Michael and I try to go out every weekend and do something fun that also entails some physical exertion. Sometimes this just means taking the metro to Washington, DC and walking around finding interesting things to do. For example, the past several weekends, we’ve spent days in DC going to E Street Cinema, walking around Chinatown and Eastern Market, heading to Smithsonian and visiting some of the more obscure museums, etc. There’s always something to do in the city – and most of it is also free.
This weekend, we headed down to Calvert Cliffs State Park. I have had this on my to-do list for a while. I stumbled onto the park when I was looking through bird-watching websites a couple months ago, attempting to identify a bird I had seen in a marsh near home. Michael and I were waiting for the weather to warm up so we could head down to the park and take the two-mile walk to the shores of Calvert Cliffs, where fossils, shark’s teeth and millions of shells can be found.
This Sunday, the weather was around 50 degrees Fahrenheit, perfect weather for us to walk in. We bought some water and shovels at K-mart and headed down to the park. It was about an hour drive from our home in Anne Arundel county (The park is located in Lusby, MD – a half hour or so from Solomon’s Island). We arrived at around 2:30 on Sunday, paid the 5 dollar fee per car (fees will be more if you have a bus or rv) and spoke to the employee at the gate, who showed us a variety of goodies he had found at the shore and directed us to the correct trail.
The trail is about 2 miles to the shore, but it’s a leisurely stroll beside creeks, and then marshes. During the right time of year, this area is wonderful for bird watching. We saw very few animals (My father would say we weren’t looking closely enough), but did see some seagulls and mallard ducks. The trail itself was muddy in parts due to rain, but mostly dry, sandy (which felt nice on the feet) and level.
The shore comes up suddenly, but is perfect to walk on in shoes because the sand is pretty well packed (no big sand-dunes here). We didn’t find anything too interesting – some big scallop shells, some clay, some petrified wood. Many of the fossils we found crumpled and were relatively new. Still, it was a beautiful day.
On the side of the beach where the marshes are, the marshes drain into the ocean, creating a very small creek that children were playing in when we went. The bed of the creek is also full of shells and rocks, rubbed smooth by the tides.
You can swim at this beach when the bay is warm enough, but all swimming is at your own risk, there is no lifeguard on duty. The water seemed pretty gentle the day we went, but it was hard to tell how deep the water was, and judging from the amount of driftwood, one would want to be careful about swimming into old trees.
No one is allowed on the cliffs due to land-slides and erosion.
There is also a nuclear power plant near the state park and a light-house, which is open in the Spring, Summer and Fall.
I recommend this activity for pre-teens and above, but younger children who have the patience to walk two miles without complaining will be rewarded by the sight at the end of the trail. Just remember whatever you pick up at the beach has to be carried back two miles. If you leave earlier than we did, you could certainly bring a picnic and a blanket or towel and have lunch by the bay.
I would love to go back before it gets really busy in the summer and take a swim. The water in April or May is cold, but I can usually get a good swim out of it before I freeze.
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