First day hikes kick off new year

Lewis McCulllough walked the beach at Cape Henlopen State Park with a red bucket in hand.

He was picking up trash, mostly plastics, along the way. As a volunteer with the Coast Guard Auxiliary, McCullough was used to cleaning up the beach.

But on New Year’s Day, he was among the dozens of people who joined the First Day Hike around the Point.

“I’ve found a lot of interesting things over the years,” McCullough said, including a whole case of sunglasses that washed ashore.

The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control hosts guided First Day Hikes at many of its state parks.

There were two groups at Cape Henlopen State Park on the morning of Jan. 1. The hikers braved blustery conditions to learn some facts about the local environment from DNREC guides.

The Leahys and their neighbor Randi Cohen from Lewes said they have done hikes in New York and New Jersey, but it was their first time doing one in Delaware.

“I learned a lot about the foam and the horseshoe crabs,” Kathy Leahy said.

Kathleen LaForce, a program coordinator and park naturalist, led one of the two groups up the beach and around the tip of the Point. High tide and howling winds brought the water right up to the dunes on the bay side, forcing participants to walk single file.

LaForce pointed out whelk egg cases, various shells and bird species along the way. There were a lot of questions about horseshoe crabs, since the beach is littered with thousands of their shells.

“They will lay up to 80,000 eggs, but less than one will make it to adulthood, because they are food for everything out here,” LaForce said.

LaForce has made the trek dozens of times, but said she always sees something new.

“It sounds silly, but every time I go out there, the beach is a totally different place because of the ecosystem changing,” she said.

LaForce said DNREC will host another hike before the Point closes for the year Saturday, March 1, to accommodate migrating shorebirds such as piping plovers.

For more information, go to dnrec.delaware.gov/parks.