Bayocean Peninsula
Bayocean Peninsula Park is a beautiful park with long stretches of beach on one side and, depending on the tide, a lovely bay on the other. Once you turn off the main road, be sure to keep right. The road to the parking lot splits, so the right side is the in route, the other side is the road you’ll take to leave.
Challenges:
The trail from the parking lot to the beach is very sandy. This can make the trek more difficult than a typical hike. There are a few dunes you have to scramble over. The uphills and downhills make wearing sandals problematic, but the soft sand can make wearing shoes or boots problematic.
The sand along the trail can be hot, depending on the weather. If you are here in the Summer on a sunny day, expect some really hot patches.
The wind on this beach can get really crazy. The breeze can be nice on a hot day, but the loose sand can blow everywhere and get into everything, and I mean everything.
Once you reach the parking lot, you can take your choice of pretty much two trails. One is more of a road that leads you along the peninsula interior to the point. You can take the same road back or walk along the beach to the second trail that will lead you back to the parking lot. The small trail goes from the parking lot and takes you straight West over the plant covered dunes to the beach. This is the faster way, but is not as flat and easy to traverse.
The trails over the dunes has been our choice both times we have visited this park. In July, the sand is hot and the hike slightly more difficult. The hike becomes much more of a chore, but with the payoff still worth every step. In October, the sand was cooler, the hike more pleasant, and we stumbled on several woolly bear caterpillars along the way. The cooler temps, sand, and distractions made this trek much more pleasant.
Cresting the last dune, you are greeted by the cool, refreshing sea breeze. A welcome relief in the Summer after hiking through the near windless dunes. This beach is massive, not only in length, but in width as well. You have easily 200 feet (60.96 m) of soft sand before you reach the wet sand. Then, at low tide, there are 600 feet (0.18 kilometers) or more to reach the water. The soft sand is deep and makes every step forward laborious. Once you reach the wetter sand, then movement becomes much easier.
This is a great beach to fly kites at since there seems to always be strong winds. We even watched as a pair of kite surfers took to the waves (images above in the slideshow, video contains a little of the event below). The wind in October seemed to be milder than in July, where we were unable to stay for a long period of time due to the wind. We just felt worn out from the constant barrage of that fierce gale.
We took a popup beach tent, which did provide some shelter, but was not roomy enough for everyone to use at once. So we took turns playing in the sand, flying kites, and walking along the beach. This allowed the entire trip to last a few hours. Without the shelter, I imagine the trip would have been much shorter.
If you want to make it a picnic activity, I can highly recommend ordering some sack lunches from Sunrise Café, in Rockaway Beach. You can pick them up on your way to the peninsula and enjoy them near or on the beach. Remember the wind and soft sand though when making plans. You’ll want to protect your food from both.
