach. We were aware to expect vehicles, but had no idea at the time that they were actually allowed to park basically the entire length of the island (which extends about 15 miles), including the beach area in front of the backcountry camping spot. Just a kilometer down the beach from our camp was an RV camp. Some backcountry.

After our first night at the camp we decided to explore the bayside of the island where there was vegetation and more wildlife. We were able to spot some really neat birds, but never able to get close enough to get any good photographs of them. We did most of our exploring in tall grass since there weren't really any trails. The bugs on the bayside were incredibly obnoxious (particularly the mosquitoes), so our exploring didn't last too long. We got back to the campsite much earlier than we thought we would be back, and didn't really know what to do at that point. So, we got something to eat, packed up and left.

We were disappointed in the amount of vehicle recreation allowed on the beach. Considering that the area is a national park unit, I expected the environment to be treated better. Assateague Island may be a nice place to go for an afternoon or to camp out of a car, but we would not recommend it for backcountry camping unless you have someone with a car who can drop you off and pick you up at the "backcountry" camping area, or unless you go early in the year (before the bugs are out) and camp on the bayside of the island. It's not worth the work hiking the beach if you can't get into any real backcountry.

Assateague National Seashore