This past week has been absolutely gorgeous through the Mid-Atlantic. An early glimpse of fall, the temps have been low, the humidity non-existent. There’s a hint of a chill in the air, and certain trees seem to suddenly have gotten the cue to start changing color (though, this is almost certainly more due to water stress than true autumn, yet).

We spent part of the long weekend out camping in our tiny trailer, and spent Labor Day out hiking at Calvert Cliffs State Park in southern Maryland. Our route descended into and through a rarely-travelled creek valley, through a beaver-made swamp, then up and over to the popular “Red” beach trail and out to the Chesapeake Bay before returning via the boardwalk along a large beaver wetland, and back up into the lonely interior – overall about 5.5 miles (Orange, Red, White) where the only people we saw were on the out-and-back Red portion.

Thistles were in bloom, or well past it, depending on which plant you looked at.

You can’t have fall without fungus.

High on the ridges between creek valleys, poplar trees stand tall, with arrow-straight trunks forming columns in a natural cathedral.

While down in the swamp, really a wetland created by the local beavers, trees are starting to make the color shift into their autumn wardrobe.

The beavers here are constantly altering the landscape. There are always numerous trees down, and several ongoing works in progress. This one doesn’t have any fresh tooth marks. It’s been a while since they worked on this particular project, but perhaps they’ll soon be back to finish this sizeable job.

There are some late-season flowers in the marsh. Water lilies and marshmallows. Cattails are starting to go to seed and turn fluffy, and turtles survey the whole scene. In the spring, this pond was full of nesting geese and ducks. They’ve all gone, and as the water level has dropped, the lily pads have taken over. Only a few open channels through the plants (kept clear by beavers) are exposed.

Much of the lower Red trail follows a boardwalk, inches above the water. There used to be a deck built out in the center of the marsh, providing a viewpoint from the center of the lake. Over time, that deck has deteriorated and not been replaced, so now there’s a short, twisted pier to nowhere.

And finally, there’s the Chesapeake Bay, and the park’s namesake cliffs. When we arrived, we found almost a hundred others enjoying the beautiful weather. We didn’t stay long, but the sound of waves lapping at the sandy shore is always relaxing. There are typically a lot of Miocene-era fossils to be found here too, including megalodon teeth if you’re lucky!

Get Out There!