Just over the Smith Point Bridge in Shirley lies the stunning Fire Island High Dune Wilderness Area.
The oceanfront park honors Otis G. Pike, the Suffolk Congressman whose legislation created the Fire Island National Seashore and the 1,381-acre park that carries his name.
Located on the barrier island that protects the mainland from the ocean, the area is the only federally designated wilderness in New York State.
Seven of Fire Island’s 32 miles are designated as wilderness in a track that stretches from the National Seashore visitor’s center at Smith Point to Watch Hill.
Before Hurricane Sandy washed out a vast swath of the barrier beach, hikers could traverse the dunes all the way to Davis Park and Fire Island’s other summer communities, now only accessible by boat.
Those making the three-mile round trip from the visitor’s tower to the breach are treated to a spectacle of both sea and terrestrial life.
Whitetail deer make their home in forests of pine, bayberry, and poison ivy, while piping plovers, an endangered species, nest in bare patches on the beach.
Red foxes also inhabit the wilderness, along with hawks, snowy owls, and speedy shorebirds.
Red-wing blackbirds fill the marshes with song, and dragonflies dart among the rushes to catch mosquitoes and flies. The ocean is a haven for seals and whales and all manners of game fish–bass, bluefish, fluke–while migratory ducks raft in the bays known as Bellport and Patchogue between the island and the mainland.