Maryland

Maryland packs Atlantic beaches, the Chesapeake Bay, and Appalachian mountains into a small state, offering sailing and crabbing, hiking, whitewater, and birding. Assateague Island National Seashore and its wild horses, the Chesapeake Bay, Deep Creek Lake and the western mountains, and the C&O Canal towpath anchor it.

Summer is prime for the beaches and bay; fall brings color to the western mountains and comfortable hiking. Spring offers wildflowers and migrating birds; the far west sees real winter snow.

The wild ponies of Assateague, blue crabs and rockfish of the Chesapeake, white-tailed deer, black bears in the west, and migrating shorebirds and waterfowl define Maryland's wildlife.

The Chesapeake Bay — the largest estuary in the U.S. — anchors the state's ecology, alongside coastal marsh, Piedmont forest, and Appalachian highland forest in the west.

Maryland spans the flat Atlantic coastal plain and barrier islands, the rolling Piedmont, and the ridges and valleys of the Appalachians in the west (3,360-ft Backbone Mountain is the high point), all drained toward the great Chesapeake Bay estuary.

The Piscataway, Nanticoke, and other peoples lived along the bay. Founded as a colony in 1634, Maryland was one of the original 13 and the 7th state, in 1788.

Chesapeake Bay culture — sailing, crabbing, and watermen's traditions — plus beach-town summers and mountain recreation in the west define Maryland's outdoors.

Chesapeake Bay restoration — reducing nutrient pollution and restoring oysters and underwater grasses — is the state's defining, decades-long environmental effort.

Baltimore/Washington (BWI) is the main airport; the beaches (Ocean City, Assateague) and western mountains are reached by car. The bay is best experienced by boat.

Rip currents at the ocean beaches, summer heat and storms, ticks in the woods, and cold-water boating risks on the bay are the main concerns. Don't feed or approach the Assateague horses.

State parks charge a fee, and the Maryland DNR administers licenses; Assateague is a national seashore with separate rules — keep 40 feet from the wild horses.

Don't feed or approach the Assateague ponies.

Camp among the wild horses at Assateague (keep your distance), sail or crab the Chesapeake in summer, and head to Deep Creek Lake and the western mountains for fall color and cooler air.

Maryland borders Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Delaware (and surrounds D.C.), linking the Atlantic beaches, the Chesapeake, and the Appalachians.