What's it like this year?
From my personal experience which has been confirmed by some posts here, main problem is getting through the booth where you enter Sandy Hook and pay the parking fee.
Gunnison itself is busy but not crowded, at least on weekdays.
What Minimalist75 typed is correct. Getting in to pay for the parking was bad this year. The first time I went this year was the last Friday in June. Normally it takes me an hour to get there. It took me 3 hours. The one hour commute and 2 hours sitting traffic to pay for parking. The next time I went was on a Tuesday. It took an hour to pay for parking. The following Tuesday only a half hour. Next Monday it was 10 minutes. This past Tuesday, I was 2 cars behind before the toll. That was just like old times. As you can see it has gotten better as the weeks go by. I think by now most people have their parking passes and the ferry from NY is running again so that is helping the flow with back up to pay for parking, Normally I would expect that type of back up on the weekends and not during the week. Hope you can make it to the beach this year. Water has been really warm and clean the days I have been there.
I went this past Monday and again yesterday. When I was there Monday the rangers came and took down the barriers that were there to keep people from walking south down the beach. I took a naked walk pretty far south yesterday early morning before the rain started but I heard that the rangers have been going after people who are walking naked there. That part of the beach is not clothing optional. There was some rain and thunder around 9:30 yesterday so we all got kicked of the beach but I hung around in my car and went back when it cleared about an hour later and it turned out to be a beautiful sunny, breezy & low humidity afternoon.
From my personal experience which has been confirmed by some posts here, main problem is getting through the booth where you enter Sandy Hook and pay the parking fee.Gunnison itself is busy but not crowded, at least on weekdays.
Yes all the lanes were open on every visit I made this season so far and there was still a back up. I think that is because alot of people paying for the parking with a credit card. That slows things down alot. Also the ferry has one trip on weekdays so that could be why there are more car traffic this year.
I went this past Monday and again yesterday. When I was there Monday the rangers came and took down the barriers that were there to keep people from walking south down the beach. I took a naked walk pretty far south yesterday early morning before the rain started but I heard that the rangers have been going after people who are walking naked there. That part of the beach is not clothing optional. There was some rain and thunder around 9:30 yesterday so we all got kicked of the beach but I hung around in my car and went back when it cleared about an hour later and it turned out to be a beautiful sunny, breezy & low humidity afternoon.
I was there Monday and also took a walk in that section once it became opened up. That area always was part of the clothing optional section. I heard the same thing that the rangers are now saying its not part of that and you have to wear clothes in that area. In my 20 years going to that beach, that section where the birds nest in the spring until August was always clothing optional. Hope in 2020 they are not taking that section away from us nudists. That section always opens in August. Monday was August 3rd, The section opened up right on time this year.
It seems like they are really stepping up enforcement of no alcohol and no smoking regulations which is fine with me. This past week while there on Tuesday & Thursday there were more rangers walking around than I've ever seen. I still see lots of guys smoking and many are so inconsiderate that they throw their butts in the sand. While there a few weeks ago I saw one guy do this about 3 times. I approached him and nicely suggested that he at least dispose of his butts properly if he felt compelled to smoke on the beach. He told me to mind my own F-ing business. Oh well...