Memorable Hikes – Chincoteague, Virginia 2018

Continuing my series on memorable hikes…

While in the Williamsburg area with our friends, we decided to take a day trip to the Eastern Shore of Virginia. To get there we had do drive through underwater tunnels and over bridges with the Chesapeake Bay on one side and the Atlantic Ocean on the other side.

At the southern tip of the peninsula we stopped at the visitor’s center and learned  in the northern part is where the ‘famous’ wild ponies roam. (The difference between horses and ponies is the height. Any horse that stands less than 14 hands is considered a pony and the average height of a Chincoteague Pony is between 12 and 13 hands.)

I asked how likely it would be to see the wild ponies if we drove over an hour to get to the Wildlife Refuge…the assistant said it was likely. So we took off for Chincoteague.

The Chincoteague ponies started roaming the Chincotegue Island around 1750. Evidence seems to indicate the ponies survived a Spanish galleon shipwreck in 1749. The ponies have been there ever since. The refuge retains a permit to let 150 ponies graze on the refuge so they have to decrease the herd once a year. Annually, in late July, thousands of people gather to watch the ponies swim cross the Assateaque Channel and then the ponies are auctioned off.

After we arrived at the refuge,  we were directed to a paved trail. Along the trail we stopped and talked with an older gentleman who told us he came to the park twice a day, with his binoculars, to look for the ponies. He described two bands (small groups of ponies) in this area. Riptide, was a brown male with a blonde mane and his band was near-by. Maverick, the lead male of a different band, was farther away at this time.

We continued walking but didn’t see any ponies. We came to an “unofficial trail” heading into the woods towards the ocean so we decided to follow it. Once we came to the ocean we talked with a couple who had just seen ponies and they told us which direction to try. We walked along the beach. It was low tide, so there was a wide swath to walk on (with a few obstacles to climb over.)

This turned out to be quite an adventure but we persisted and continued walking until finally we saw movement in the trees, inland along the shore. We spotted one pony, and then another, and another until there were about fifteen. And we identified Riptide grazing in the grass. The ponies were beautiful.

After taking several pictures and watching the wild and wonderful creatures, we started hiking back. On our return trip the tide was rising but our beach swath was still passable. We darted into the woods where we thought we had exited a couple hours ago and finally found the original paved trail and walked back to our car.

It was a exciting and adventurous hike, searching and finding the Chincoteague  ponies in the wild.