The Verrazano Bridge over Sinepuxent Bay — the only road onto the Maryland end of Assateague. Watch for your first ponies on the far side.
Here's the bridge — the Verrazano, and no, not the big one in New York, just a namesake carrying you up and over Sinepuxent Bay. This narrow strip of water is the whole reason the island stays wild: it keeps the mainland at arm's length. Look left and right as you climb — that shallow, grassy water is the bay side, calm and warm; the ocean's roar is waiting on the far shore.
Coming off the bridge, the road bends and runs south down the length of the island, and that's our route the whole way — one road, easy to follow. Keep your speed down from here on. This is exactly where drivers first meet the horses, standing in the road like they own it, because as far as they're concerned, they do.
Ahead, the island opens up: dunes on your left holding back the Atlantic, marsh and bay off to your right, and a thin ribbon of pavement down the middle. Let's roll onto the island.
Photo: Acroterion · CC BY-SA 4.0
