Trip Report Wilderness trip - out of Henson - DelMarVa council

[JerseyJohn]

Thought I would provide a trip report on the Chicomacomico Challenge. This is a weekend HA trip out of Henson, Del-Mar-Va Council.

 

Canoe trek theu the Blackwater Wildlife Refuge, south east Maryland. You can stay at Henson Friday night and depart Sat morning or if you get there early enough, paddle 45 minutes to the first campsite. Second night is spent on an uninhabited island in the refuge. We arrived at Henson 6:30 Friday night, so we overnighted at Henson. Henson provided transportation of canoes and a repositioning driver to place our vehicles at the put out site.

 

The boys billed this trip as "Survivor". No tents, patrol boxes or anything. What you brought is what you had. Only exceptions were: they were provided with an MRE for Sat dinner and a 10 x 10 tarp for their shelter.

 

Saw many Eagles, turtles, snakes, a wide variety of birds and other wildlife. Canoeing was good as out timing coincided with tidal flow. If not, it would have been much tougher.

 

9am - Departed Henson to put in site

11am - hit the water

12:30 - stopped for lunch

1:30 - hit the water

4:00 - arrived at the island

Set up camp, explored a little, enjoyed the solitude

8:00am sunday - departed

9:15 arrived at put out site

 

After thoughts, I would depart Henson Saturday morning around 7am. This gives more time for exploring the island and taking you time enjoying the scenery enroute on the canoe. A fair amount of mosquitos on the island - mosquito netting for the sleeping bags would have been a plus.

 

Recommended for 14 years old, swimmers and experienced campers only. Island has no facilities what so ever. The folks at Henson were fantastic. Could have provided a little more detail on the island landing site, but we found it eventually.

 

If you wnat to see pictures of the trip click here

http://www.troop184.com/pictures.aspx

Click 2005 - 2006 - Survivor Trip

 

Del Mar Va details on the trip can be found here

http://camping.delmarvacouncil.org/ChicamicomicoChallenge.htm

 

I would be happy to ansewr any questions you may have.

YIS,

John