I have wanted to visit Assateague National Seashore for many years. I wanted to see the horses of Chincoteague as a child, but on a recent trip, we were near Assateague Island.

It is easy to get to Assateague Island. We drove there from Ocean City, Maryland in April, and it was a straightforward drive, and very scenic.

We took Google Maps to the Assateague Island Visitor’s Center first, to learn more and figure out a plan.

The visitor’s center has displays, a gift shop, and bathrooms.

We also spoke with a Park Ranger who was able to answer questions, and helped direct us as far as where to go.

Photo credit and map: https://www.nps.gov/asis/planyourvisit/maryland-district-trail-map.htm

There is a state park and national seashore section, and we decided to try the National Seashore first. I believe it was $25 for an out of state car to get into the seashore.

We drove from the Visitor Center to some trails.

We tried some of the short trails first, to check out the park and to see if we saw any horses from the trails. We tried the Life of the Marsh trail, which has some interesting boardwalks.

We saw lots of horse poop – but no horses.

We then tried the Life of the Dunes Trail. We did not see horses for a while, and we start to feel discouraged.

When had been on the Dunes Trail for a while, we heard a whinny! We started running and were able to see that there were horses in the distance.

We were able to make our way to the beach, and we saw so many horses!

The weather was beautiful, and we loved seeing the horses.

Our time at Assateague was incredible! We were lucky to see so many horses, but the scenery and trails were also beautiful.