Hiking Silver Sands State Park in Connecticut
Goodness gracious Silver Sand States Park was a pleasant surprise! I had done a little research on this park before heading to it, but I must not have looked at too many pictures. Deanna and I decided that our first hike of October was going to be along a beach on the shores of Long Island Sound in Connecticut.
We figured that this would be a great time to head to the park because we thought we would get the park practically to ourselves. Well, we didn’t really factor in that although it was October, the high for the day was still going to be in the upper 60s. Needless to say we encountered quite a few more people than anticipated but it didn’t take too much of the fun away.
#BEACHLIFE IN CONNECTICUT
As soon as you park your vehicle in the main parking lot you can see the beach and marsh lands surrounding to the south. One of the coolest parts about this entry is the wooden bridge taking you across the wetlands towards the Charles Island. From the bridge near the entrance you can see another bridge along the beach boardwalk.
This place was surprisingly scenic to us. It was much different than our experience at Sherwood Island State Park. Granted it was quite overcast when we headed to Sherwood Island earlier in the year.
CHARLES ISLAND NATURAL AREA
One of the main highlights of this park is Charles Island Natural area located just south of the beach. One thing to keep in mind is that you really have to time your trip to this park just right in order to enjoy it to its fullest. If you come at low tide (you can check the tide heights here) there is actually a sand bar you can walk all the way from the beach to the island. We were not able to cross the sand bar and we actually timed it perfectly for low tide.
On the tidal chart I just linked to, I think you need to go when the tide is actually in the negative numbers or at least very close to zero. When we got there the tide was at .9 feet and it was still too high to cross.
BE CAREFUL DANG IT
However, from what I’ve read they are fairly strict on letting people cross to the island for a couple of reasons. Reason one being the sand bar is not always exposed enough to walk all the way across.
There is apparently an undertow that can be dangerous for unprepared hikers. Another reason they are strict on crossings is due to the fact that there is a bird nesting on the island that is protected from May through August. To find the latest information relating to the bird nesting and when it is safe to cross, check out this park’s official website here.
WILDLIFE.
Another one of the main attractions to this park is the beautiful wildlife that thrives here. Ok, well all we really saw when we visited were seagulls and dragonflies, but I believe during the prime bird watching months this place offers quite the habitat.
We are not seasoned bird watchers so definitely take that with a grain of salt as we don’t know how this compares to other areas. 🙂
BOARDWALK
BOARDWALKThe boardwalk offered fantastic views of the sound and is a great place to get some exercise. We saw plenty of people getting their daily jog in and others (like us) just taking a stroll to enjoy the beautiful day.
If you enjoy sandy beaches and some great views of nature, we highly recommend this state park. Hopefully you all can have slightly better timing as far as the sand bar crossing goes if you get the opportunity. We definitely want to come back and try it again this winter for some slightly different scenery. 🙂
OTHER NEARBY HIKES
NOTE FROM WRITER
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Adventure On!
