On Tuesday, July 3, the YMCA’s paddle club was invited to launch from a member’s private property.  I probably shouldn’t disclose the exact location of this launch, but it was on the Choptank, not too far south of the Dover bridge near Easton.  We started out by paddling directly across the river into some hidden marsh creeks.  I was amazed at how easy it was to get disoriented and lost amongst the Phragmites and Spartina grasses.  We didn’t want to get totally lost so every time we had a choice of direction we took a left, and once we turned around, we knew only to make right turns.

Once we had our fill of exploring the marsh creeks we headed up the Choptank about a 1/2 mile and explored the exposed cliffs of an eroded riverbank.  We were able to see distinct layers of soil and various shells – mostly scallop shells!  Apparently at low tide this place is a hot spot for finding arrowheads – too bad we were pretty close to high tide.

We paddled at a pretty leisurely pace, covering just over 3.5 miles in about an hour and a half.  It was crazy hot and humid and there was no sense in overdoing it.  Take a look at our path: