(southern shore Long Island, New York, Fire Island National Seashore)
The origins of the name Fire Island are lost to obscurity. Perhaps it was a mangled spelling of the Dutch numeral “vier” (4) to identify the number of inlet islands in the area. When Fire Island Beach appeared on charts in the 1850s many believed it referred to land-based pirates who built fires on the open sand to lure cargo ships to their doom on the beach. Some favor the explanation that abundant poision ivy - it turns bright red in the fall - gave the island its colorful moniker. By any name Fire Island has attracted settlers for centuries, drawn by its bountiful stores of seafood and waterfowl. But by 1964 Fire Island was the only developed barrier island in the United States without any roads and the national seashore was established to keep it that way.
Dogs are restricted at the Fire Island during piping plover nesting season from March 15 to Labor Day so this is prime time for an adventure with your dog in the Otis Pike High Dune Wilderness Area, established by Congress in 1980 to protect 1,400 acres on a seven-mile stretch of oceanfront. Starting at the Wilderness Visitor Center at the eastern end, this spectacular sliver of Fire Island reaches to Watch Hill to the west. The ferries are not running this time of year so every step you take down the beach will need to be retraced.
Every pawfall for your dog will be on thick, soft sand with little shade so the entire 14-mile round trip is unrealistic. Closely monitor your dog’s effort to determine when to head back. A good destination is Old Inlet with an attractive dock off Pelican Island about two miles away. You can do the entire hike on the beach at water’s edge or make a loop behind the dunes on the Burma Road, a sand path that can be indiscernible and virtually impassable in places.
Every day more than 10,000 waves pound the wide sand beach - more than a few will have your dog’s name on them. There is also access to the Great South Bay for gentler dog paddling.
RETURN TO NOVEMBER 2010 NEWSLETTER
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