Assateague Island
I'd like to plan a trip here next year but struggling to find something that works for us. We would be going with another camper. Neither of us are set up to dry camp and do not want to try to. We w...
Forum Discussion
2012Oudoorsman wrote:
Thanks!
Have a couple more questions.
We will be coming from Maine and NY both with young kids. If we can shorten the trip by an hour that would be great but I don't want to be traveling an hour each day either to see things.
It looks like the State Park is to the North but the fully hookup campgrounds are more towards the South. Are the sights/wild animals more towards the south or does it not matter?
You'll see ponies on both ends of the island. However, here's the differences:
On the north end, it is the Assateague herd, which are 100% wild, there is only observation by park staff, no veterinary or other domestic interventions. And there are a lot of those ponies wandering around among people, most likely looking for food, which they do get from people of course, despite the instructions not to feed or touch the ponies. By the way, their fat bellies are not from being well fed, they are bloated from the high salt content in their diet (salt water penetrating most of the vegetation). Easy to come across lots of ponies up close and personal up north.
On the south end are the Chincoteague herds. These ponies are actually a funding source for the volunteer fire department on Chincoteague island. The firemen and women are also known as the Saltwater Cowboys because they actively maintain the herds and once a year round them up and drive them south on the island to force them to swim across the inlet for auction (the Pony Swim, the fund raising). Besides when rounding them up, these ponies are a bit harder to get up close and personal with (at least in my experience). You will see them in the National Park, but they don't seem to mingle with the people as much as the Assateague herd.
http://www.chincoteague.com/pony_swim_guide.html
Again, no pets in the National Park on the south end of the island, so if you want to overlap with the Pony Swim in July, you'll have to leave the pets at the campground or watch the event from the Chincoteague island side of the action. As soon as you get across the inlet bridge to Assateague Island, you're entering the National Park.
