HIKING VIRGINIA

The ultimate surf-and-turf park, First Landing State Park is great for a tan–and far less crowded than the Atlantic beaches a few miles south. The “surf” is the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, where it flows into the Atlantic Ocean; the “turf” is a landward trail network through an ecosystem that mixes southern plants with northern, temperate species. Spend an afternoon here among bald cypress swamps decked with Spanish moss, towering loblolly pines, and salt marsh. High, forested dunes offer great views of the water. Boardwalks take you safely through blackwater swamps, but at high tide be prepared to get your feet wet and muddy on more remote trails.

THE RUNDOWN

Start: Visitor center off Shore Drive

Distance: 6.5-mile loop

Hiking time: 2-3 hours

Difficulty: Easy due to flat terrain and a well-marked trail, with some difficult stretches along eroded trails and wet riverside routes

Trail surface: Dune trails, gravel roads, and boardwalks lead through marsh, beach, cypress swamp, and forested dunes with views of the bay

Land status: State park

Nearest town: Virginia Beach, VA

Other trail users: Cyclists, bird watchers, and joggers

Accessibility: The Chesapeake Bay Center and Trail Center are accessible, with accessible restrooms. The first loop of the Bald Cypress Trail has accessible boardwalks and bridges. There are paved walkways to the beach, and a beach wheelchair is available.

Canine compatibility: Leashed dogs permitted (leashes no longer than 6 feet)

Trail contact: First Landing State Park, 2500 Shore Dr., Virginia Beach; (757) 412-2300; www.dcr.virginia.gov/state-parks/first-landing. For camping reservations, call (800) 933-PARK or visit www.reserveamerica.com.

Schedule: Open year-round, 8 a.m. to dusk. The campground is open 24 hours a day.

Fees/permits: Admission is free, but there is a parking fee.

Facilities/features: Environmental educational and trail centers, full-service campground and cabins, laundry, concessions at the Bay Store, beach (no lifeguards), picnic shelters, and boat launch.

NatGeo TOPO! map: Cape Henry

NatGeo Trails Illustrated map: Delmarva Peninsula

Other maps: A Trail Guide/Map is available at the park and downloadable on its website.

From Norfolk, take exit 282 (Northampton Boulevard/US 13) off I-64 and drive 4.5 miles north on US 13. Follow signs for US 60 East (Shore Drive) and drive 4.5 miles on US 60 to the park entrance. At the traffic light at the park entrance, turn right into the park and follow the main park road straight into the parking lot for the Trail Center, where you can get information on park trails and what you can expect to see. Turn left at the light to reach the park office, camping, cabins, and the Chesapeake Bay Visitor Center. GPS: N36 54.916′ / W75 02.485′. DeLorme: Virginia Atlas & Gazetteer: Page 35, A6.

The 6th and 20th of April, about four o’clock in the morning, we described the land of Virginia . . . There we landed and discovered a little way, but we could find nothing worth the speaking of, but fair meadows and goodly tall trees, with such fresh waters running through the woods as I almost ravished at the first sight thereof.

So wrote George Percy, a Jamestown settler, recounting his first steps on North American soil in 1607. After a rough few days at sea, terra firma no doubt thrilled Percy’s group, even if the landscape did not. They would name this point Cape Henry, christening forever present-day Virginia Beach’s northernmost tip, where the Chesapeake Bay meets the Atlantic Ocean. Today the land inland from Cape Henry Lighthouse and Fort Story is called First Landing State Park, in their honor. Here hikers will find riches Percy and company found commonplace: maritime forest and southern swamp and beach ecology, all preserved for a walker’s enjoyment.

By Percy’s account, the landing at Cape Henry was rough. Native Americans attacked and two men were injured, one fatally. It was an inauspicious welcome that might have chased lesser men back to the Caribbean. There, at least, they had enjoyed hot spring baths, fish, and fowl to their satisfaction.

But these privateers, commissioned by the England-based Virginia Company, had other plans. Explorations by foot carried them inland from Cape Henry, through land entangled in vines as thick as a man’s thigh. They chased Native Americans off a pile of oysters roasting in a fire, and tasted a delicacy that would someday make the Chesapeake Bay famous around the world. By boat, they continued into the lower Chesapeake Bay and traveled to Hampton, Virginia, which they dubbed Point Comfort, met up with Kecoughtan Indians, and, instead of fighting, exchanged gifts.

When it came time to leave, the explorers staked a small cross to mark Cape Henry. Left behind were the “fair meadows and goodly tall trees,” and for one reason or another, this coastal area never saw permanent settlement (save the military reservation occupying land around the lighthouse). As colonial Virginia grew in the 1600s, fishermen claimed it as common ground, launched boats, built small shelters, and laid out nets. In 1936 the state created Seashore State Park here. It was renamed First Landing in 1996.

What has been preserved? An ecology that mixes subtropical and temperate-zone plants for a species diversity one would normally find farther south. Loblolly, eastern, and pitch pines tower 100 feet and higher. Broad bald cypress stand in oily blackwater swamps, their small knees poking through primordial-like ooze. White sand dunes are topped with clingy grasses—and bones. Archaeologists unearthed remains of twenty-six Chesapean Indians here, predecessors of the Kecoughtan tribe that attacked Percy’s group. The Smithsonian Institute housed the artifacts until 1998, when they were returned and reburied in a ceremonial mound near the park’s visitor center.

You can start on an incredibly diverse hike at the Trail Center parking lot. The Bald Cypress/Long Creek/Osprey Trail loop takes you from cypress swamp through tidal marsh, bayside beach, dune forest, and back to swamp. Bring your binoculars. In one afternoon you’re likely to see osprey nests, snowy egrets, and great blue herons.

On Bald Cypress Trail, Spanish moss hangs from the cypress. (This is the northernmost reach of the moss, a parasitic plant.) Larger specimens of this tree may date from 500 years ago. Around it, water lilies float on still water that reflects rainbow patterns—not from pollution, but from oils secreted by trees. It’s possible, park interpreters say, that Captain John Smith and others replenished their casks of water here for a long return trip to England. The water, which colonists say tasted like strong iced tea, was so tannic, it could last 6 to 8 weeks at sea.

Long Creek Trail takes you to the edge of Broad Bay and a view of large homes on the opposite bank—reminders of development this park escaped. Virginia Beach is the state’s most populated city; First Landing is the state park system’s most visited, attracting more than 1 million visitors annually. Yet it can handle the load. Solid trails built by Civilian Conservation Corps crews are well maintained, a considerable feat given the constant erosion. It helps that most people hike short interpretive trails near the visitor center, or hike and bike the wide Cape Henry Trail.

Hikers will find quieter moments on the hiker-only Long Creek Trail. Where the trail skirts White Hill Lake—more of a marsh than a true lake—American egrets and great blue herons wade in relative peace. Look for an osprey’s huge nest atop dead loblolly and oak trees at the junction with the Osprey Trail. You might see muskrat and mink lodges in the tidal marshes. (You can identify muskrats by their flat, naked-looking tail.) If you’re hiking early in the morning, sit for a while on the shore of Long Creek, near shallow or marshy water. A slick head will break the water’s surface, swivel left and right, then disappear beneath the water. Each time it surfaces, it emits a hasping noise, as if it’s clearing its nostrils. The muskrat survives primarily on aquatic vegetation, but its morning feeding ritual may yield clams, frogs, or an occasional fish.

Back on the trail, look for the partridgeberry, a trailing evergreen common in the park. The white pairs of tubular flowers bloom in June and July; the red berries and shiny green leaves are visible all winter. Curiously, partridges don’t eat them, but Native American women drank a partridgeberry tea during the last weeks of pregnancy to lessen the pain of childbirth.

You can link again with Long Creek Trail by hanging a left at the end of Osprey Trail. This section gains a little elevation as you hike giant sand dunes covered with vegetation. It’s the primary landform in the park—and it’s constantly shifting, if ever so slowly.

MILES AND DIRECTIONS

0.0Start from the Trail Center parking lot. Walk down a wide gravel path that parallels the park entrance road. Walk straight past a footpath that breaks left and is a shortcut to the Cape Henry Trail.

0.05Turn left onto the Cape Henry Trail, a wide multiuse trail popular with bicyclists and joggers.

0.08Turn right onto Bald Cypress Trail. The fence across the trailhead indicates this is a hiker-only trail.

0.1Across the trail lies a nurse log, noteworthy for the shoots growing from the mossy, rotted lumber—shoots growing into small trees themselves. On your left is a sand dune thick with holly and pine. To your right is a cypress swamp. The chicken turtle (Deitrochelys reticularia), an endangered species, lives here, as do more common frogs and wading birds.

0.15An unmarked path climbs the dune on your left. This is the first of many unmarked trails that spread like a spider web throughout the park. Hiking them might provide adventure, but it also contributes to erosion. Stay on the marked trails.

0.2The Bald Cypress Trail makes a hard left. Climb five wooden steps, then turn left onto the Fox Run Trail. Note: A right turn leads to the park entrance road.

0.6Cross a sand dune and come to a T intersection with the Long Creek Trail. Turn left onto Long Creek Trail.

0.7Pass by a wide opening in the trees and underbrush with views onto Broad Bay.

0.8Ignore two unmarked trails that split left off the Long Creek Trail. Long Creek Trail follows the riverside, separated from water by only marsh grass.

1.1Top out on a sand dune with views over Broad Bay. This is a good spot for a picnic.

1.35Stay straight on Long Creek Trail as King Fisher Trail enters on the left.

1.4An observation deck on the right side of the trail allows for great views over the tidal wetlands that buffer Broad Bay. This structure marks the beginning of a series of boardwalks spanning sensitive habitat.

1.5At a fork in the trail, bear right on Long Creek Trail. Cross a concrete spillway and skirt the south side of White Hill Lake.

1.8Begin a brief steep climb to the top of the “white hill” sand dunes that lend the lake its name. Broad Bay is to the right.

2.0Turn right and descend on the Osprey Trail. Note: The Osprey Trail skirts the water’s edge. During high tide, it may be washed out. In all cases, prepare for wet hiking.

2.4Cross a small wooden bridge.

2.7Trail leaves behind its wet portions and climbs onto a low, wooded finger of land bounded by marsh.

3.1Turn left onto Long Creek Trail.

4.3Pass the Osprey Trail on the left.

4.5Turn right onto King Fisher Trail. Note: Numerous unmarked paths lead off in different directions from this trail. Use the white blazes to keep you on track.

5.1On the hillside to your left, notice the series of enormous loblolly pines. This species is a valuable commercial lumber. Native Americans called it the loblolly– meaning “mud puddle”–for the environment in which it grows well.

5.4Turn left onto Cape Plenry Trail.

6.3A portion of the Bald Cypress Trail crosses the Cape Henry Trail. Continue straight on the Cape Henry Trail.

6.45Reach the junction with the parking lot access trail. Turn right to return to the parking lot.

6.5Arrive back at the parking lot.

The Chesapeake Bay Center (located on the Chesapeake Bay side of the park) houses exhibits on the First Landing in 1607, natural resource displays, the park’s visitor information, and a Virginia Beach tourism information office.

The park has 180 campsites, open Mar to early Dec. There are sites with and without electric and water. The twenty full-service cabins are open year-round. For reservations and information, call (800) 933-7275 or visit www.reserveamerica.com.

Tidewater Appalachian Trail Club maintains some trails in First Landing, www.tidewateratc.com.

3. FIRST LANDING STATE PARK