False Cape May 1-5, 2011

The Magnificent Seven

On Sunday May 1, We, The Magnificent Seven, drove into Back Bay Wildlife Refuge at 1:00 P.M.. Only having 4 trucks the Chief Ranager, Chuck Bulter, said it would be O K to park there instead of at the City Park.

We came from near and far, with Milton, from Franklin, John P. from Newport News, Mark and Dewey from Norfolk, John G. from Chesapeake, Bob S. from right there in Sandbridge area and the sometimes leader of this group, yours truly, Bruce from Portsmouth. We tried carpooling, with the cost of gas these days, it’s a good thing to do. I drove over to Norfolk and picked-up Mark and Dewey at their homes and then the three of us drove to Great Bridge and picked-up John G. This worked out good with my truck filled to the top with all our gear and food, “mostly food”, you know how we like to eat.

Loading all our gear into the Old White Bus was a trick all in itself, but we packed it in and headed South on the West Dike through the Wildlife Refuge. After about 15 minutes we reached False Cape State Park and turned onto their West Entrance, to drive by the site where the assistant park manager’s new house will be built in the next few months. (she hopes) Our first stop was at the park offices where we saw Cameron Swan the Assistant Park Manager and Diana R. who was volunteering for the day there at the Visitor Center. We talked for about 20 minutes and then headed further south to the Wash Wood Area. Here in the late 1800’s and up to the 1930’s lived a community of about 300 people, with the first ones coming to shore from ship wrecks after running aground there off the coast of what is today “False Cape State Park“.

Reaching the Environmental Education Center, (EEC) the building we would be staying in for the next 4 nights, we unloaded all our gear and set up our bunks and put away all of the good foods each had brought. We had stopped for lunch on the way to the park, so all we needed was one or two bottles of water to take with us and we were off to the shop area to pick-up some tools and then drive to the boat dock at Barbour’s Hill. The weather was warm and with a breeize blowing acrose the Bay from the West, it was the right time to begin work on removing the old deck boards. We finished doing this, (only finding one Water Moccasin) about 6:00 P.M, then headed back to the EEC and got ready for Pizza that I brought with me, (it’s not delivery, it’s DiGiorno) for everyone to enjoy. After our meal and cleaning up the kitchen we went for a hike.

The next morning bright and early after a big breakfast of pancakes and sausages we headed back to the work site. We had to move a little faster because that West Wind was pushing the bay water towards us and it was getting higher by the hour. If the water got over the stringers we would not be able to drive the nails in and finish the job. Luck was with us and by Tuesday evening we were nailing down the last deck boards. We did want to repair 3 of the boat slips, but the water on Wednesday morning was too high for this. We headed back to Wash Woods and did one of our favorite jobs, rebuilding two picnic tables. The park has 25 tables and we have rebuilt 10 so far this year, removing the pressured-treated lumber and replacing it with regular lumber. This is something that all parks have to do this year by law.

We had four good evening meals, 3 night hikes, road down the beach twice, and enjoyed each others company for five days this time. I also got the chance to rescue 20 young campers that were caught in the cold front that hit the park on Wednesday morning, dropping the temperture by 20 degress in about 30 minutes, with strong winds and rain. I talked to Kyle, the park manager and told him that the kids had just started their long hike out when the front hit. He said it would be O K to take them out with the bus we were using. I picked them up about a half mile down the road, cold and wet. They got onto the bus with their gear and was glad I came by. Luckly they all had dry clothes to change into at Little Island City Park, for their long ride back to Front Royal, Virginia.

On this trip we saw no Pigs, 2 Deer, 2 Bald Eagles and a Black Cat, along with 3 Water Moccasins. The Magnificent Seven got the job done and had a very good week doing it. Hope we can have more for my Fall Trip in about 5 or 6 months.

Bruce Julian

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