Returning to Assateague Island 9 years later

We've now traveled to 47 states and are into our 5th year of full-time RVing. We've covered tens of thousands of miles and stayed in hundreds of campsites and overnight parking spots. So when a place that we visited way back in 2017 still stands out in our minds, we know it's special.

We only spent a couple hours there, on a pit stop as we fast-traveled down and up the East Coast in the month of April. This was our East Coast Road Trip, and interestingly, the first trip we ever blogged. We embarked on coastal road trips, first East Coast in 2017 and then West Coast in 2018, and kept a private daily blog for our friends and family. We know that was the impetus for blogging our RV travels, and now, those old road trip blogs are open to the public, archived on a page right here on Brighter on Wheels.

So much has changed about how we travel, but one of my favorite long-standing methods of getting inspiration is to just dive into Google Maps and see if something stands out. I did this with Bearizona in Williams, AZ. I even did it with Craters of the Moon in Idaho. Safe to say, Google Maps has led us to some pretty wonderful places.

When I was planning the 2017 East Coast Road Trip, I sought destinations right along the water. I dotted our itinerary with places like Key West, Daytona, Myrtle Beach, and Virginia Beach. Some of these places we've already revisited with our RV, and some we'll be revisiting soon (hint hint😉). But those destinations are well-known vacation hubs with all the civilization. We also wanted to travel further, to lands where civilization ends and full nature begins. And as soon as I found that place on the map, it became a must-stop on our road trip: Assateague Island in Maryland.

The coast of MD is exquisite. A quarter of the state is covered in water, and much of that water includes bays and rivers that run right between the landmasses. Fun fact: MD is the only state without any manmade lakes. Who needs them when you've got the country's largest estuary, the Chesapeake Bay? Assateague Island is the northern part of a long, skinny coastal island, connected to the southern portion, Chincoteague Island, which is in Virginia. The scenery is beautiful, with the ocean, marshes, and inlets. But these islands boast a unique feature: wild horses. Well, they're wild now. Once upon a time, their ancestors probably were owned by humans, but now these horses call the islands their home, and on Assateague, they are treated just like the other wildlife you might see: birds, deer, rabbits, squirrels, and turkeys.

In 2017, we stopped in Assateague on our way to NYC from Virginia Beach. Told you we moved fast back in those days. We had no idea if we would even see any horses. It's a rather large seashore. Do the horses stay away from people, or do they mingle right out in the open? We got our answer pretty quickly. Some short walking paths led to some of the most beautiful coastal views, but also to groups of horses feeding by the water. To this day, I still marvel at some of the photos I took with my old digital point-and-shoot camera.

You can read our 2017 blog post to get the full story, but now let's fast forward to the present day, and our return to this majestic part of the Atlantic Coast.

You might wonder, if we loved this stop so much in 2017, why hadn't we returned sooner? After all, we travel up and down the East Coast all the time in our RV. It's not that we didn't try. In fact, camping at Assateague Island National Seashore was on our bucket list from day 1. We planned to stop by right after we launched. In winter, camping is first-come, first-served, and we thought we would try our hand at some winter boondocking.

In retrospect, that might have been a bit too much to bite off. We ended up skipping dry camping because our water pump had died, so we needed water hookups everywhere we went. But overall, we were just more comfortable with more hookups and easier terrain back then. So we waited for the right time, and this year was perfect. We launched back on the road later than ever, which meant we could make reservations for a campsite at Assateague right when their system begins requiring them for the season. But, the island would still be quiet. We'd have weather too chilly for the beach, but perfect for our nature walks, which is what we really care about. And now, we have mods that make dry camping a breeze, like our solar setup and hefty inverter.

Because it's a National Seashore, the campgrounds are federally owned, and you need to pay an entrance fee in addition to your campsite reservation fee. We bought our annual America the Beautiful Pass, which covered our entrance fee, but otherwise, it's $25 per vehicle for the week. Pretty steep for a day-long visit, but well worth the price if you're camping for a few days or more. Camping has a 14-day maximum. In addition to the RV sites, there are walk-in tent camping sites.

RVers can choose the Oceanside Campground or the Bayside Campground. I know what you're thinking. Oceanside! Oceanside! But here's the thing. The Oceanside sites are right along the beach, but they don't have ocean views because dunes are in the way. The sites are packed closer together and are smaller. Oh, and about those dunes? Yeah, that sand blows.

The Bayside campsites are tucked away on their own side road and have lots more space. Many have beautiful bay and marsh views. After intense due diligence while scouting sites online, I found a campsite that even had water access. Site C45 – a large pull-thru with a pleasure-side yard nestled under the trees, and a short path straight to the bay, with distant views of the bridge to the island. Situated right across from the bathrooms and dumpster, and only a few minutes' walk to the Life of the Marsh Trail and Heart Beach.

Our campsite was our preference, of course, because we camped at Assateague in March and had no reason to be near the beach. But, if you're camping in the warm weather and plan to have lots of beach days, be aware that the Bayside Campground is about a mile walk to the main beach area.

There are 3 nature walk paths spread throughout the park: Life of the Marsh (across from Bayside Campground), Life of the Forest (across from Oceanside campground), and Life of the Dunes (at the far end of the main park road). The first two paths are shorter and on elevated boardwalks above the wetlands. Life of the Dunes is slightly longer and takes you through the sand.

The trails were great, but we realized that they were the right pick for us in 2017, when we had little time to spend in the park. This year, we got to spend 3 nights in Assateague, which meant more immersion and more hidden gems. Some of our favorite moments were taking evening walks around the Bayside campground. First, we would walk over to Hart Beach for sunset. Then we'd wander the campground loops, sometimes spotting horses in and around the campsites.

What we also noticed, is that spending more time there meant we weren't scrambling to see the horses. When day visitors came in, they would often try to seek out the horses, and when they found them, got a little too close.

Alright, so this time it was maybe the horse's fault more than the humans', but they could have stepped back and give the horse right-of-way!

We ended up just coexisting with the horses. They seem to appreciate that. We'd see one, say "hi," and be on our way. We didn't bother them and they didn't bother us. We will say, though, we aren't sure if we just lucked out in 2017 or what, but in our 3 days at Assateague this year, we did not get the photo opportunities like we did 9 years ago.

Returning to Assateague helped us see what's changed – both with the park, and with us. In 2017, we moved so quickly and had such a narrow focus on finding horses, that we missed other special touches that were right in front of our face. Like, how somehow, prickly pear cacti can survive this far up north! Granted, this one looks like it has seen better days, but we saw many patches of little prickly pears around the park.

Even though 3 nights isn't that long, it made a world of difference to actually be able to sit in stillness at the park. A quick pit stop didn't let us see the wildlife beyond the horses. While camping, we saw tons of squirrels, birds, rabbits, and turkeys.

We got to watch the changing of the tides, and the wind's impact on the waves. We had strong ocean breezes coming off the water, but they alternated with utter stillness and calm. The island felt like a land of extremes.

The most noticeable change at the park is the wildlife regulation: stay 40 feet back from horses and other wildlife. In 2017, I blogged that the regulation was 10 feet. Could that possibly be?! Only 10 feet?! I don't know if I was just flat-out wrong back then, but we did notice that all the signs had been patched over with the number 40, so we do know it wasn't always this distance. We definitely think 40ft makes a lot more sense. The horses need their space, and that's what camera zooms are for.

Spending multiple days at the park gave us the time to venture out further. One day, we decided to take a drive up to Ocean City, the oceanfront town north of the island. We somehow missed the memo that Ocean City was a quintessential kitschy boardwalk town, until we saw a Kara and Nate video where they camped at Assateague. We're fans of the kitsch and thought it would be a nice change of scenery to get our walk in. Because it was March, most of the vendors were closed, as were the amusement rides, but we were there for the exercise and ocean views anyway.

We grabbed lunch off the boardwalk where there were more options for open restaurants – and warm, indoor seating. We chose Surfin Betty's Burger Bar after Anthony successfully convinced me that he didn't want seafood yet and was waiting for Florida. Alrighty then. American food it is! Except this wasn't your typical American food. Everything was freshly made, high quality, and had a unique spin to its flavoring. Vinegar fries are big in this region of the country, and they take it a step further with their goombah fries, hand-cut and topped with rosemary, parmesan, garlic, and balsamic vinegar.

We also ordered the boom boom chicken sandwich with potato salad, chicken tenders (and were surprised that they came with more fries!), and mozzarella moons. All really well-cooked, especially the fried items, but we get the feeling that the specific flavorings won't be to everyone's taste. The mozzarella moons were very herby, and the chicken tender batter was a bit salty. Overall, though, we enjoyed our meal.

The vibe was also on point. It's a small restaurant with limited street parking, and we hear it's almost impossible to get a table during peak hours. They have a few tables inside, as well as some sidewalk tables, which we would have chosen if the temps were warmer. But we opted for a hightop table inside. At least this way, we got to enjoy the ambience – locals chatting with the (very friendly and efficient) staff, and rock music from the 80s and 90s playing on the speaker.

On our way out of Ocean City, we stopped for ice cream at Dumsers Dairyland. They have a location right on the boardwalk, but it was closed for the season. This location is west of the shore and is on the main strip of shops and restaurants – very Suburbia. Anthony got a soft serve twist waffle cone (not pictured because it was about to fall off the cone and required immediate plundering). I got a small hot fudge sundae with Mint Oreo ice cream. It was all fine, but we've had much better ice cream in other places. If we could do it again, we'd pay more patronage to Betty's Burger Bar and end our meal with milkshakes from there.

For our next trip to Assateague – which will hopefully be in less than 9 years this time – we're eyeing other parts of the island. Both times we've gone, we headed for the National Seashore, but north of there is Assateague Island State Park, which also has an RV campground, as well as a nature center and its own beach. Then there's always the Chincoteague side of the island if we want to venture further south. Plenty more to see and do, and plenty more horses to ga ga over. We're happy to see that, after all these miles traveled, we still love Assateague as much as we did 9 years ago. This truly is a special part of the country.