Plum Island

I went on a short hike this weekend on Plum Island with a couple of my friends before we headed over to a super bowl party in Gloucester. Plum island in a long narrow island located in Newburyport and is part of the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge. It's known mostly for the multiple species of birds who call the island home throughout different times of the year. During the winter months Snowy Owls migrate here from the North in search of a "warmer" climate. This is why we originally decided to go hiking on the island, but as we would find out we had no luck spotting any.
They charge a $5 entrance fee per car or $2 per bike that's used to fund the repairs and work to the refuge. There are multiple parking areas, plenty of boardwalks through the marshes and to the beaches to allow for easy and protected access for all. From what I could gather there isn't much of a connected hiking system within the park, unless you hike the road that winds the 7 miles through it, but there are plenty of short hikes to sections of the park. It was quite busy for winter and for Superbowl Sunday so I can only imagine it gets pretty crowded in the summer.
We did a few of the side hikes through a marsh, on the beach which was freezing, and across dunes that looked pretty great, almost like something you would see in Arizona or New Mexico. There were a few towers you could climb to get a view of the park and bird watch, but unfortunately we didn't see much only swans and geese, no snowy owls anywhere. It was a cool place and I'd love to come back in the summertime to hike again and see the difference between seasons.


Mileage: 2 Miles

Leaves frozen in a stream.

Walkway to one of the beaches.

70's Mike

Beaver Dam.

Mike snapping a photo

Trail though the marsh.

The trail through backwards stationary binoculars.