Mathews Blueways Water Trail
Mathews County,
Virginia -
on the Chesapeake Bay
Over Ninety Miles of Superb Saltwater Paddling
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Mathews County is located on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia and has over 200 miles of shoreline on only 87 square miles of land. In addition to its Chesapeake Bay shoreline, there are three tidal rivers and over fifty navigable creeks with loads of access sites. We're just ninety minutes east of Richmond. Local volunteers have created the Mathews Blueways Water Trail, an interconnected system of five separate water trails spanning the waters of Mathews County and totaling over ninety miles of cruising. We also provide an excellent trail guide. The paddling is exceptional! Mathews County is a peninsula jutting into the Chesapeake and Mobjack Bays. No one knows where the heck we are, and that means lots of un-crowded areas to explore. A paddler has a diverse array of settings in which to paddle, as well as historical and natural sights to view, including the third oldest lighthouse on the Chesapeake Bay, a tide mill, steamship wharves, quaint fishing villages, and birds galore! Launching is convenient with 18 public launch sites along the trails. Sea and touring kayaks are the best craft for paddling the Blueways Trail - they are faster and safer than canoes. There can be strong winds and steep waves on some sections of the Blueways trails when the weather is bad. Canoes can certainly be used on the sheltered areas of the trails and on open areas in calm conditions. However, conditions can change rapidly, and even on calm days in sheltered waters, waves generated by passing powerboats can be large. |
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New Point Comfort Light and Paddlers at Sunset |
Where Are We
Click on the thumbnail maps below to see full-screen versions. Both give you a good feel for the superb paddling opportunities to be had here.
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Where we are in Virginia |
Detailed county map & trails |
Some Driving Times:
Baltimore - 3.5 hours
Charlottesville - 2.5 hours
Hampton Roads - 1.5 hours
New York - 8 hours
Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill - 3.5 hours
Richmond - 1.5 hours
Roanoke - 4.5 hours
Washington, DC - 3.5 hours
The Five Trails
The five trails form a giant loop around the county (which is a peninsula). There are 18 public launch sites spread among them. There are countless diversions, typically up lovely creeks and coves and marshes. The mileage figures below are in pairs: the first for paddling the main trunk only, the second for paddling the trunk plus all diversions referred to in the text. Bear in mind that the two rivers on the trail are big, wide, tidal rivers with salt water, not the narrow rivers of inland paddling. Any significant currents will be tidal.
You can click here for introductory information, here for a list of public launch sites, and here for miscellaneous general info (all are MS Word documents).
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Piankatank River Trail - 11.8 to 18.5 miles
This trail extends from
the Gloucester/Mathews County line at its northern tip down the Piankatank River
- the county's northern boundary - to Milford Haven. The river varies in width
between ½ mile at the Twigg Bridge (Rt. 3) to about 2 miles near its mouth and
is salt water throughout. Much of the trail outside the creeks is relatively
open water.
There are five beautiful creeks for exploration - Wilton, Cobbs, Healy, Chapel,
and Queens Creeks.
Click here
for a detailed trail description.
] Gwynns
Island/Milford Haven Trail - 14.1 to 20.5 miles
Milford Haven, the body
of water separating Gwynns Island from the mainland, is an area of sheltered
water about three miles long. It is about half a mile wide up to Cockrell Point
and then opens up to about ¾ mile beyond Cockrell Point as you go east towards
the Chesapeake Bay. There are numerous creeks that can be explored as side
trips. Milford Haven is open to the Bay in the southeast. The southeast
portion has sand islands and bars.
Click here
for a detailed trail description.
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Winter &
Horn Harbors Trail - 15.5 to 22.1 miles
This trail has at least
two stretches of open bay cruising, protected paddling in several estuaries,
innumerable marshes to explore, and several side trips. Sections of this trail
are in the open Chesapeake Bay. All in all, this is probably the most
varied trail of the Blueways. Pleasure craft are few due to the shallow
waters; only watermen use these channels. Wildlife, especially marine bird
life, is abundant in these natural areas.
The trail heading south follows the eastern shore of Mathews County in the open
Chesapeake Bay until it turns out of the Bay into a sheltered refuge, Winter
Harbor. It then traverses the northern basin of Winter Harbor, winds through a
series of passages through marshlands, and then opens into the southern basin of
Winter Harbor. Upon exiting Winter Harbor to the south, it briefly reenters the
open Bay, and then enters Horn Harbor at its northern tip. It proceeds inward
along the northern shore of Horn Harbor, and then outward along the southern
shore of Horn Harbor before exiting.
Click here
for a detailed trail description.
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New Point
Comfort Trail - 10.7 to 15.2 miles
This trail has most of
its paddling in open waters. It first proceeds south in the open Chesapeake Bay
to the southern tip of the county, and then it swings northwest into Mobjack
Bay, also a large, open body of water. An outstanding feature of this section is
the New Point Comfort lighthouse, the third oldest lighthouse on the Chesapeake
Bay. It is often used as a symbol of the maritime heritage of the county.
The trail continues up Mobjack Bay across the mouths of several creeks, each
inviting an exploratory excursion. It ends at the mouth of the eastern-most of
the four rivers of Mobjack Bay - the East River. The others are the North, Ware,
and Severn Rivers fanning out like the four fingers of a spread hand.
Click here
for a detailed trail description.
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East River Trail - 11.7 to 13.8 miles
This is the smallest of
the five Blueways trails. It naturally divides itself into two pieces - a lower
river trail and an upper river trail. The dividing line is at Williams Wharf,
which is on a peninsula jutting into the river from the east.
The shores of the whole river are filled with small bays, coves, and creeks.
Allow extra time to explore these for they are a large part of your reward for
paddling, unless you just want to get from here to there quickly.
Click here
for a detailed trail description.
The Blueways Guide
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Our
trail guide is a packet of general information as well as one waterproof
sheet for each of the individual trails. It is nicely done and in color.
The unbound, waterproof design is intended to allow you to choose the
guide page for the trail that you are paddling and take it with you
without fear of getting it wet. The page for each trail has color
pictures of sights along the trail, a brief descriptive narrative of each
trail section, and a stylized marine chart showing the path of the trail
and the waters it traverses. The launch sites are also indicated on it.
We hope that you will find it to be a very practical, informative, even
necessary aid to paddling the trails. Our old original guide was much less professional, but had more narrative description of the trails. The text of its trail descriptions and paddling directions (no charts) can be downloaded. To do so, click the word here in the various places in the The Five Trails section above. Bear in mind that these pages are supplements to, not a substitute for, the current guide which has the vital color charts and navigation information. |
Purchasing the Guide, and Other
Information
Click here for information on
Ordering the trail guide by mail, or purchasing it locally,
General information on the county,
Organized paddling events.
Local tide tables,
Other Mathews outdoor activities such as cycling, fishing, and birding,
Lodging and camping.
Paddling equipment & guided tours,
Downloading the text of the original guide,
Information on contacting us.
The Chesapeake Gateways Network
The Mathews Blueways Water Trail is a member of the Chesapeake Bay Gateways Network, a linked network of natural, cultural, historical and recreational sites throughout the Chesapeake Bay region. It consists of a wide variety of sites, trails, centers, and hubs spanning the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed. The Mathews Blueways Trail fits naturally into its framework. To learn more about this exciting organization and its other components, click the icon and visit their web site.
Happy cruising!!
-- The Mathews Blueways Committee