Hither Hills State Park MONTAUK
I have a thing about tents. I've never been able to sleep in one. I suddenly get a condition called 'restless legs' whenever I try, and end up waking up every 15 minutes. The last time I went camping I swore I'd never do it again. That was over a decade ago.
But I decided this May to give it another try because of Montauk's seductive Hither Hills Campgrounds, which is on Old Montauk Highway about 3 hours from NYC. The very popular place had always caught my eye whenever my husband and I drove by it on our way into town to stay at a hotel.
Hither Hills is a state park at the far eastern end of Long Island with camping grounds right off the beach. At some higher sites you can even see the ocean from your tent.
Montauk beach itself is 32 miles long with gorgeous, smooth white sand that is a quarter-mile-wide with beautiful sunsets and sunrises.
The park allows 2 tents, 6 people and 1 car to be on each reserved site. Many of the sites have a picnic table on a cement slab. Bathrooms are never very far.
My husband bought us a pretty good size tent that we both could stand up in and it felt nice and roomy in the day time (slide please) so we thought I stood a chance this time, but when I went to 'sleep' that night I had to move as close to the tent door as I could, because surprise, surprise, I felt trapped.
This meant leaving my husband alone on the blow up bed and taking my sleeping bag to lie on the ground with my nose as close to the front door zipper as I could get it so I could occasionally unzip the door to see the outside. Am I a city girl or what? Like the sky was going to disappear?
A half-hour later and still awake I heard two animals fighting right outside our tent. It was a mean, vicious fight in which some smaller critter definitely met his/her end with a shriek and a crunch. I got to tell you I was so terrified I shot up from the ground and went back to that mattress so fast, I must have broken some kind of world record somewhere. And fell asleep. (knowing I was safer in the tent?) I don't know. I just hope I am forever cured so I can go back.
It was great getting up in the morning and going right down to the beach and having it all that magnificent space all to myself. And I loved eating breakfast outside on our own private picnic table, looking up at the sky and hearing the sound of the ocean.
A little information about the 168-site campground:
It has a sweet playground that's on sand, (kids can also bike around on the road that loops around the grounds), great scenic picnic areas in the hills, 4 very nice public bathrooms that are very clean with a lot of private showers and great hot water pressure, a snack bar, a camp store, vending machines, and a dump station. I was very impressed that the park maintains a large recycling program and that there is a no noise after 10pm rule which is strictly enforced.
Information I grabbed from various websites:
Organized recreation program in high season includes family movies, folk & line dancing, children's summer theater, magic shows and various environmental interpretation programs. Additional facilities include playground, ball field, 10 acre scenic picnic area with fireplaces, horseshoe courts, volleyball, tether ball and hiking trails. Phones are centrally located, and the park is patrolled by New York State Park Police.
Hither Hills State Park also offers sport fishing. Anglers can fish year-round and obtain permits to fish at night. The unique "walking dunes" of Napeague Harbor are located on the eastern boundary of the park, which also has woodlands filled with Russian olive, oak, shad and pine trees. Bridle paths and hiking, nature, biking and cross-country ski trails are available.
There's also a 40 acre freshwater lake.
Seasons/Hours:
Park is open year round, 7 days a week, sunrise to sunset. Campsites are available from early April to mid-November. Big game and small game hunting are permitted during season.www.lirv.com/camps/hither.htm
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13 comments:
It sounds like a beautiful spot. I'd love to camp there and let the ocean roar me to sleep. Totaly get you tent issue. I'm claustrophobic so I have to had a tent window at least unzipped a bit so I can see outside.
It looks like a beautiful place, Gail. I'm glad you made it through the night in the tent. I've not camped a whole lot, but I love getting up in the early morning, being outside. And camping on the ocean, with the sounds around me sounds like heaven.
I have always loved camping, because I was started early as a baby. Every summer my family of 6 went to the Rockies in the 1950s and we camped in a tent for several weeks. It was wonderful. On cold nights rocks would be taken from the side of the firepit after the fire was out and slipped under the end of the sleeping bags to keep feet warm. We had air mattresses underneath the sleeping bags.
But to be by the ocean, how divine! To listen to the lapping of the water at the shoreline to lull me to sleep.
I haven't really tent camped in many years, too many years considering my gypsy childhood, but the morning sounds are also some of my favorite memories. We've daytripped to that gorgeous lighthouse spot in Montauk -- with stop for lobster roll, of course-- but it's nice to get an inside review of the longer-term facilities and it sounds wonderful to stay over. Thanks, Gail, and I hope the wild aversion therapy worked a permanent cure for your tent antsiness.
Love the pictures. It really looks pretty there. I'd love to wake up to the sound of the ocean.
I've heard that the number of families camping for vacations is on the rise. It's a great way to travel despite a rough economy.
Elizabeth
Mystery Writing is Murder
Hi Gail,
Thanks for a terrific post. I am such a city girl that I have only looked at Hither Hills from the roadside. It is beautiful.
I am eternally grateful to dear friends who took my children with their family when they camped out at Hither Hills.
Terrie
Hi Gail -
I grew up out there and even then the mornings were my favorite part of the day. Never too hot, never too humid, with the birds and the beach but without the mosquitoes the evenings brought...I still miss it.
Leah & Debra & Elizabeth-
It is a beautiful spot. I don't think the photos do it justice. I had to reserve a year in advance to get a site so it's become/has remained extremely popular.
Barbara-
That's great that your family started you so young. Memories like that are so precious. And air mattress certainly help, don't they.
Claire-
Lobster rolls in Montauk rate high on my list too.
Laura-
You used to live there? Wow, I'm jealous.
I have been going to Montauk for 30 years now.
It has great energy. I can see why you miss it.
Terrie-
It was all those roadside peeks that finally got me to drive in to the deserted parking lot one winter and take a look around.
I love the outdoors and camping... along as I'm in a cabin with running water and electricity. I guess I hate roughing it.
I just love walking through that beach grass to the water.
Thanks for sharing the information about Hither Hills, I've heard about it quite often, but have never been there. Your photos of that beautiful blue sky and water are lovely; who knew that May would be followed by a month of rain -- you went at a perfect time.
Thanks for being our camp tour guide!
Like you, I have a really tough time sleeping in a tent. Which means I get more and more tired as the vacation goes on. (And more and more cranky, according to my family!)
David-
About a third of the campers had those RV's so you're not alone in not liking to rough it. I should try one of those.
Pattinase-
Me too and those pink flowers in the photos give off a lovely smell just as you walk through.
Kathleen-
It was raining when we got there and then it cleared up. We thought we were lucky at the time but little did we know exactly how lucky we really were.
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