Heckscher State Park Campground

Nice campground, close to NYC and Fire Island. The office is open till 11 pm, there is ice machine as well, and even the ice cream truck comes near sites. Large sites, but there are no bushes between them, so you can see all your neighbors. Also you have grill, but no fire pit on sites, you can bring yours, and there is one common fire pit. A good thing that we were afraid of ticks, but we used bu... Nice campground, close to NYC and Fire Island. The office is open till 11 pm, there is ice machine as well, and even the ice cream truck comes near sites. Large sites, but there are no bushes between them, so you can see all your neighbors. Also you have grill, but no fire pit on sites, you can bring yours, and there is one common fire pit. A good thing that we were afraid of ticks, but we used bug spray and long pants and socks and we were fine.

Nice park, campsites spread apart on grass under a tall canopy of trees, no understory of brush or bushes so not a lot of privacy between sites. Picnic table but no fire pit, although I think you can bring one. Probably bcs people sometimes leave actual trash in pits, I've cleaned a few. It wasn’t busy midweek in August, i imagine when it’s busy, people may cross your site to get to the bathroom,... Nice park, campsites spread apart on grass under a tall canopy of trees, no understory of brush or bushes so not a lot of privacy between sites. Picnic table but no fire pit, although I think you can bring one. Probably bcs people sometimes leave actual trash in pits, I've cleaned a few. It wasn’t busy midweek in August, i imagine when it’s busy, people may cross your site to get to the bathroom, which was very clean. I entered the park two nights after dark and had my pass on the dash, waved in by staff in a truck at the entrance. Small camp store, didn’t visit (they sell ice). I drove past the cottages, they look very impressive for a state park. When I left the campsite on a Friday morning, I noticed that the lids wouldn't close any longer on the dumpsters, too full, but I'd guess they empty them before the weekend crowd. One thing I didn't see was a dishwashing station, so I scraped and cleaned plates with water and isopropyl alcohol and got rid of the trash right away. $20 a night but with fees (I booked on site, not online) I still went over $50 for two days. I’m from out of state, but I don’t think it said any fee was for out of state. Two BAY beaches on the property (6min drive or 9min bike from the camp), West was open, Overlook beach was closed during the week, but both had lots of parking. Just a few cars at West around 9:30 am. on a blustery Friday in August. Nobody at the enormous picnic area just behind the parking. People have talked about going 20 min south to an OCEAN beach at Robert Moses state park. I didn't camp there because I think it might be sand camping, I like shade. I imagine you probably have to pay the day rate at Robert Moses even if you’re staying at Heckscher, so if you like sand-no-shade camping, maybe try to camp there IF they have camping. H state park is a great spot to explore and to use as a home base for exploring the rest of Long Island. Just plan your time, over an hour and forty to Montauk, and feels like forever to get west off the island (I made the mistake of doing that rush hour on a Friday).