Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge
Next day I got an early start and headed south, bicycle in the rack on the back of the car, lunch tucked away in the bike bag. I wanted to see as much as I could of Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) and neighboring False Cape State Park, and the best way to do it is by bike. To explore both venues is a full day trip.
A clay and gravel trail begins at the visitor center at Back Bay NWR. The trail is open from April through October, and provides access to False Cape. Otherwise, travel is by beach, by boat, or via a tram tour operated by the Back Bay Restoration Foundation.
Back Bay NWR and False Cape provide a ribbon of green that runs from the community of Sandbridge to the North Carolina line, a distance of about nine miles. The pine forest, hardwood swamps, dune thickets, and shrub communities are part of the migratory corridor songbirds use during migration, and numerous species can be seen during the fall migration, beginning in August and stretching into late October. The greatest variety comes early in the migration. Later, most of the birds you’ll see will be yellow-rumped warblers.
The wildlife refuge was created to provide a winter home for waterfowl, and freshwater impoundments were built to provide resting areas and food. The gravel trail runs on top of the berm that encloses the impoundments, just behind the dune line. There are numerous places to stop to look for waterfowl and wading birds.
False Cape State Park
The entrance to False Cape State Park is 4.25 miles south of the refuge visitors center. Just inside the park is an elevated platform overlooking another impoundment, a good place to scope out waterfowl, as well as songbirds in a nearby myrtle thicket.
False Cape is one of the most remote public parks in the state, but getting there is worth the trip. There are extensive maritime forests, huge old dunes, and even a cemetery and church site, remnants from the village that was here in the late 1800s and early 1900s. False Cape was popular among waterfowl hunters before becoming a state park, and one of the old hunt clubs now houses an environmental education center operated by the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation. The building overlooks Back Bay and is a good place to stop for a lunch break on a daylong bicycling trip. Picnic tables are provided.
CONTINUE > Day 3: Great Dismal Swamp