Wednesday, May 5, 2010

"Four Gulls"


5" x 7" Oil on canvas
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My wife and I, along with my older brother and his wife hiked the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge and Assateague National Seashore this past weekend. Chincoteague and Assateague are barrier islands off the coast of the Eastern Shore of Virginia and Maryland. There is no hunting, fishing, camping, pets or vehicles allowed in the Wildlife Refuge so the beach and the forests are pristine. There are two populations of wild ponies that roam the islands, one on Chingoteague and one on Assateague, that are separated by a fence that spans the width of the island.

The hike is 24 miles round trip; we started in Chincoteague, VA and hiked 12 miles to Assateage, MD, where we camped for the night on the beach and hiked back to Chincoteague in the morning.

Although the terrain is flat,the hike was much tougher than we anticipated. Hiking on the sand for a good portion of the 24 miles and using the same leg muscles the entire hike as opposed to mountain hiking with elevation changes that call for different muscles, made us so sore by the last mile that we literally could not take another step. I tried not to let the exhaustion take away from my enjoyment of the scenery.

Looks like that big gull in front is pretending that his feet don't hurt, but I know better.

1 comment:

  1. That big gull looks like he's taking a leisurely stroll on the beach while trying to coax the other (weaker) gulls to keep moving.

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