My girlfriend and I (and possibly my dog) are probably taking a trip leaving sept 24 and going through the 3rd of October, going to NYC (to see a broadway show first), then traveling out to Montauk for surfing, since that is where her dad grew up surfing and I have been wanting to surf there for years, and then we are thinking we will take the ferry from there to Conn. and drive over (and ferry) to stay in Nantucket for a few days b/c she has a fascination with nantucket. I don't know if we will make it any further north than Boston after that, if we go any further. Any places that people recommend staying, restaurants we must hit, board shops, or spots that we must see, whether it be for the views or hikes or surf spots? We are up in the air with camping or staying in hotels at this point. In the past on these types of trips we don't make plans, and just see where each day takes us, but I'm open to advice. THANKS!
I have been wanting to go to Montauk for awhile as well and might go up for a week this spring. You might wanna try posting in the Northeast section
if you can, DEFINITELY check out cape cod. so much you can do there. you and your gf should try to get a bed and breakfast for a night or two. you won't spend a ton of money and it's so nice there in the fall. if you have a truck, you can get an offroad beach permit and drive on the national seashore and chill w/ the seals. great hiking, p-town is interesting and if there are waves, it's such a nice place to surf. we go every year and love it. let me know if oyu want some more details
stay at the East Deck Motel in Montauk, that will get you parking access for Ditch Plains - also there is this hiking area off hiway 27 before the lighthouse where you walk through pine scrub all around these dunes and you get up on a hill and you can see a vista not sure what its called
I did an NYC, Montauk, Ferry to CT, Cape Cod, and up to Provincetown trip in early fall a few years ago. A lot of fun. Really liked Montauk. Provincetown is interesting to say the least. I remember surfing Montauk in the morning in just board shorts. Then we made it up to Cape Cod by late afternoon and couldn't figure out why everyone was wearing 3/2's. I soon experienced the difference between southern facing vs. eastern facing beaches.
How much is it for the permit up there? I'll be taking my jeep that I use on Delaware beaches. P-town, i'm assuming is providence town? Seals? that's pretty sweet. I'm gathering that a 3/2 is probably enough?
Does the hiking get your to a little break or just for hiking? from the satellite it looks like there are lots of trails off the roads, are those for walking or off road driving?
permit is $50 for a week. i'm not sure if they do a daily pass to be honest, but the $50 gets you access to the entire national seashore. you get it at race point, which is about 5 minutes south of provincetown. we've done a few hikes over the past few years. one was at nickerson state park, which was pretty mellow. woods, lakes, etc. the other was at the audobon: http://www.massaudubon.org/Nature_Connection/Sanctuaries/Wellfleet/index.php very very cool place. big gardens, trails through the woods and a great perspective on the bay side of the cape. TONS of wildlife and foliage if you're into that stuff. There are a ton of other places to hike as well, we just haven't gotten to them yet. also, you can rent kayaks or go on kayak tours. haven't done this yet, but it's definitely on the list. and the seafood is out of this world
Nantucket Get out of the touristy town where too many turistas wear that Nantucket red shirt & Topsiders, lol. You & your woman would both enjoy Siasconset, or 'Sconset, for short. It's a very old village, the New England antique weathered cottages, crushed seashells for road coverings on the small roads, just a neat place to be on the planet for a few days. Not a lot of hotel-type places to stay there, but might be a B&B worth doing in Sconset if you do some diggin online. Let us know how the trek went with a post when you return!
Great Trip So it has been a couple weeks since we got back, but i'm now finally posting. We had a great time in NYC, went to broadway and did that stuff. Hard time with the parking garages and a tall jeep with boards on top, but we made it work. Went to Montauk for 2 nights, and it was beautiful out there. waves were just wind chop, but big enough to surf. Stayed that the East Deck, and Alice the owner hooked us up. Highly recommend that place/those people. My girlfriend and I loved it so much we talked about getting married there if/when we get married. It's neat to see landscape like that, cliffs and ocean meeting together, i'm used to delmarva beaches. Rode our bikes out to the Light house from there, checked out the spot there, but waves sucked at the time we checked it out. Traveled by ferry up to Connecticut, and drove to Newport. Got there late in the day, so didn't get a chance to surf ruggles, which i was pissed about, but I know where to go now. Awesome there. We were on our way to cape cod so had to keep moving, no time to surf We only made it to Falmouth, and she didn't want to do the drive to the end, and probably the best day to surf on our trip (AGH!) but instead she wanted to go to Martha's vineyard, so she won that battle. Rode bikes around, rainy day turned into a beautiful day, had some wine on the beach, not so bad. From here we headed to Lake George and the adirondacks. Since we had rain that week, the rivers were flowing like made, and i made it a point to try to find a standing wave. Well I found 2. The first one was raging, too many rocks and a bridge with concrete posts right behind. Some kayakers got out right before this point, and they recommended a different place 25 miles away. We went there, and i tried surfing the standing waves with no luck. with the amount of water pushing through, i just couldn't get up when i passed through. I only tried once though, because there were trees and debris rushing by in the wash, figured i had tried it, wouldn't regret not trying later, and i was in one piece, time to move on. From there we went to Indian lake, and hiked to T-Lake Falls. 6 mile hike in and 6 out. Highest waterfall at around 300 feet. As much as I like surfing, this was probably the highlight of the trip. We hiked to the falls and camped at the base. Absolutely beautiful, and peaceful. There isn't a trail there, so you have to follow a river to get there. Anyway, that's the trip report, let me know if you have questions about any of the places. the only thing i wish i did different would have been the trip in reverse. The last part of the trip was when Igor hit, and the beginning of the trip was the week before. Waves would have been awesome in Montauk for me if I could have predicted that a month before when we made plans.
Nice waterfall shot. There were no better water crossing locations? That looks a little deep and strong.
yes, it was deep there, and the next step i took. After crossing there we looked for a better spot for her to cross. Just up from there we found a better spot about knee deep the whole way. It made for a cold hike. i was able to build a big fire luckily.
