Beach Camping on Fire Island

Trip Dates: Sep. 2-5, 2011.
Quick notes:  Beautiful beach camping with less than 2 miles of walking needed for access.  No fresh water available in camping area, and fires are not allowed!

For my first trip, on Labour Day weekend, I went down to Fire Island on the South Shore of Long Island.  Fire Island is a 32-mile long barrier island, less than a half-mile across at the widest and not more than a few hundred yards wide in places.   The south shore is entirely beach, pounded by large rollers coming in off the Atlantic.  The north side consists of dunes held in place in most places by dune grasses and scrub, but with largest trees in a few places.  Almost the entire length of the island is a designated National Seashore, with the sole exception of the western tip, which is Robert Moses State Park;  the eastern tip consist of Smith Point County Park (Suffolk County).  Along the island there are a number of small residential communities, interspersed between the public parklands; there are also four staffed visitors centers, spaced fairly evenly along the island.

Between the two easternmost visitors centers (Watch Hill and Fire Island Wilderness) lies the Otis Pike National Wilderness;  this is a 7-mile stretch of undeveloped dunes, broken only by a very small community (Bellport Beach) at roughly the midpoint of the wilderness.  Wilderness camping is permitted in the majority of this area; you just need to be a mile and a half in from the visitor centers, and not too close to Bellport Beach.  While there is no fee, you do need to register at one of the visitor's centers, because they regulate the number of campers allowed at any time.  The Watch Hill Visitor Center is accessible by a ferry that leaves from Patchogue, just a couple of blocks from the Patchogue L.I.R.R. station, making it easily accessible from the city.  The Fire Island Wilderness Visitor Center is right beside the entrance to Smith Point County Park, and thus has bridge access from Mastic Beach.  There is a local bus (Suffolk County Bus 7E) that runs from the Mastic-Shirley L.I.R.R. station, which allows transfer from other bus routes (such as the S71 from Stony Brook University);  the 7E only runs across the bridge to the park in the summer, but will drop you off just on the north side of the bridge (about a one mile walk) the rest of the year.

I entered through the east end, at the Fire Island Wilderness Visitor Center; when in you come in across the bridge on William Floyd Parkway, the visitor center is just to your right, while the Smith Point County Park campground and beach are to your left.  I arrived around 3pm on Friday afternoon, and was surprised to find that I was getting the first camping permit they had issued.  I then hiked west along the beach:  the beach area immediately around the center was fairly busy, but became much less crowded after even 5 minutes of walking.  From roughly a half-mile in, and stretching for another mile or so, is an officially designated "clothing optional" beach; I wasn't aware of this, and so was a little surprised at the first naked guy walking through the surf that I passed.  There we quite a number of people in that stretch, although it was far from crowded.  For those looking for a nude beach, it seemed like a very low-key, friendly sort of area, quite mixed in terms of gender. A few people (some of those who were strolling, as well as a sunbathing couple) stopped me to chat about where I was headed to camp.  There is a sign marking the point at which you are allowed to camp, and I kept on for maybe 1/4 or 1/2 mile passed that, to a place where there was a big blow out.  Overall, it was about an hour hike; it's hard to keep up a strong pace on sand.

I expect that the blowout had been caused by hurricane Irene, which had passed through just a week before, but the result was a beautifully smooth region of sand just north of the primary dune, easily accessible through a large break in the dune.  I considered setting up right on the beach, but opted instead for a flatter surface and the wind protection from the dune.  There were deer tracks all over the place, and shortly after getting my tent set up a mother with two younger ones came within 15 yards or so; over the weekend I saw quite a few more, including a few bucks with beautiful antlers. 

I stayed three nights, giving me two full days to explore and enjoy the area; the beach is just gorgeous, and there is nothing quite like the sound of pounding surf as you fall asleep, but there isn't much around other than just the beach.  The surf is pretty rough, and so I wouldn't suggest swimming unless you are a very strong swimmer, and accompanied by another;  I only waded out about waist deep, and still managed to get bowled over by one of the breakers.   On Saturday I walked eastwards along the beach, back past the Visitor Center and the Smith County Park beach and campground;  the public beach there was a zoo, with people sitting literally just a few feet from one another, most with their beach chairs, umbrellas, and coolers.  The beach there is supervised, so there were lots of kids splashing around in the surf.  While I was there, I checked out the campground at the county park, and was very glad I didn't consider camping there!  Located on the north side of the island, most of this "campground" is just a long parking lot for RV's;  the spots aren't even separated by trees or anything, just one RV beside the next.  I kept on walking, and again, by the time I was 10 minutes out from the main entrance, the beach was empty again.  Overall I think I walked about 5 or 6 miles from my campsite, sat to each lunch and read for a while, then walked back.  On the way back, I refilled my water bottles at the Visitor Center, as there is no fresh water in the camping area.

The next day I mostly stayed around my camp, enjoying the beach, sun and a couple of books, although I did take a stroll back to the visitor center for another refill of water.  I had a 3.5 L supply (two 750 mL metal water bottles plus a 2.0L bladder), so I expect that I could have managed with only one re-supply trip; however, without a pack it was only a 40 minute walk (less than 1 1/2 hours return), so I didn't bother trying to be particularly conservative. 

Monday (Labour Day) morning, I packed up my site and hiked westward to the Watch Hill Visitor Center, planning on taking the ferry back across to Patchogue.  Since my camp was about 2 miles west of the eastern entrance, it was about a 5 mile hike, and took me a bit under 2 hours.  I just missed a boat (it was pulling away as I got to the pier) I had a two hour rest; the marina was a perfectly nice spot to sit and relax, though, and it gave me a chance to regain some strength.  The boat trip is pretty short, maybe half an hour, so I was in Patchogue by before 1:30pm;  I had started out at about 9am, and if I had started 15 minutes earlier (and thus got the earlier boat) I could have been there before noon. 

I was headed to Port Jefferson, rather than into the city, but Suffolk County buses don't run on Sundays or holidays, so I had been planning on taking a cab.  However, since it was a beautiful day, I felt in good shape, and wanted to give myself a bit of a test of my backpacking range, I decided I would give hiking across Long Island a try.  It was a 13 mile trip, along roads the whole way, and so I figured that I could give up and call a cab anytime if it was getting too much for me.  I ended up making it all the way, in just slightly over 4 hours, although the last 2 miles were pretty painful.  I did it non-stop, which in hindsight probably wasn't the best idea; I think I would have been a lot better off if I taken a break to get my pack off my back for a bit half-way through.  While Long Island is generally pretty flat, my route took me over Bald Hill, at around 300', so there was a bit of elevation gain, immediately followed by an equivalent downhill stretch, in the middle of the hike; this section also had the least amount of shoulder on the road, and so was fairly unpleasant all around.  While not quite the same as a nice hike through the woods, I must say I was pretty satisfied with myself.  Another 2 miles would have brought me to the Port Jeff ferry terminal, where you can take a boat across to Bridgeport, CT;  adventurous souls in New England might keep that in mind.

All in all, the time of the beach was great; while there were a few other people out camping in the area, and the areas around the visitor centers were pretty busy, my camp itself was very secluded, really giving me the feeling of being alone out on the beach.  There are only two things that would have made a big difference in moving it from a great to an outstanding experience:  fresh water available without a 2 mile walk and the ability to light a campfire.  While camping is allowed all year around, since fires aren't, I can't see myself doing this one in cooler weather.