Day #16 on the Paumanok Path...

Another early start ~ we drove and parked my jeep on Napeague Harbor Road and then headed back over to Old Stone Highway to begin our 8 . 5 mile adventure for the day. I must say, we ALWAYS begin our days with a positive attitude and excitement for what we will encounter for the day. But, by the end of this day's hike, we both agreed this was THE WORST SECTION EVER. 

The first 3 miles were beautiful. The trail was wide, well marked, and very scenic. Bugs were at a minimum, and we were moving right along.  At just about 3 miles in, the trail brought us out to Cross Highway, and we could not find a blaze that would continue our trail. After looking at GPS, and taking a short detour down a side road, we decided to continue on down Cross Highway, and eventually, we came upon another blaze. Thankful for the validation, we continued on. Even as we approached our fourth mile, things were good.  A turtle sighting always brightens our day.

 We entered into Napeague State Park, and the next 3 miles were a nightmare.  The trail was swarming with mosquitoes, and we were walking through thick sand for most of the way.  When we stopped to reapply spray for the mosquitoes, we looked down at our legs and saw that we were covered in ticks. Not even the large ones that you can easily see and remove. There were what felt like hundreds of tiny, brown ticks EVERYWHERE. We brushed off as many as we could, sprayed, and brushed off some more before picking up our pace and moving as quickly as possible through the rest of the park.  There was not much to see other than pine trees, sand, mosquitoes and ticks. It was at that moment that we knew... this was the WORST part of our experience to date.

At the east end of the park, we exited out onto Napeague Meadow Road for a few minutes of a reprieve with a bit of road walking.  We had to turn onto a dirt road which led us past the Victor D'Amico Institute of Art, and then into some beach grass with not much of a trail to follow, down to the shore of Napeague Harbor.

This area was very nice, and although there were no blazes to be seen anywhere, we knew we were supposed to be here. The shore line was covered in dead horseshoe crabs, with most of them being tiny babies.  We were happy to be out of the woods for a bit, and the breeze coming off of the water was nice.  There was not a break in the mosquitoes, however, as you can see in the picture. One was still biting me on my forehead as we took this picture.

 We finished up the rest of this section along a private dirt road that allowed access to the homes in the area. This private road exits out onto Napeague Harbor Road, right where my jeep was waiting for us.  We were happy to be done for the day, as the skies then opened, and it poured the whole drive home. You can check out our latest progress on the map below.  Only 2 hiking days until the finish line!

 Until Next Time,

Rosa & The Thruhiker's Wife