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From the Files of File Boy…

WARNING: Educational content, No Humor. May not be suitable for any audiences

1/29/07:

Yesterday I got up around 7:30, after deciding I wouldn’t go to church (I was tired from being up late the night before). I called my friend S. at around 8 which is the time we usually wait to call each other in the morning. I wanted to know if he’d like to go for a hike. He said he’d be going to church at 10, but would go when he got back.

At 11:45 he was home, so I loaded my dog into the truck and my fiancé and I headed over to his place to pick him up. Today he was bringing his dog, but his fiancé would not be going.

As we drove towards the Woodland Beach Wildlife Management Area, it became obvious to us that this was going to be several hours of hiking, so we dropped my fiancé back off at home because she had other engagements during the afternoon.

So we drove down route 9, and made a turn onto Lighthouse Road. This road passes one small mobile home, which is not in good condition, but much better than the next dwelling(s). On the left side there was a home of some sort, though I am not convinced anyone is still living in it. All of the windows were out, and there was no indication that there was any electricity in it. There was a dog chained to the front door, or near the door. Immediately adjacent to this old home was another, just slightly better home. This one had a light on inside which was visible, and a truck was parked out front. These were perhaps amongst the worst homes I have seen anywhere in the state.

A few hundred yards beyond these homes the road becomes gravel and dirt, and ends at a metal access bar. We parked there, let the dogs out and began hiking. The area is clearly marked as state property and as a wildlife area.

There was an elevated path which we took through the first piece of woods. There were several pieces of cars on either side of us, which I would like to go back and explore. On the right side was a truck, which had been separated from its bed by a hundred yards or so. On the left side of the path was what appeared to be an old school bus, thought I’m not sure what it was. It was several hundred yards back into the woods. We left those woods though very quickly and came out onto a marshland that was larger than any I had ever seen in Delaware. On either side of the elevated path, the land dropped off into this marshy phrag which was muddy and gutted with small creeks. The creeks were mostly mud; with little water in them (perhaps it was low tide).

Looking in any direction, there was only more marshland, with an occasional clump of trees to be seen out in the distance. As we walked the path, we passed three clumps of trees on our left, each one having a deer hunting tree stand in it. The last of the three also contained an old homestead. The homestead was more of a rock foundation, with odd rocks strewn about, possibly the remnants of an old rock wall. These rocks were granite, and of course did not look local. There was also an old well which was covered by rotting wood. This looked pretty dangerous, but it was unmistakable and the water level was within a foot of the top, owing to the high water table.

We continued down this path for what seemed like several miles, noticing shells, a muskrat skull, deer droppings and fox holes. It looked like the path we were walking was the area’s hub of activity, which made sense since it was likely the only solid and dry ground in the area. The feathers indicated to me what the foxes were eating.

As we continued down the path we saw something running ahead, which we guessed was a fox or muskrat because of its size. It ducked into the marsh grasses before we could approach, but my dog went in after it. Her reluctance to leave the marsh gave me reason to go in after her. While I was in the marshy grasses, a man walked up to S. I would guess that he was in his 60s and was out there alone. He had a GPS unit hanging from his coat, and he told us he was out there hiding things, in a sort of “high-tech treasure hunt” called geo-caching. This meeting happened at the fork in the path, and this older fellow had just returned from the path that diverts right. This would have probably been another mile each way that he had to walk. He advised us to continue straight, and at the next fork to take the right sided path. He said this path would terminate on the beach. If we turned left, about 100 feet up the shoreline we would find the remnants of an old light house.

We did as he said and found the old foundation of a lighthouse. It was mostly bricks which were being reclaimed by the bay. Bricks were all over the beach. I found many rocks, shells and other things of interest on the beach.

A bit further up the beach in the same direction was the breakwater for the Smyrna River. Unfortunately we also could see Salem Nuclear Power plant’s cooling tower, and what appeared to be a smaller lighthouse on stilts, north of the Smyrna River’s confluence with the DE Bay.

Also of interest here was the shoreline which is being undercut by the tides of the bay. When we were there (again, possibly at low tide) I was able to walk down to the water’s edge and see the many layers of silt, clay and sand of the beach. At the top was a brownish green algae and grass “mat” layer. Immediately below this layer was the sandy beach layer. Below this, approximately 2 feet below surface was a silvery grey colored layer, which I interpreted as the layer below sea water (the color indicates the anaerobic micro-organisms which live there – anaerobic indicating they live and die below water). I took some time to look at these layers but did not see any fossil material or other hard substances.

The beach had pebbles, driftwood, pieces of boats, bricks and pieces of bricks and old pottery, several samples of which I brought home. I had the feeling that this was a beach that did not see much tourist traffic, and would represent an ideal place to search for fossils, rocks or other shipwrecked items of interest.

The foundation of the abandoned lighthouse looked to have a front wall of brick which was several layers thick (in one area it appeared to be the width of 5 or 6 bricks, and in another there was 10 or 12 brick-widths of thickness to it). I assumed that the shoreline had eroded back and undercut the original foundation which at one point may have been a hundred yards from the water or more.

The walk back was so long that I began to get sore and exhausted. This is a long walk, but well worth it. I would recommend not taking this walk when the mosquitoes or other bugs are out. Although, I’d imagine the shorebirds and other wildlife viewing opportunities might make up for some of the discomfort.

What was amazing to me was that after hiking all of those miles and not leaving state land, and upon beginning our drive home, we drove past several more miles of “Wildlife Management Area” signs, which indicates the size of this piece of land. When you consider that north of this area is Cedar Swamp, and south is Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge, you get an idea of the size and amount of this protected block of land. South of Bombay Hook is Little Creek Wildlife Management Area. This is an expansive tract of uninterrupted protected lands.