Adventurenet.net

Sunday March 23rd, 2025

At the end of May I have a campsite booked out on Long Island.

I have never taken the Long Island trains or busses, so I don’t know how they operate.

Do they take tap to pay like the NYC busses and trains?

Is it a flat fee to get on, or does the cost vary by zone like the New Jersey train does?

Today I’m making the trip to find out how difficult it will be to get to my campsite with my camping gear by train and bus.

I also need to figure out what the water situation is like.

Do I have a water pump at my campsite?

If not, how far will I need to carry it?

Reserving this site had a two-night minimum so I also need to figure out what I’ll be eating for two days.

It’s so much easier to go camping with a car loaded with water and a cooler full of food.

But before I get stressed out, let’s start the day with postcrossing postcards.

A postcrosser in Japan likes maps, and I have a map card.

Another postcrosser likes to see the sites of your area, and here in NYC we have the Statue of Liberty.

But it is now getting up early time to get to the campsite at a reasonable time.

If everything goes perfectly I can be there in about three hours.

Foreshadowing: It did not go perfectly.

First: I forgot my morning coffee.

I bought a premade drink so that I would have a nice treat and some caffeine to get started in the morning, and the accidentally left it in the refrigerator at home.

Luckily, I woke up early and had a bit of time to spare when making the transfer from the New York subway train to the Long Island above ground train and there was a nice coffee and bagel shop nearby.

Also, it’s very good that I left early and took a different route. I don’t think I would have made the transfer in time. I saw the train that I would have been on arrive a little bit late and then the Long Island train arrived immediately after. I don’t think I would have found my way to the right train track in time.

On camping day I will leave early to allow for safer transfers like this.

Found a nice spot to sit and get out of the wind.

Ahhh. The train arrives, and it’s a nice open seating arrangement.

Peace and quiet.

Part of the tracks are under construction, so we had a transfer to a bus for the final stretch.

It was not clear which busses went where and I almost missed my bus because of this.

I’m glad that I asked for help right away.

I was able to get to the final train destination (via a bus) where I then transferred to another bus.

I thought that I would be able to tap to pay, but this was not the case.

I was prepared for this and I brought some cash and change and was able to get on this bus, but I would need to figure out another payment method or break a twenty-dollar bill somewhere to pay for the next bus.

I was able to find the mobile app that allows me to pay with my card and create a QR code to scan when boarding for the next trip.

The last bus drops me off on the side of the road in what feels like the middle of nowhere, but there’s a sign and I know the park entrance is nearby and so I make the rest of the trip on foot.

At last! Wildwood State Park.

Made it here in about three and a half hours.

And I see the first warning sign that I have been preparing for.

New varmints.

I have never had a run-in with a tick, but I have been reading up on how to deal with them.

A big part of my plan today is to ask a ranger from this park about the topic.

My notes, so far: Don’t burn them. Check for them daily as they’ll bury their head in deeper the longer they remain. Remove them slowly so that the buried head does not become disconnected and lodged in the wound. You may have two days before you run the risk of getting Lyme disease.

Don’t get Lyme disease.

There is a long list of permanent health issues that one can get from contracting Lyme disease.

Also: no tree clipping is allowed.

I’m not sure why people would do this, but I understand that nature is meant to be left alone on park grounds, so this sign is not a surprise.

Oh heck, there’s new ticks to add to the other ticks that I’m already nervous about.

Good news: There’s no bears on Long Island. If I had gone upstate, or to Connecticut I would also be learning about what kind of bears are in the area.

After writing the paragraph above, I looked up a map. Black Bears are in loads of places in the Northern US, but Grizzlies are only in a small group of places on the other coast.

I’m less worried about Black Bears, but I will need to learn about how to deal with food when camping in bear country.

Back to exploring!

The park isn’t open for camping at the moment. During this visit I only found a few groups of people.

One parking lot was being used for practice and testing for some EMT folks and firefighters.

A few joggers and cyclists were also in the park.

I did eventually find some park staff, including rangers.

They were kind enough to share tick advice and share that it is unlikely that I will encounter any, so long as I avoid tall grass areas.

So long as I stay in designated areas, this should not be an issue.

I was not able to visit the beach as the road was closed by a gate.

I will probably forget to bring a swimming suit.

The staff was also kind enough to explain this sign to me.

The Hot Coals sign, not the One Way sign.

I know what a One Way sign means.

I do not know why a slab of cement is a place for hot coals, though.

It turns out that slab of concrete is for parking a metal dumpster thing on that coals can be dumped into.

Oh…

You dump things into them.

That’s why they’re called dumpsters.

🧠 New knowledge unlocked.

I wasn’t able to check out the camp store either, but there are pictures on Google maps that gave me a good idea of what to expect.

One decision that I made when reserving the camp site may have been the best or worst decision.

I picked the camping spot closest to the restroom.

Maybe this is great because I will always be conveniently nearby.

Or maybe this will be terrible because I will always be near noise or people walking through my camp.

Time will tell.

Oh look. Another tick sign.

When discussing the topic of ticks with the park workers they mentioned that they kept tick keys around that could be used if folks got a tick.

I think they would have given me one if they had one handy, but I’ll order one when I get home tonight.

Exploration here is nearly complete.

I’ll use the restroom and work my way back home.

I mentioned the EMT training in the parking lot, and this is right next to the only open restroom as well.

Oh, the cottages are over here!

These are $175 – $200 per night (slightly less if reserved for a week).

Oh, and another tick sign.

This is the open restroom by the EMT test lot.

Time to head out.

Near the entrance.

Bye bye Wildwood State Park.

Okay, so I’m not quite out of the park, yet, but there’s some bugs.

I brought my macro lens with me.

One more place to check out.

There’s a camping shop / convenience store nearby.

I have some time until the bus arrives and I could use a quick bite to eat.

I forgot to take pictures, but it is a delight store.

It has a camping section, a general store area and a small restaurant.

When it comes to camping food I plan to bring simple things that don’t require a cooler, but I’ll likely be spending a little bit of money at the camp store and the bodega.

The trip here took about three and a half hours as expected, let’s see if the ride home will be the same.

This time I have the bus app on my phone to pay my fare, so hopping onto the bus line went smoothly.

Until a parade happened.

And the bus had to turn around.

“There was a parade last week.” the bus driver says.

The alternate route has more stops due to running parallel to the main street, but we find our way to where we need to be.

Another passenger gets help from the bus driver so that he doesn’t miss his connection.

I cannot say the same.

I missed my next bus and should not have exited, but it was far too late by the time I realized this.

After several transfers I found my way onto another bus where I met a nice family from Texas.

They were heading to Manhattan and so we chatted pretty much the whole way back until I needed to depart from the subway train in Queens.

Notes/lessons learned:

1. Buy a tick key
2. Don’t leave at the last minute, you’ll want extra time for the transfer from the subway to the Long Island Railroad train
3. Don’t forget to bring a swimsuit
4. Bring cash for the shops
5. Heck, get a kite while you’re shopping. A kite will be fun.
6. Find good dry foods to bring that can be heated/cooked in a small camp stove
7. Get powdered creamer for coffee or those little gas-station single-serve things

Keanu does not care about camping plans.

Oh, and the ride back from the park took me nearly six hours.