Swan Creek to Sellman Creek off Rhode River near Edgewater, Maryland

 Another hot, still day as we cruised out into the bay with the Chesapeake Bay Bridge in the distance. We passed under and over to the western shore turning into the Rhode River below Annapolis, We are anchored up Sellman Creek near the YMCA summer camp and a favorite spot for boats pulling inflatables. One other sailboat is anchored across the way in another creek near the Smithsonian Research Center.  We spent a lazy afternoon in the shade.

Sailboats galore at Haven Harbour Marina across the anchorage

Chesapeake Bay Bridge

Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse

Sailors off from YMCA Summer Camp

This morning we woke up early and ate a quick breakfast and took our coffee over to the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center dinghy dock. The education center complex was quiet as it was before 8 am so we found a trail map and headed onto the Fox Creek Nature Trail and then the Connector Trail to the Marsh Boardwalk to Hog Island. We stopped in the Charles McC. Mathias Laboratory building on the Main Campus and then found our way to the Contee Watershed Trail and the Squirrel Neck Loop Trail. We stopped at a bench by the old Tabacco Barn for a picnic lunh before taking the Java Farm Trail badk to where we started. Once we got back to the boat, we pulled anchor.

Tiny birds on the flowers

Beautiful pollinator plants attracting butterflies

Reflection in the flat calm water

Beautiful gravel paths with benches all along the way

Observation decks along the marsh

Wildflower in the marsh grass

Birds popping up from the marsh grass

Off to Hog Island

Smithsonian Environmental Laboratory

Amazing complex once we found the roads

Brick ruins they have held up the walls

Grassy trails and then through the woods

Only a few paths overgrown

Love the lichen

Old growth forest on old farm land

Back to the butterfly garden