prime season
Horseneck Beach near the dunes
Get campy ! By Joyce Rowley
Want to wake up to an ocean view and an empty beach? Fall asleep to the crash of the waves hitting the sand, smell the salt air, hear the fog horns signaling to ships as the fog rolls in? No, you don’t have to become a beach bum—and you don’t have to have as much money as Rockefeller, either. For just $15 a night, you can camp at Horseneck Beach State Reservation on Route 88 at Westport Point. Not forever, unfortunately. You are limited to a 14-day stay. But they have 100 sites for tents or camping vehicles. One of the nice parts about the State Parks is that they don’t allow alcohol, so you won’t worry about being near an outof-control party. Also, there are quiet hours between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. Not to say you can’t have fun The coast is flatland so you can explore by bicycle. Take the paved trail connecting to the causeway to explore Gooseberry Island, known for its bird habitat. Osprey, willets, scoters, and ever present but always graceful cormorants are but a few of the inhabitants on and offshore. Bike around the Point along miles of oceanfront roads—ideal for sightseeing at an easygoing pace. Slocum’s River Reserve, owned by the Trustees of Reservations, on Horseneck Road is just a short biking distance away with trails for the nature lover.
16
S ou th C oast P r ime T imes
Of course, there’s also swimming, beachcombing, and shell collecting. Bring a kayak or canoe and explore the back coves. Or you can simply sit on the beach and count the waves.
A-camping we will go Wait, we’re talking about camping? Yes, and it’s not what you might remember. Tents are now a water-resistant lightweight polyester fabric. The days of canvas tents that took five people to put up, and then got even heavier when it rained are over. If you camped back in the old days, it was impossible to keep the kids from touching the tent walls when it was raining—a surefire way to start a leak! A nice 8’ x 6’ tent 5’4” tall is fairly inexpensive these days—under $100. And one person can put it up with surprisingly little aggravation. Supposedly they sleep four, but that’s only if no one brings anything with them. More likely the tent will sleep two comfortably. Propane cook stoves are about the same as they used to be. Propane is easier to carry than kerosene. Ditto lanterns. And you can get a good LED lantern for under $20 so you don’t have to deal with the little
S ep tember / O c tober 2012
delicate white bags on a hissing gas lantern. If all this is greek to you, you don’t know what you missed camping in the 1960s. But that’s OK. Once you wake to the smell of coffee on a cool summer morning, with nothing but the sound of the waves and the cry of gulls to greet you, you’ll never go back to staying in a hotel. A hot shower? Oh yes, of course. Horseneck and all of the Massachusetts State Parks have shower houses with hot showers. And hot running water at the sinks, too. Flush toilets even. Or bring your own water closet (see photo).
In the Pines Prefer freshwater swimming and pine trees? Myles Standish State Forest located on Cranberry Road in Carver, MA is your best bet. At $12 a night, there are four camping ponds: Barrett Woods, Fearing Pond, Charge Pond and Curlew Pond. Don’t have a tent? Barrett Woods has three yurts—permanent canvas and wooden tents based on those used by Turkic nomads. Yurts sleep four and are tall enough to stand up in, but slightly pricier at $30 per night. Set in the heart of a 26-square-mile forest,