Juno 423: Remote Days in Dividing and Pickering Creek, Wye East River Oct 25

Maryland’s Eastern shore is amazing to explore by boat as it has numerous creeks to investigate, with little development save some mini mansions, farms galore, an abundance of geese, turkey vultures and the occasional bald eagle, and itfeels very remote even though it is within 1.5 hours of Baltimore, Washington, and Annapolis. We chose the Wye East River as our destination largely because a large island (Wye) lies in the middle of the creek and is almost completely undeveloped. We arrived here from Galesville on Monday Oct 25 around 2 pm and dropped the hook in Dividing Creek with woods on three sides just 200 yards away us and the sun shining. For 30 minutes we had the place completely to ourselves as we ate lunch and then took advantage of the warmth to grab a quick shower on the stern. Then Ginger, a Sabre 42 sailboat arrived and well, we were no longer alone, but it was none-the-less extremely peaceful. We set off by dinghy to the end of Dividing Creek around 4 pm in search of hiking trails but had to turn back as we weren’t prepared for the mosquitoes. Walking back along a field of soybeans, we stood about 20 yards from what appeared to be an injured seagull with several turkey vultures and a hawk that were hovering overhead hoping for an easy meal. Lucky for the seagull as the birds of prey were wary of us. The gull wasn’t injured and flew away escaping death this time around.

On Tuesday Oct 26, we got an early start to the School House, Holly Tree, and Osage Loop hiking trails on Wye Island that are clearly marked by the State DNR. It turns out that much of the woods and trees here are old growth forests It was reminiscent of being among the redwoods in California as the oak and white pine trees were easily as tall and as old. The Holly Tree trail ended with a 250 year old holly tree where we picked up another Osage Orange tree path. The Osage Orange trees forming an arbor with branches that defy gravity and large green fruits littering the forest floor. Having walked over 10,000 steps in our morning walk, we headed further up the East Wye Creek on Juno to the end and decided it was too windy to anchor and launch the dinghy in order to explore Schnaitman's -a crab fishing supply located at Wye Landing. So we turned around and headed back down the creek taking cover for the night close to the entrance to Pickering Creek while winds blew 15-25 with higher gusts all night as a result of a storm that would later bring 90 mph winds to New England. It was a little creepy as all night the winds blew but not a single light on shore nor masthead light could be seen to help gauge our position in the dark while we swung on our anchor. We felt very removed from civilization that night.

On Wednesday morning the 27th, we dinghied a mile up Pickering Creek to the Audubon Sanctuary, and enjoyed a few hours walking through woods, meadows, and a freshwater wetland that the sanctuary had reclaimed and restored from farmlands. By afternoon, we motor sailed to Long Haul Cove, just north of St. Michaels on the Miles River so as to position ourselves for tomorrow’s adventures. Aside from the annoying landscapers blowing leaves during our cocktail hour, it was a cozy and nice little harbor, but a stark contrast to the remoteness of the Wye river anchorages.