Kayaking the Pocomoke River (Maryland)

On Wednesday, June 13th, with guidance from MSC educator Grant, we loaded up four kayaks and drove across the Maryland border to Shad Landing on the Pocomoke River.  We kayaked a loop that tooks us out into the river and through the swamps that help define the labrynthine landscape of the Eastern Shore.  Although the trip went faster than most of us would have liked, being out on the river provided a nice opportunity to reflect upon the liberating potential of water (as well as the dangers of its allure), particularly as this potential is represented in Hawthorne's "Footprints on the Seashore", the "Lee Shore" chapter of Melville's Moby Dick, and Chopin's The Awakening.

Setting off from Shad Landing

Into the cypress swamp