First Landing State Park, Virginia Beach, Virginia
Virginia has an adventure challenge called the Virginia State Parks Trail Quest. There are 43 state parks here and 40 of them participate in this program that encourages users to use the state parks website and to tour the state. Of course, I am all about it.
I have a trip coming up with Last But Not Last in Shenandoah National Park and I have not seen my other Virginia boys in a few weeks, so I decided First Landing State Park would be the kick-off for this challenge because it is not too far from where they live.
I am camping next weekend with some strangers I have only met on the internet and will see three of the state parks (one of them is famous for wild ponies!), but I wanted my first one to be with Barbarian Scientist if I could not be with any of the boys.
“The name First Landing commemorates the 1607 landing of the Virginia Company on Cape Henry. The group of settlers that made landfall here eventually moved west and formed Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in North America. The park name was changed from Seashore State Park to reflect the historical significance of Cape Henry. The cape was originally named by the settlers to commemorate the Prince of Wales, Henry Frederick, who was the eldest son of King James.
Another First Landing State Park distinction is a botanical one – the park is the northernmost east coast location where subtropical and temperate plants can be found growing together.” First Landing State Park
This park is a beautiful surprise, quite an unexpected oasis in such a beautiful, touristy, coastal region. Here you will hike through forest, dunes, wetlands, and swamp – there are cypress trees, pine trees, tons of birds, crabs and frogs, and we even crossed paths with a Copperhead snake!
There are 19 miles of trails in the park, and we hiked over 6 of them.
The trails are very flat, consisting of sand closer to the bay, boardwalks through the swamp, and dirt the further you get from the bay. It is a busy place, but of course, the further you get from the trailhead, the less people.
There is a lot of parking and a Trail Center where there are some exhibits related to the park, bathrooms, and a small gift shop. There are picnic areas and water fountains for humans and dogs. The entrance fee is $10 or is covered by the Virginia State Parks pass or an REI receipt.
Elizabeth River Trail
I had an entire itinerary of beautiful things to do while in the area, but as my health goes, we got to do half of it before I ended up in the emergency room.
The Elizabeth River Trail is the other thing we got to explore and it was really beautiful. We began at Norfolk State University and briefly wound through some neighborhoods before being directly on the shoreline.
It is a paved trail and the section that is directly on the shoreline is very busy – there are many docks for everything from fishing boats to yachts to Navy battleships. There are offices, condos, restaurants, and concert venues along the other side of the path.
There are many places to access the trail, making it so you can get as many or as few miles as you would like. This trail is intended to connect 28 different neighborhoods to one another, as well as the coastline.
Prior to the terror of my biology landing me in the hospital, this trip was a great balance of seeing two of the boys and also staying busy seeing new things while they were working. We were also supposed to go find more of the Thomas Dambo trolls and have a meal with Thing One, but here we are, making plans to go back and visit for for things. Sometimes (all the time) shit is discouraging. If I do not keep my eyes forward, I think I would sink.
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