A Summer Beach Hike

Recently I wrote a post about my trip to Long Island and my thrift store and yard sale escapades. Well, at the end of my stay, I went on a fun hike that meandered through some beachy shrubs and ended up at the beach. This is my kind of hike and it was a beautiful day.

To get to Long Island from Massachusetts, I drive to New London, CT and take the Cross Sound Ferry across the Sound to Orient Point. The ferry ride is about 1 hour 20 minutes and I take my car. You can also walk on as a passenger.

I did not realize this trail existed until a few years ago when we had some time to kill before our ferry departed going back to New England. We were walking around and found the trail head. It is literally right across the street from the ferry terminal. Look at the wild raspberries growing along the trail.

Finally, at the end of the trail you end up here and I just jumped over the logs to get to the beach.

The view is amazing and beautiful. You can see the shrubs that were along the trail. This would be a great place for a picnic.

Here is another view. We walked along the beach and collected a few shells and rocks as souvenirs.

This trail is in Orient Point which is on the North Fork of Long Island. It is also the very tip end of Long Island (Montauk is the tip end on the South Fork). This water you are looking at is called the Long Island Sound. I grew up a few towns away from here so beaches along the Sound are very familiar territory.

When I was a kid we lived on the Sound for about a year. My family had buoys out in the water where we caught lobsters! Most of what we caught went back in the water as the lobsters were too small. In the following years, we learned how to fish, catch clams with our toes, find mussels and even eels (I never ate those). Check out the teepee someone made. This is a great place to stop and have some trail mix. I have two recipes on my site that are great for hikes, one is 5 Minute Trail Mix and the other is Monkey Munch.

Most people prefer the bay or ocean for swimming. Usually, the water in the Sound was very cold.

There is a lot of driftwood on the beach as well as rocks.

In this photo you can see across to Connecticut with some boats barely visible. I am glad we left enough time to enjoy this hike and trail mix before our ferry departed. We will have to make this a tradition every time we take the ferry.