Calvert Cliffs State Park, MD

Today we decided to take a 5 mile hike around Calvert Cliffs State Park, along the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland.  The terrain was varied, and we saw fresh water bogs, salt water marshes, forests, streams and, of course, the Bay.  One of the streams was dammed by beavers and had become something between a pond and a bog.  As we looked at it, Kathy noticed that turtles were sunning themselves on nearly every log floating in the pond.  There must have been dozens of logs populated with sunning turtles, and each log had a half dozen or more.  Here's a photo of one turtle family (I know, I know, there are only 5 turtles on this log, but a second, large turtle just jumped off before I snapped the photo):

Once we reached the shore of the Bay, we were treated to a beautiful view of the Calvert Cliffs, which stretch each direction from the park.  This view is northward:

Coincidentally, as we arrived, the park ranger and a scientist associate of his arrived on an ATV.  They were tacking up new signs, but as soon as they saw us, they took us out to the beach for a fossil hunt.  Sixteen million years ago, the entire area was deep under ocean, with the result that, especially after storms, the water stirs up a variety of fossils from the bed of the Bay.  Most notable are sharks' teeth and scallop shells.  Here are the fossils the park ranger found for us in the space of about 15 minutes:

On our way back from the beach, we encountered a huge tree that had fallen due to rotting at its base.  The park crews had cut it into sections to clear it from the trail, exposing beautiful sections of trunk with very clearly marked rings:

After hiking, we poked around Solomons Island, at the southern tip of Calvert County on the western shore.  The community is beachy, reminding us somewhat of Cape May, but not nearly as congested, and with more of the flavor of a fishing village.  At the local marine museum, in addition to exhibits of the area's history, geology, ecology, archaeology, fishing and boatmaking industries, there were river otters in a naturalized habitat (very playful!) and the renovated Drum Point lighthouse, known as a "screw-pile lighthouse," consisting of an hexagonal, 3 story cottage standing on six pilings, each hand-screwn into the bed of the Bay, with a fixed  red/white light.  More information on the lighthouse is at http://www.lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=432, but here is a photo: