Wye Island Natural Resource Management Area, MD

ABOUT THE PARK:
Wye Island NRMA - Maryland Department of Natural Resources

DIRECTIONS:
GPS Coordinates 38.88824, -76.14426

Large parking lot on Lodge Lane.

TRAIL MAP:
Wye Island Trail Map - Maryland Department of Natural Resources
Wye Island Trail Guide

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HIKE DISTANCE:  13.2 miles

THE HIKE:

From the parking lot, walk back out to pick up the yellow trail just the other side of those trees on the right.

The Yellow Trail

Granary Creek

Crossing Wye Island Road to continue with yellow on the other side.

A massive blow down completely across the trail.

We had to bushwhack through thorny stuff to get up on the trunk.

I then had to convince Brody to walk along the truck to avoid stepping on more thorns.

He did it!

A successful blow down navigation.

Coming out on Wye Island Road at the end of yellow.

At this point the pavement stops and Wye Island Road becomes a multi-use road.

When the road turns left, the green trail starts straight ahead.

Entering the green trail.

To the left a waterfowl blind.

But nobody is home, at least not at this end.

Continuing on I could see something in the water to the left at the far end ...

... but I couldn't get very close before ...

... everyone took off.

When green meets up with blue, an unmarked trail to the right ...

... follows a series of bridges and boardwalks ...

... to Grapevine Cove.

Coming back off of that unmarked trail, things get kind of confusing.  Trails are well-marked with posts but the problem is the posts are at intersections and don't indicate which way to go so we went out and back in a couple of different directions until I got us going in the right direction.

Fast forward to the Holly Tree Trail, a continuation of the green trail.

And here we are at the 275+ year old holly tree.

Snacks under the holly tree.

Spring is arriving in Maryland.

House shopping for spring nesting?

The end of the green at Wye Island Road.

It's a short walk on the road to the orange Osage Trail on the right.

I believe these are Tundra Swans (they had straight necks unlike the mute swans we normally see) perhaps passing through on their migration to summer breeding grounds in the arctic.

Bigwood Cove

Coming up on a picnic table ...

... at a Wye River overlook.

I have been able to manage Brodie's car sickness by only giving him a few tablespoons of wet food before we leave in the morning to get a little something in his stomach.  On a full day trip like this one, he needs to have lunch.  It's not his normal diet but it's packable and works well for hikes.  

Wye River

Heading back through a hedgerow of gnarly old trees.

The orange trail ends at Wye Island Road where we turn right ...

... and continue on for about 3/4 of a mile.

It's not a bad walk unless a car goes by too fast and leaves you inhaling a cloud of dust.  Ugh.  Fortunately there weren't many cars and others drove by more slowly.

Hanging a right on the red West Corner Trail.  The red trail is actually three trails in one.  This is the first.

An overlook at Wye River.

I have never been so happy to see dandelions!  Could this winter actually be coming to an end?

The West Corner Trail comes out on the road to the Ferry Point Trail parking lot.

Second of the three red trails.

Right on the Jack-in-the-Pulpit Trail, the third of the red trails.

Another Wye River overlook.

Things are really turning green over on this part of the island.

Back on the Ferry Point Trail a right to ...

... a picnic table on the Wye River.

Lots of ducks in the Wye River.

Returning on the Ferry Point Trail.

To the left is the West Corner Trail where we came out but I decided to stay with the road walk since that trail had been pretty wet in spots.

Those swans that we saw before?

At the end, another parking lot and private property to the right.

We turn left.

A turkey vulture earlier and now a black vulture.

This was a bald eagle that flew right over us but I couldn't hone in on him fast enough for a better picture.

Just beyond where we came off of the orange Osage Trail on the left ...

... no sign but a white post where we turned on to the white Dividing Creek Trail.

Coming up on some activity in the water ... (a Great Blue Heron was flying off to the right somewhere in the distance)

... but most of them promptly took off before we could get too close.

A handful held out a bit longer before joining the others in the sky.

Coming up on Dividing Creek.

I was thinking there would be no balloons on this hike when I found this little scrap of one.  Couldn't quite count that but I packed it out anyway.

The Dividing Creek Trail did not actually have any views of Dividing Creek so we bushwhacked over to get a look.

Then on this very last stretch right before the parking lot straight ahead ...

Over to the right, yes indeed, a balloon!  In a mess of thorns.  Since it was so close I put Brodie in the car then went to extract it without getting sliced up on thorns.  Success!  The ribbon did not fare so well.  I got it all but it was shredded to pieces from the thorns.

Dog tired after 13.2 miles of hiking.

Balloon #28 of the year.

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