Sunday, February 12, 2006
North Point State Park 01-28-06
URL to Album:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/meabbott/sets/72157606383993116/
North Point State Park is the park (map) I am the least happy with to date, mainly due to a lack of explanation of trails. While well marked like most parks, they would connect without explanation and I wound up lost and going down a trail that went away from where I thought I was going. There are signs at the parking lots with maps of the trails, but that is unhelpful while you are on the trail. At the very least the signs should exist at the ends of trails that junction with other trails. To make matters worse, the map that does exist on their website is not accurate. Most of the trails I encountered are not on this. In addition the nearly constant beeping of heavy trucks can be heard backing up. As observed by driving here, this park is near heavy industrial areas and you can hear this sound from every part of the park.
Despite all this, I enjoyed the trip to the park. There were a lot of interesting things to see. Two different lighthouses are visible from the park as well as the ruins from what I was told is an old power station that provided power to the trolley system as well as for an amusement park that had been on the property. There is a ruin of a ferry dock the power plant ruins as well. Further along where the visitor center is (closed for the season) there is what the map calls the Old Bay Shore Pier. You can walk a ways out into the bay on this earthen pier and it is a rather interesting experience. I did not see a lot of wildlife here, however I did see a bird hovering and it clearly was not a hummingbird (1 and 2). I don’t know what kind of bird this is and there’s a few more shots of it in the album for anyone curious. There is also an observation platform at the end of one of the trails and I got some nice pictures from it.
Looking at aerial photos of this place I see that I missed some photographic opportunities here and the very close Fort Howard Park which appears to have ruins of coastal defenses. I will probably come back to this park eventually.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/meabbott/sets/72157606383993116/
North Point State Park is the park (map) I am the least happy with to date, mainly due to a lack of explanation of trails. While well marked like most parks, they would connect without explanation and I wound up lost and going down a trail that went away from where I thought I was going. There are signs at the parking lots with maps of the trails, but that is unhelpful while you are on the trail. At the very least the signs should exist at the ends of trails that junction with other trails. To make matters worse, the map that does exist on their website is not accurate. Most of the trails I encountered are not on this. In addition the nearly constant beeping of heavy trucks can be heard backing up. As observed by driving here, this park is near heavy industrial areas and you can hear this sound from every part of the park.Despite all this, I enjoyed the trip to the park. There were a lot of interesting things to see. Two different lighthouses are visible from the park as well as the ruins from what I was told is an old power station that provided power to the trolley system as well as for an amusement park that had been on the property. There is a ruin of a ferry dock the power plant ruins as well. Further along where the visitor center is (closed for the season) there is what the map calls the Old Bay Shore Pier. You can walk a ways out into the bay on this earthen pier and it is a rather interesting experience. I did not see a lot of wildlife here, however I did see a bird hovering and it clearly was not a hummingbird (1 and 2). I don’t know what kind of bird this is and there’s a few more shots of it in the album for anyone curious. There is also an observation platform at the end of one of the trails and I got some nice pictures from it.
Looking at aerial photos of this place I see that I missed some photographic opportunities here and the very close Fort Howard Park which appears to have ruins of coastal defenses. I will probably come back to this park eventually.
