Most people know Sandy Hook, New Jersey for its dirty beaches, “Beach G” which is the nude beach, and the abandoned missile base, bunkers and other military ruins. Sandy Hook is actually a national recreation area. If you saw Ken Burns’ National Park documentary on PBS, you’re familiar with the pressures the general public can place on a park; in the case of Sandy Hook, the pressures manifest in the form on hundreds of thousands of visitors and what must be thousands of tons of garbage. Seriously, there’s garbage in every nook and cranny of the Hook; a lot of it washes up on shore from New York and New Jersey, and a lot comes from boats, but most comes from sun bathers, bikers & joggers, and shore fishermen. Everyone has their “I went to Sandy Hook and I stepped in a diaper buried in the sand” story. People can be selfish pigs. The one oasis from the garbage and crowds is supposed to be “beach G”, which is the nude beach. I’ve never been, but I hear it’s the nicest beach — nice if you don’t mind seeing nude people who don’t look like models.
The fall is the best time to visit the Hook (if garbage and throngs of humans aren’t your thing). There are trails to bike and hike, dunes to explore, missile bases to tour, plants to photograph, etc. It’s a totally different place in November.
Here’s some videos I took from my hike yesterday. Nothing silly this time around; just missiles, plants, ruins, sun dogs, and the Raritan Bay.
