North Beach, Assateague Island, Maryland
Assateague is a nearly 40 mile long barrier island that lies off the coasts of Maryland and Virginia. The southern, Virginia end is famous for Marguerite Henry's books about Misty of Chincoteague and Pony Penning (end of July). The people live on the little island of Chincoteague, the big barrier island protects Chincoteague from the worst onslaught of storms, and provides habitat for wildlife from endangered species like piping plovers and DelMarVa Fox Squirrels to feral ponies.
The north end is part Maryland State Park, and part National Seashore. Here the wild horses roam as they wish, surviving and thriving as they have for hundreds of years since the first equines landed with the first colonists and explorers. The ponies on the south end are rounded up, the young sold off to benefit the Chincoteague Fire Company and to keep the population to a size that the island can support. On the north end there is no roundup, and no natural predators for the ponies. They could easily overpopulate and overgraze the island, ruinging habitat for other species. So the park rangers have an odd job: tracking mares and shooting them in the butt with birth control darts (the haunch has a lot of muscle and is safe for injections, I've done some on my own horses).
Here you can camp yards from the sea, lie in your tent and hear the surf, walk a short distance to see the sea under the moon and stars, wake to ponies wandering through the camp.
Here's a few shots from the edges of the world, September 2015.
The north end is part Maryland State Park, and part National Seashore. Here the wild horses roam as they wish, surviving and thriving as they have for hundreds of years since the first equines landed with the first colonists and explorers. The ponies on the south end are rounded up, the young sold off to benefit the Chincoteague Fire Company and to keep the population to a size that the island can support. On the north end there is no roundup, and no natural predators for the ponies. They could easily overpopulate and overgraze the island, ruinging habitat for other species. So the park rangers have an odd job: tracking mares and shooting them in the butt with birth control darts (the haunch has a lot of muscle and is safe for injections, I've done some on my own horses).
Here you can camp yards from the sea, lie in your tent and hear the surf, walk a short distance to see the sea under the moon and stars, wake to ponies wandering through the camp.
Here's a few shots from the edges of the world, September 2015.
