Great Island

The cali cousins wanted a nice long hike so we chose Great Island as our destination.  We had never been before.  The letterbox had a high diamond rating so I was anxious to check it out.

We headed out and passed some cool stuff.   Sea pickles were abundant in the beginning of the trek. 

We also came across some tiny crabs and some strange holes that perhaps these crabs had dug and thrown some sandy pellet stuff out.  

As we hiked along the sand got  sandier and the sky got darker.  It is amazing how much longer the hike seems when you're not walking on firm sand.  We passed a number of dead birds and came across two larger decomposing critters.  I saw that the Cape had a bunch of dolphins stranding themselves in the Feb-March timeframe near Herring River which is very close to this area.  That must be what they are.  Such a shame.

We had some trouble with the map.  We probably would have done better without it.  We struggled to find the old Tavern site.  But finally we did stumble across it and the view was breathtaking.  We found the treasure with no problem once we found the Tavern site.  

The hike back was faster since now we knew where we were going.  Although still slower than firm ground.  The darkening sky gave way to rain right as we reached our last half mile or so.  It is definitely a hike I will remember for a long time.  Sometimes those challenging ones are the ones you remember better than the simpler ones.