Mark’s Score 8.0
Growing up in New England, I spent many happy hours hiking its hills and mountains. Now that I am older, I have come to appreciate Delmarva’s lowlands, and the easier more sedate hikes they offer. However, when I long for the hills of home, I go for a hike at Wallops. As unlikely as it may seem, even though it is in the middle of Chincoteague’s marshlands, it is the only hilly trail on this part of the peninsula. OK, these hills may only be 25 feet (7.5 meters) high, they are still hills.
The Wallops Research Park Recreation Area & Nature Trail was created Acomomac County. The county created this reserve when the area next to the Wallops Flight Facility was developed into an industrial research park in 2008. The land on which the park rests was once recreational land owned by the county. Primarily, the recreation area was created to preserve a portion of the property as a natural preserve for the benefit of local residents. Secondly, the recreation area was intended to preserve mature forests and wetlands and to provide a natural buffer around the research park. The trail in the recreation area runs for 1.5 miles (2.9 Kilometers) through hilly hardwood forests, and wetlands.
The trail starts off unconventionally, because it is in the middle of an industrial park. The trail entrance is halfway up Aerospace Gateway. There is a big sign in an open field advertising the recreation area. However, there is no obvious entrance into the area nor is there an obvious parking area. You will see an open field with two lonely looking picknick tables positioned in the middle of the field. You just turn off Aerospace Gateway onto the field, and park on the grass. The entrance to the trail is marked by a very small sign, but the sign is hard to find as it is obscured by underbrush. Honestly, the first time I walked this trail, the beginning was so inauspicious I wondered if I had made a mistake. But once you pass the entrance, you immediately enter a bucolic hardwood forest, and the trail meanders up and down low-slung hills, and along a winding brook.
The last time I walked the trail, there was still evidence of the damage caused by the ice storm last February, but unlike many trails in the area, the trail was still passable. I have to admit, though the hills are not much to speak of, walking up and down a winding path was a nice change from most trails on Delmarva. and in spite of the hills, it is still an easy walk. On this particular day, my walk was made all the more pleasant by a very playful otter in the small brook that runs along the trail.
Don’t be put off by the odd location and inauspicious start. This trail is easy to walk and it offers a stroll through a hilly hardwood habitat that is very rare in these parts. It is well worth the trip, just for its unique habitat.
What else is there to do in Chincoteague?
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