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I have been planning to take a three-day camping trip on Long Island for months and the day has finally come. Can I haul my gear on busses and trains to make it to the park? Have I forgotten anything? What’s the beach there like? Are the negative reviews about loud parties accurate?

Today we will find out. It’s Wildwood State Park camping trip day 1.

Saturday May 31st, 2025 7:05 am

It’s camping day!

This will be my first time camping without a car.

I have purchased a new ultra-light tent and an ultra-light sleeping bag and have packed minimal supplies for this trip.

I took a trip out to Wildwood state park in the spring to figure out the the Long Island Railroad (LIRR) and to try out the busses in the area to see if I might have any problems.

The busses are not tap to pay, but you can buy tickets on their mobile app.

The schedules are accurate and both map apps that I use give accurate directions.

We’re good to go.

First, I hop onto a bus to get me to the LIRR station.

I make it with plenty of time to spare.

I’m glad that I tested this route in advance, because my original plan to come out here would have had been to take a subway train rather than the bus to this location, but the train would have dropped me off just a few minutes before the LIRR train departs, and it’s not easy to get from one track to the other.

It’s much easier and there’s more time with the bus route that I chose to take.

I’m also hoping that the train lines are repaired.

During my last visit we switched from the train to a bus midway through the trip.

It was a nice bus ride, but I’d rather avoid a transfer.

I don’t see any warnings, so I think the train track situation has been fixed.

I always just take the first seat that I find.

When I think about it, I try to get a seat facing the direction of travel.

It makes me a little bit queasy when the train takes off if I’m facing backwards.

So long as I get a spot before they check your ticket and put a ticket thing on your seat, I’ll have time to figure things out.

Have you seen these weight loss injection advertisements everywhere?

I think they should make it more clear that smoking cigarettes is a requirement.

It’s in the fine print on this one.

Oh, there is a transfer here again, but this time to another train rather than busses.

It felt like it was getting close to time for the next train to depart, but I didn’t see a train, so I asked a worker and they pointed to the end of the track where a short train was parked.

I double checked and this is the right train.

It’s only two or three cars and why did they park it at the end?

It was a long walk, which I don’t mind, but I didn’t even think to look at the end of the track.

I almost missed this train.

Likely due to having fewer cars, this train has a higher occupancy of travelers.

To keep my pack-weight down, I didn’t bring any books with me on this trip. I wish I had brought one for the long ride.

This trip will be between three-and-a-half and four-and-a-half hours long depending on delays and transfers.

One more transfer to a bus and I will arrive at the park.

There is a very short delay from the time that the train arrives until the bus leaves.

Everyone out here knows each other.

I’m sure this must be common with all small towns, but it’s interesting to see.

Everyone is greeting each other by name and no one (except me) pulls the cord to signal the “let me off at the next stop” sign.

The regulars just tell the driver where they’re getting off.

I wish the bus stop were closer to the entrance to the park, but it does drop me off right in front of a convenience / camping store, which I love.

I ask what they suggest for breakfast and I get a nice breakfast wrap.

They also suggest bug spray which I purchase.

Time to walk to the park and get checked in.

Why am I making this face?

By the entrance there is a baseball field.

This is where I play to fly a kite at some point.

This is also where you check in if you have a vehichle.

I think you pay the car fee here.

Since I’m on foot I don’t have to pay for this, but I’m not sure if this is where I should check in to my campsite.

I speak with the fellow in the little check-in shack and he confirms that I can bypass his check-in.

I will go to the ranger station to check-in to my campsite.

They ask for my name and give me a receipt and a map of the campsites and circle where my location is.

12:22 am

The tent is up!

It looks like it might rain.

I went back and forth on whether or not I should buy a tarp.

I would have purchased one, but I wasn’t able to find an easily accessible place that sells them.

I should have made a trip to the hardware store.

I’ve never had a problem with tents leaking, but it seems like I should have one.

I see everyone else in the park has tarps over their tents and I’m worried that I’ve made a grave mistake.

Well…

Too late now.

Best to just give the tent a once-over and see if there are any problem-areas.

This is my first time using this tent.

It uses trekking poles instead of tent poles.

This is a great way to save on weight, but now I have no trekking poles if I want to go camping.

Note from future Levi: I could just let the tent collapse over my stuff. I’m sure it would be fine to put it back up when I return from a hike. Oops.

The tent stakes don’t have a great way to hook onto them, so I use the twine that I brought along to tie loops through the stakes and connect them to the tent strings.

My first one is sloppy, but by the end of it I have a good system.

Time to relax for a bit.

Leaving my shoes outside for now.

I don’t want to track in mud.

I wasn’t sure how popular this park is and so I rented my campsite early. Luckily I booked it so early that I was able to get the site closest to the bathroom and showers.

Convenient.

There’s a camping Greek gr0up to the North of me playing with a frisbee yelling “Opa!”

I also meet the folks camping next to me.

A fellow named Jason and his mom.

They had recently purchased a new home, but an ember from a neighbors fire burned their uninsured house down and so they were out camping for a while while figuring things out.

I made sure to tell them about Bureau of Land Management campsites which are free, but unfortunately these locations are not on this half of the country.

My assumption was that they had a vehicle, but I learned later that they do not.

I mentioned not finding a tarp in time, I also had trouble finding a sewing kit.

Heck, I forgot several things. I have another camping trip coming up in September. I’m adding all of this to a list so that the next trip is easier.

I used a lot of twine and rope on setting up the tent. I should buy more of that, too.

It looks like it might rain so I’m taking a quick walk while I can.

I’m a bit restless after spending over 4 hours on busses and trains.

Oh, they have a free library here!

Dang.

It’s almost entirely kid’s books.

Wait.

Why is there another door on the other side of this?

Maybe adult books are on the back.

They are!

Awesome!

I’m going to grab something and chill out in my tent for a little bit because it sounds like it’s about to rain.

They have a hardback copy of a Scott Sigler book.

I’ve read some of this novels.

He’s a fun writer.

I don’t make it very far into the book because the threat of rain passes and so I venture back out, this time with the kite.

I’ll go back to the entrance and pass the ranger station along the way.

I notice they have a small gathering of chairs set up behind the ranger station.

I wonder what this is for?

Kite time!

This is a kite I bought off of eBay for about $7.

It’s a piece of shit.

Not the worst kite I’ve ever owned, but this is a bad one.

I should explain.

The material and design is acceptable, but there are stabilizing poles that go into the arms of this kit and the spot where these should be flush against a stitch to hold the poles in place is defective.

I really wish I had that sewing kit.

This would be an easy fix.

Luckily I can put the piece in place and I think it will hold well enough to fly, but if it falls to the ground, I’ll have to push the pole back into place.

Success!

It did fall to the ground and I did have to push the pole back into place, but once it’s in the air, the pressure of the wind kept all of the plastic pieces where they’re meant to be.

Another flaw with this cheap kit is the string holder.

You know how there’s that little gap you can fit the string into to hold it in place?

It’s too big on this kite.

It doesn’t pinch the string at all.

It’s wide enough to loop the string in here three times.

The wind is very stop-and-go and the crappy kit is a bummer, so I’m switching to playing with the boomeraing.

There’s no one nearby like the last time I tried play with this.

I also know it curves to the left and so I don’t think I’ll get it stuck in a tree either.

I had a good time.

I think that I have had my fun with the frisbee and I am ready to retire it.

The kite is getting tossed into the next garbage can that I see.

One other small thing to mention about this moment in the park.

There was an older couple sitting on a bench out here.

When I first came out they were both glued to their phones and every time I looked over at them they were also looking at their phones.

I’m not bringing this up to be judgmental, but I am curious.

It is surprising to me that someone would travel to a park to sit outside only to look at their phone.

Maybe they were playing Pokemon Go?

Time to enjoy a grape soda and walk to the beach area.

During my last visit the beach was closed.

I don’t know what it looks like down there.

There’s a huge picnic area at this park that I pass along the way to the beach.

Did Easter happen recently? I’m not sure why there’s a fun-patterned egg on the ground here.

The path to the beach.

What’s allowed and not allowed changes frequently around this park.

I see that this is a no bicycle area and where dogs are allowed is severely limited as well.

I won’t be fishing, so I won’t have any sturgeons to report, but if I see any spotted lanternflies (another invasive species) I will report them.

I don’t know much about fishing, but this is a lot of info.

Woo hoo! I made it!

Sea shells!

I’m from the center of the country. I didn’t get to see beach stuff very often so this is exciting for me.

I brought swimming trunks with me in case I wanted to swim, but I don’t see anyone else swimming and I don’t see a place to wash the salt water off.

Note: I think there is a place to wash up, but at the moment I was not aware of this.

There are two eating areas in the park.

One in the main area and one down here on the beach.

This is also where the gift shop is.

They have a penny smoosher machine here!

In my small adventure backpack I keep quarters and pennies in case I run into any of these.

I did not think there would be on down here on the beach.

They also have postcards, but they’re very curled from the humidity in the air.

I might still pick some up and flatten them at home.

For now, though, I am exhausted.

I’m going to hang out in my tent again.

And put on more sunscreen.

Chilling out time.

Ohh, bugs!

I brought the macro-lens for my phone.

Time for some insect beauty shots.

Look at those cute eyes.

And look at Miss fluffy butt.

This picture is taken at the tip of the trekking pole that is being used as a tent rod.

I’m getting hungry, but I want to ask about the fire regulations before I make food.

I brought a small gas burner, but I want to make sure it’s allowed or if I need to get a fire pit.

Wood and coal fires are only allowed in rented fire pits.

Last time I was here there were spots for hot coals that I didn’t understand.

I asked one of the rangers and they explained that containers for coals would be added later.

They have now arrived.

No fires are allowed on the ground.

My gas burner is approved, so long as I don’t place it on the ground.

On the park bench is acceptable.

Oh, and there’s a movie tonight!

Ohhhh!

This is why there are those chairs behind the ranger station!

First we shall make some coffee.

I am sleepy.

I brought the Aeropress along for this trip.

My lovely wife also purchased a kit of those little gas station creamer packs.

Nope.

Not great.

Needs more sweetness.

I should have brought more creamer.

I’m learning a lot of lessons about things that I should bring with me the next time I go camping.

Now for some food.

The plan is to make “textured vegetable protein sloppy Joes.”

If you’re not familiar with TVP, it’s the stuff that gets added to taco meat at fast food joints.

It’s basically soy hamburger, but it needs to be seasoned a little bit.

It’s easy to rehydrate and sloppy Joes can be made with just hamburger, ketchup and mustard.

So rehydrating TVP, seasoning it and adding ketchup and mustard seems like it will be a good camping meal that won’t have issues with an expiration date.

In the picture above you can see two soy-sauce packets. These are for seasoning the TVP.

Oh, and I bought buns at that gas station when I got off of the bus, too.

Hydration successful!

Ketchup and mustard addition is successful as well!

Yum.

One issue with TVP is that it’s easy to make too much.

Luckily this small pot kept the portion from getting too big.

About the gas cooker.

I brought two with me.

One from eBay and another that I bought later at REI that was much smaller.

I also bought a clicker lighter.

Not a lighter, but one of those spark things that are used on grill lighters.

For the first gas cooker I used the clicker to light the fire, but for the smaller one I bought from REI, it has a clicker built-in!

I love this little one so much.

I folds down and only takes up a tiny bit of space and the spark thing being built-in really pushes it over the top for me.

I think I’ll give the extra burner and the gas can to Jason when I leave.

6:40 pm

As I’m cleaning up the sloppy Joes I hear something land next to me on the ground.

Did Jason throw a stick over here or something?

I look over and it’s a squirrel that fell out of a tree.

It scurries away and climbs back up the tree.

I take a quick peek to make sure it’s okay.

It looks fine.

It continues to scurry up the tree away from me.

I walk over to Jason’s tent and he’s chatting with an Eastern European fellow and I mention the squirrel.

“A squirrel just fell out of the tree and landed next to me.”

The Eastern European guy says “Eat it. It’s tasty.”

Hahhaha. What a strange night.

I also take this moment to give Jason the boomerang.

I tell him that the curse is now passed along to him and I warn him how dangerous it is.

(Please see the post 🪃 Boomerangs Are Dangerous & Moving to NYC for that story)

And have a little drink.

Cheers.

Ahhh.

Here’s a bird.

And more insect pictures taken with the macro-lens.

Um. Arachnophobes, please note that there are some spider pictures below.

I went to the movie thing.

There were some audio issues, which they got figured out, but it turns out the Ice Age movies are kid’s movies.

I knew this, but they were like really for kids.

I’ll head back to my tent, I was up early and the whiskey is also making me very tired.

There are some loud partiers and they stay loud past quiet-time, but not by long. Around 10:30-10:45 everything is quiet.

And the temperature drops.

I should have brought a jacket.

Good news: The new sleeping bag does a great job of keeping me warm.

Good night.