Hike #719; Margate City to Corson's Inlet

Hike #719; Margate City to Corson's Inlet

8/18/13 Ventnor City to Corson's Inlet with Skyler Jermyn, Brandan Jermyn, Eric Pace, Daniel Stone, David "Captain Soup" Campbell, and George ? (George was on my white lake hike in winter)

The group at Lucy the Elephant

Our next hike would be another point to point in the series to hike the entire perimeter of NJ. This section, between Ventor City and Corson's Inlet State Park was the missing link that I'd mistakenly planned out of order with the one from Corson's Inlet to Stone Harbor. Despite a much smaller group than we'd had on the previous ones, this ended up being a really nice section hike.

Even better, this hike marked the return of my good friend Skyler Jermyn, who had moved to Texas. Skyler always joins us when he comes home to visit, and it's always a great time. This was also the first time he and his brother Brandan were on the same hike.

After meeting at Corson's Inlet, we shuttled with as few cars as possible north to Ventnor City,  strip mall with a grocery store where we could get some lunch and snacks for the day. After visiting the store, we walked along Wellington Ave to a left on Victoria Ave. This led us south to Balfour Ave and a small ball field park. We walked directly across this to reach Calvert Ave. We continued south then west to Dorset Ave where we cross the bridge over a waterway, then headed a couple blocks more to the boardwalk. Here, we turned south.

We followed the boardwalk all the way to it's end, which is pretty much at the Margate City line, and we also took a side trip into town to visit a small liquor store. We got a couple of drinks to enjoy as we headed south.

Along the way, we went out a couple of long piers that reached onto the water and offered some amazing views. As we continued south we also made a stop by Lucy the Elephant, one of the great land marks of the Jersey Shore. We took a nice break here, had a few drinks and some food. Even though it was only a few of us, we were really having a great time. This was overall a relaxing hike.

We continued south along the beach to Longport, and all the way down to the bottom of the peninsula to the Great Egg Inlet. We walked off the beach to the right, then had to stay on a 11th Street I think it was briefly. We took a side trip out Point Drive to a cul de sac with short beach access where we could see across the Great Egg Inlet to Ocean City.

From here, we were forced to turn back north on the peninsula to the next bridge over the bay and inlet. Ocean Drive opened up a bit, and we stayed near the north side of the peninsula, then turned left on 24th Street to the municipal offices where there was a nice pavilion and brilliant bay views. Skyler, Dan, and Brandan I think went ahead at this point, but George and I found a nice sidewalk that took us off of streets for two blocks on to 26th Street. We went left on 26th, right on Absequam and then headed to Ventor Ave to cross the JFK Memorial Bridge. The left side of the bridge was closed off to pedestrian traffic, so we had to cross to get to the other side. George opted to just walk that way anyway. At the other side he furthered the civil disobedience by putting a cone on his head. George was really a riot. He'd hiked with me once before up by White Lake, but it was a big group and I didn't get to know him well enough.

We crossed the bridge and enjoyed some great views, then on the other side had to stay along Rt 152 due to heavy development. Near the end of the developments, a charter boat place had some beach that they did not allow public access to. We had to keep walking until we got to a place where we could head back over to it.

This was a neat section of beach, very secluded with hardly anyone on it. We walked along, and passed through the Malibu Dog Beach. Not many here either.

We next reached and crossed the Ocean Drive Bridge. This bridge was a bit longer. Once on the other side, we were able to immediately get on the beach in Ocean City which was great. I went barefoot for almost this entire hike, and the road and bridge sections were really killer. Some of the concrete used in those sidewalks is very abrasive. It felt great to get my bare feet back on beach again.

We headed right out toward the water, then turned right to follow the beach south. When the boardwalk started up, we opted to head over to that to walk for a while. We stopped at a little pizza place for some delicious slices and a nice break. George went over to a place where girls were getting dressed in gothic stuff, which he was rather enjoying. Somehow, we lost him in this section. We waited around and looked for a bit, but then when we didn't find  him, we had to move on. We knew he'd know the way back.

We got back on the beach, and continued  heading south. It seemed to go on forever. It was getting later in the day, and the tide was coming in. There were a few dolphins out on the water but not as many on the beach because it was so overcast.

Somehow, I lost track of Skyler, Brandan, and Eric. They fell behind me. When Dan and I reached the very last jetty water break, which was angled and had to be crossed to continue, we waited a bit. Skyler called me and I directed him the correct ways to get back to cars. Dan and I climbed to a parking lot, then back down onto the beach to continue south. There were less and less people as we continued from the developed town into natural dunes and nothing but sand and trees. We then entered Corson's Inlet State Park. There were a few vague state park signs along the way.

We didn't end up taking the time to stop and swim, so alone I went out and enjoyed a few moments of it.

Since the tide was coming in, what might normally be a very wide section of beach had shrunk to a fraction of it's earlier size by the time we reached the southern tip of the peninsula at Corson's Inlet. Dan and I turned right to continue along the edge, but I ended up having to walk in the water. I thought it would be rather easy to get through, but this ended up being a bit more difficult. We managed, and made our way back out to the lot. Everyone was already there except Dan and myself. They had taken the road back the quicker way while Dan and I went all the way around the peninsula to the south!

The flooded beach gave way to the fishing and boat launch areas, and a yellow blazed trail led from the parking area in the dunes. We had to follow a bit of it over a boardwalk to get into the parking lot.

With the completion of this section I've come so much nearer to completing the entire eastern side of the state. At this time, the only points of the eastern side of the state I still need to hike are the southern side of Long Beach Island, a little of Atlantic City, Brigantine, and Stone Harbor south. This would be my last beach hike of the Summer, but the Summer fun was not nearly over yet.