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While I’m recovering from shoulder replacement surgery I’ve been exploring some of the launches in St Mary’s that I don’t use frequently. Today I swung by Newtone Neck State Park which is a peninsula surrounded by Brenton Bay and St Clements Bay with frontage on the Potomac. The park had been closed for several years while they cleaned up World War II explosives that were scattered around the park from its days as a testing ground. It reopened last year but remains in a fairly primitive condition with little more than a couple of parking lots and a port-a-potty as improvements. At some point I believe the park will build a formal kayak launch on the St Clements bay side, but in the meantime there are two viable launch locations. The first is just as you enter the park and it has a nice sized parking lot with a short level carry of about 50 feet to a gravel bar with a small drop to the water. This puts you into a cove off Brenton Bay. The other launch is at the very end of the road and will put you directly into the Potomac. This launch is more involved with a level carry of about 200’ from the lot to a sloping drop of 5 or 6 ‘ on a sandy/gravel edge to get to the water. There are interesting rip rap walls visible and the entrances to the two bays is a short paddle/peddle in either direction. Right now there is no entrance fee to use the park and it appears to get very light visitation.
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Brenton Bay Launch bar
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Drop Off at Brenton
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Brenton parking lot
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Drop/launch into the Potomac
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Carry past the house
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Brenton Bay Launch bar
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Drop Off at Brenton
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Brenton parking lot
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Drop/launch into the Potomac
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Carry past the house
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