Hiking the beach at Assateague Island National Seashore. (Compass Points Media / flickr)
Americans often associate “hiking” with dramatic landscapes — soaring mountain ranges, gaping canyons, beautifully desolate desert — but beaches should not be overlooked.
Hiking a remote beach requires a different sort of mental preparation because you will walk for miles and see little variation from the coastline and ocean waves. Beaches, however, teem with wildlife like pelicans or dolphins, offer opportunities to truly escape the crowds, and here in the east provide the most dramatic sun rises.
Here are three places you can day hike or backpack for a perfect beach day:
- Assateague Island National Seashore. The National Park Service dubs this barrier island in southeastern Maryland “life on the edge” since it does represent one of the furthest reaches of the continent. Assateague’s 48,000 acres are home to an outstanding star scape at night and an abundance of wildlife such as horseshoe crabs, endangered piping plovers and its famous wild horses. A 25-mile shuttle hike into neighboring Chincoteague Island in Virginia takes you to a remote campsite and away from the tourists, most of them staying to the northern end of the island.
- Cape Hatteras National Seashore. You’ll have Carolina on the mind when you visit North Carolina’s laid back Cape Hatteras, a stretch of islands 80 miles long and 35 miles out to sea, the first national seashore established in the United States. Strong breezes attract windsurfers while an abundance of fish have plenty of people tossing in their lines for a shot at a bite. Hike the Bodie Island Dike Trail for 4.5 miles through forests and marshes, witnessing where saltwater meets freshwater and gaping at the 156-foot tall black-and-white striped Bodie Island Lighthouse.
- Huntington Beach State Park. Huntington Beach, just south of Myrtle Beach in South Carolina, was the subject of a DAY TRIPPER, and it’s worth noting here because the place is ranked among the top birding locations in the entire United States. Gulls, pelicans, egrets, herons and sandpipers all make their home at Huntington. Check out this 6.2-mile hike that includes marshes, forests and a beach where loggerhead turtles make their nests.
