Did you know that Virginia has 38 parks, ranging from beaches and swamps to mountains and forests and pretty much everything in between? With this much variety, the state offers nearly endless options for enjoyment and exploration! And it just so happens that we live just a few minutes from Virginia’s most-visited state park: First Landing State Park in Virginia Beach, VA.
It’s a gorgeous area with 20 miles of trails traversing through cypress swamps, marshes, beaches, and forests! It’s also a significant historical location: the English settlers landed here first in 1607, and both Union and Confederate soldiers used the waterways here for transportation during the Civil War. So if you’re looking for things to do this weekend in coastal Virginia, this may be just the place for you.
You can read all about it below and/or watch my very first YouTube video above! Whoo-hoo!
First Landing State Park
As we approached First Landing State Park (FLSP) from the west over the Lesner Bridge, I knew we would have an incredible adventure. Our short journey across the bridge provided a beautiful view of the Chesapeake Bay and Pleasure House Point from above, ramping up my excitement for our trip(and adding a future excursion to Pleasure House Point to my bucket list).
From the Lesner Bridge on US-60, it’s a straight shot through this off-shoot of Virginia Beach to the Trail Center of the state park. However, you can access the park from 64th Street as well if you primarily want to explore the Cape Henry Trail.
We began at the Trail Center due to its easy access to several of the park’s ten trails. The trails range from .3 to 6.1 miles each and cross through a variety of terrains.
I knew before we arrived that I wanted to see as many habitats as possible, so I mapped a route for us that traversed 6 of the park’s trails: Bald Cypress Trail, High Dune Trail, Fox Run Trail, Long Creek Trail, Kingfisher Trail, and Cape Henry Trail. This extended loop allowed us to see each of the park’s various habitats and arrive back at the Trail Center when we were done.
Cypress Swamps
From the Trail Center, our adventure began on the Bald Cypress Trail, a 1.8-mile loop alternating between dirt trails and boardwalks. The featured scenery of this trail is the haunting bald cypress swamps.
The landscape here is both eerie and lovely. Tall, twisted trees draped in brown moss rise above black waters in a seemingly endless scene fit for a cinematic thriller. I certainly would not want to get lost here! Legends say Blackbeard’s ghost haunts the area.
As I mentioned, the waters are black. For a few inches around the bank, you can see that they’re an incredibly dark red from the pine needles and red leaves that have fallen into the water. As the shallows deepen, that color compounds (as the decayed debris piles up) into a scary-still black mirror.
While the water is chilling, the scenery itself is stunning, particularly on a sunny day with the light shining through the cypress branches and gleaming off the water.
Along the trails here, we found a good number of fascinating trees. By some elements of weather or stress, the bark on many of the trees was twisted like a rope.
Another fascinating site was this tree that had fallen across the trail. The piece across the path was cut out to allow visitors to walk through, and the base was hollow for as far up as we could see with our flashlight. But when I followed the trunk up the hill, I found that the tree took an almost 90-degree turn upwards and was still growing toward the sun!
We also greatly enjoyed the boardwalks along this trail. Walking alongside the swamps is one thing, but walking directly through them over the boardwalk brought the water and the draping Spanish moss that much closer. I loved the immersive feel of being right in the middle of it all!
Forests
The second gorgeous habitat of First Landing State Park was the forests. We spent most of our time walking in some sort of wood, even along the swamps. However, there were notable variations in the types and feel of the trees. We particularly enjoyed walking through High Dune Trail and Cape Henry because the trees were gorgeous.
While the cypress trees were twisted and tall in the swamps, the trees here were broad and straight and grew impressively high. It was a much different environment from walking along the cypress swamps.
Additionally, the forest areas had many lovely flowers in pinks, purples, yellows, reds, and whites.
According to the guidebook, these are great places to see woodpeckers, owls, lizards, and other animals.
Beaches
From the forest, we transitioned very quickly to Broad Bay Beach on Long Creek Trail. The forest suddenly opens up, and you can see a narrow section of Broad Bay and a neighborhood across the canal.
At the intersection of Fox Run and Long Creek Trails, someone had put up a small rope swing that looked tempting, but it was far too cold for us to try! But if you want to cool off during your hike, this might be just the place for you!
As we traversed along Long Creek Trail, the sandy path dipped back and forth between the beach and the forest. Sometimes, we could go all the way down to the water and other times, the trail went up a ridge, and the water was down below. While the higher trails hid the bay a little, the peeks of water through the branches were still very beautiful, and the forest areas here were very bright and pretty.
By the water, we found hordes of oysters packed against the waterline in places, and plenty of driftwood pushed up against the banks. Other small beaches offered clean sand where we could dip our toes in the water.
Further down the trail, the Broad Bay finally began to open up into lovely water views (without houses in the background) before transitioning suddenly into the marshes and then eventually back again to the beach. We found several benches that offered great places to enjoy the scenery for a few minutes.
We parked ourselves along the beach portion for sunset and were not disappointed. The water and forest-lined banks were gorgeous at dusk, as you can see in the pictures below.
Marshes
Along this section of Long Creek Trail, the path dipped between bordering the marsh and swinging back into the forest again. I noticed that the trees once again had moss hanging from their branches, similar to the swamps. The woods opposite the marsh also seemed denser.
I hoped to see some herons and marsh crabs here, but wildlife was unfortunately low when we visited.
As I mentioned before, the beach alternated with broad marsh areas. I enjoyed these as the sun was getting low because the golden light was so pretty against the marsh grass. Across the marsh, the backdrop was green trees from another curve of the forest, and the eastern edge was framed with the blue waters of the Broad Bay.
I can see, however, how the scene could also appear a bit dismal, as marshes often do. Within the marsh, dead trees speckled the scene with trunks that looked as if they’d been snapped like matchsticks. Similar logs lay scattered across the ground that we could see from trees that couldn’t withstand the changing tides.
But in other places, like in this picture, where no dead trees cut into the scene and the marsh grasses grew in thick plots by the water, I had to admit that the overall effect of nature was beautiful.
Closing Thoughts on First Landing State Park
We had such an amazing time at First Landing State Park! It’s a place I’ll be visiting again when the weather is warmer and, hopefully, more wildlife is out and about. It was the perfect activity for a warm afternoon. And for Virginia residents looking for something to do this weekend to get outside during quarantine, you must check it out!
I hope that you enjoyed exploring the four lovely habitats of First Landing State Park with me today! If you have any questions or comments, I’d love to see them! And if you enjoyed this post, be sure to sign up for the blog so you can follow along with our future adventures.
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If you have time, check out the YouTube video and the top, and please be sure to share this with all your local friends so they can plan a trip to First Landing as well!
Happy Travels!
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What a perfect place to get away from it all, so tranquil and beautiful! Those trees are massive! I love the fact that there are hiking trails as well.
I’m glad you enjoyed this. We will definitely be checking it out again; hopefully, you can someday as well!
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