The wife and I were thinking of driving over to the Maryland/Virginia shore, the Assateague Island National Seashore for a nice weekend together after the summer crowds leave. Seems alot to pay to drive on the beach to go surf fishing, swimming and etc.

Have any of you encountered a high offroad permit fee like $70?

 

it cost 30 dollars a year to wheel at evans creek. but i've seen it go back into the campgrounds up there.

 

I'm kind of cheap when it comes to paying fees, so $70 does seem steep. I did fork over money for a national park pass last fall, but I hit 9 parks in less than 2 months so I felt like I got my money's worth, plus I live on the border of a park out here so I've been using the pass for day trips. I can tell you that after working for the feds in Assateague for a year, there isn't a lot to see on the beach there. Lots of guys go out to fish and you can see quite a few birds if you're into bird watching, but it's pretty much just a lot of sand. Guess I got a bit tired of it after while.

 

Thanks for the info.

MNBOY, is Assateague essentially the same as the Outer Banks in North Carolina? I've done OBX, so if it's more of the same we'll look elsewhere. My wife likes the beach and I would like to find someplace within 4-5 hours driving from Northern Virginia. I can't tell from the website if the Assateague pass would be honored at other National Parks or just at Assateague.

 

It will be similar. If you go down south to Chincoteague you can see the ponies, but it's not much of a thrill, they're pretty tame. As far as the pass, most places have a separate pass you need for the off-road areas, and I'm not sure what that would cost, but as far as getting into Assateague I believe a National Park pass will work, but I'm not 100% sure. I didn't get a whole lot of time off when I was there so I'm not sure where else to recommend. On days off we almost always went climbing at Seneca Rocks, or drinking at the NASA base.