This past weekend I joined the CPA sponsored kayak trip to Assateague National Seashore. This is a regular CPA kayak/camping trip and I had signed up for it several times, canceling each time because I thought the weather looked bad. Kayak/camping on Assateague is usually only recommended in the early spring or fall due to the flying biting insects which take over the island during the hot summer months. So twice I had cancelled and twice I had regretted my decision afterwards because the trip leaders do such a good job of finding alternate paddling sites when the weather is too rough to kayak out to Assateague. So this year I was determined to make the trip. And Shannon also signed up so I had a travel companion. As it turned out, my first kayak/camping trip to Assateague was truly a memorable trip that I will not soon forget.

Shannon and I drove down Friday night and met the group at the National Park Campground. There were 11 paddlers total: Ralph, Greg, Bela, Todd, Mike, Ed, Nancy, Debbie (who would arrive Saturday morning). Kingsley, Shannon and myself. Shannon and I were late getting on the road because I had to stop at REI on the way down to pick up sand stakes for the tent. By the time we got to the campground the temperature had fallen and I was tired. So Shannon set up her tent and I decided to throw the rest of the gear out of the truck and sleep in the back. It was warmer but only a tad more comfortable than sleeping on the ground.

The next morning we awoke to a herd of wild ponies hovering around the porta-potties and water spigots. It turns out the horses wait around for campers to turn on the water so they can get fresh water every morning. Several of us obliged the thirsty ponies and Shannon photographed them. In one set of shots, Ed is slowing surrounded by ponies until he is completely boxed in.



We launched that morning from Ferry Landing. Debbie met us at at the put-in. Shannon had borrowed a very old drysuit from my friend Peter but it was made before Gortex and extremely heavy. I thought she would roast in it. So I convinced her to skip the drysuit and wear her wet suit. We were all suited up and almost ready to launch when Shannon made the startling discovery that she had left her spray skirt at home. I was pretty sure Ralph, the trip leader, would not let her join the group without a spray skirt. So we were very happy when Nancy produced a spare spray skirt. She adjusted it to fit her cockpit and we were off.

The water on the Bay side around Assateague is only a few feet at best and much of the paddle was a slog as we maneuvered through shallow water. On the way out we passed another herd of ponies and Shannon and I took turns taking photos of each other next to the herd. Before she got her new waterproof Olympus, just like mine, it was pretty much me taking photos of her on the kayak trips we did together. It's nice to have photos of myself on these trips for a change.

We paddled out to the Pine Tree campsite for lunch. I didn't bring my GPS but I'm guessing that was about a 5 mile paddle. I was famished and started in on a can of sardines I had brought. Shannon is a real health nut and I'm a recovering junk food addict. She likes to comment on the food I eat especially if it's not healthy or laden with additives. So Friday afternoon when I went shopping for the trip I looked for food that would meet the "healthy" standard. Shannon eats sardines a lot. And she had shared some with me on a previous kayak outing. They didn't taste that bad. So I figured a few cans of healthy sardines would work great as kayak/camping food. The can is small, packed with protein and it takes minimal space and preparation. I devoured a can of sardines, some crackers, and a bunch of healthy grapes.



It was during lunch that Shannon brought up the idea of circumnavigating Assateague. She had mentioned it to me before but I didn't know if she was serious. Now she was going over the map with Ralph and Greg and asking how we would do it. Circumnavigating the island is probably 70-100 miles which is not a huge distance over several days. But the issue is when to do it. The seas are generally calmer in the summer but the flying, biting insects would make camping miserable. Someone suggested we cover ourselves in mud like the natives. Hmmm.

Kinglsey and Debbie left the group after Pine Tree and paddled back to the put-in. About a half hour after we launched back into the Bay headed for the Pirate Islands I felt it ... the sardines were dancing in my stomach. I was also feeling the effects of caffeine withdrawal since I had forgotten to pack my camping gourmet coffee supplies. It was perhaps a 4 mile paddle till we got to our final destination at Green Run and it was all I could do to keep from puking into the Bay.



When we got to Green Run I rushed to put up my tent so I could crash and take a nap. Shannon went for a walk to the ocean side and took a few self-portraits of herself by the water. Ralph and the others put up a canopy tarp over the picnic tables. By the time I had woken up from my nap and people were preparing dinner the rain had started to fall. The tarp over the picnic tables was a great idea. It started out as a slow drizzle with light wind. Occasionally the tarp would fill with water overhead and we would have to raise it up to let the water drain away. But it kept our group of nine pretty dry. I tried making a dinner of rice but the sardines were fighting for survival in my stomach. It was either them or the rice. So I decided they had to go. I would give the details ... but as Shannon would say ... that's too much information.

When I returned to the group Greg offered some caffeinated tea and Nancy offered up some honey. A few cups later and I was starting to feel human again. Greg found some oysters while he was birding in Chincoteague Friday morning and hauled them down in his kayak packed in ice. Someone started a fire in the fire pit and Greg grilled the oysters for everyone to share. Still feeling a little "fishy" from the sardines, I declined.



Bela brought out a deck of cards and a few of us played several hands of hearts. A few people headed off to their tents and Ralph started discussing the paddling options for tomorrow. The weather forecast had deteriorated. There was a storm coming in which would bring rain in the evening then by morning the winds would shift and a low pressure system would fill the Bay and with it would come the winds. The prediction was 20-30 knots with gusts to 40 knots. One idea was to have two paddlers go north back to the cars at Ferry Landing and send the rest of the group to Chincoteague. Chincoteague is the name of the VA portion of Assateague island and it would put the majority of the paddlers in a southerly direction with the heavy winds at their backs. I volunteered to paddle north and Ralph informed me that I had already been volunteered. That was ok. I needed the workout.

Back at my tent with the rain pouring around I tried to settle in but it was cold and my sleeping bag was wet. I put on all the dry clothes I could find and piled the rest of the stuff on top of the sleeping bag. I felt like a bag lady but it was keeping me warm. The rain came down pretty hard until after midnight. And then it stopped and the wind seemed to stand still. I awoke to dead calm. The calm lasted about half an hour. Then the winds picked up ... slowly at first then gathering momentum. By the time the group was up and packing gear the wind was howling around 25 knots though less at the campground than out on the water. A 25 knot wind is a 6 on the Beaufort Wind Scale. It would be rough paddling but within the abilities of experienced paddlers. But out on the Bay the wind was gusting to almost 45 knots, which is gale force. It was the wind gusts which would later drive us back in.

The decision was made to keep the group together and paddle north back to Ferry Landing. The stronger paddlers would put the less experienced paddlers in tow. And at times we would probably have to walk the kayaks. It was going to be long day.

We launched into the somewhat protected waters of the cove at Green Run two at a time to avoid having windswept kayaks piled up along the pier. The launched kayakers paddled across the cove to the marsh. Once we were all together we started our paddle out to the Bay. There was this dividing line in the water where you could see the effects of wind in the non-protected Bay. It reminded me of what we call the eddy line in a whitewater river. I positioned my kayak at 11:00 and began to paddle out into the Bay. I didn't get very far and neither did the others. Shannon became stuck right away. The wind was trying to point her kayak south toward Chincoteague. She was able to paddle north few strokes then I was stuck. I put the paddle down in the water to find out how deep it was. The water was about 2 feet deep. Even if I tipped over I wasn't going to drown, although I might get covered in mud. But the wind was so fierce that I couldn't turn the kayak north. The only other option I could see would be to paddle south away from the wind and possibly turn the boat around later ... but if I got pushed down the Bay too far it would make a rescue harder. In desperation I called for help and Ralph came over and hooked up a tow.



Back with the group we paddled back into the cove. I don't know if there was any real discussion but it was clear that we were not paddling out. As the group reconvened across the cove from the take-out we saw the white ranger truck on the shore. Amazingly someone had come out to check on us. Ralph paddled in first to talk to the ranger and explain our situation. After reviewing the options it was decided that Greg and Bela, who had the best 4-wheel drive vehicles, would go with the ranger to the parking lot and return and start carting kayakers and gear out of the campsite. Not the great kayak/camping trip we had planned ... but at least we didn't have to camp out on the island and wait for the storm to pass which would take several days.



The only "road" back to the campsite was over the beach, which required a permit from the ranger office and only certain types of 4-wheel drives were allowed. There were special procedures for driving over the sand. You first had to let air out of the tire to make them wider and provide more surface area to hug the sand. Bela and Greg did both but Greg's truck overheated on the way out so he had to turn back. Then Bela missed the turnoff for the campground, attempted to turn around in the sand and got stuck. We were sitting in the sun at the campsite when someone spotted him walking down the path to the campsite waving his arms. There was an old abandonned house at the put-in. We grabbed two plywood sheets and carried them out to the beach to provide traction for the wheels. WIth a different group of people this could have been a real stressful period. But this was not a real serious crowd. It was a lot of fun.



So Bela and his truck finally made it to the kayaks and he made four trips across the beach to cart 9 kayaks back to the parking lot for a total of over 100 miles and maybe at the cost of burning out his clutch. Shannon and I were on the second trip. Bela, who loves to downhill ski, likened driving across the slippery sand to skiing. Ironically he had a Paul Simon CD playing in the car and we were listening to "Slip Sliding Away" for part of the trip back.



By 4:30 or 5:00 we were all back in the parking lot with kayaks and gear loaded on our cars. Mike left for home but the rest of the group went to a local restaurant for crabs, lobster and steak. Another successful Assateague Kayak/Camping trip! Between Shannon and I we probably had over 500 photos and video. She didn't have time to edit and post all her photos so I combined the two and created on online Assateague photo album. You can see it by clicking here.

-Susanita