Camp Gateway - Sandy Hook

Great tent-camping site. Nice knowing there won't be a generator roaring next door. Notes: lots of animals (raccoons and foxes), so use the "bear boxes" for all food and trash. Ocean-side beach parking NOT included, but bay side accessible and kind of more interesting anyway. If you want to access ocean beaches (which are nice) bring bikes--they're too far from camp to walk (or pay the extra to park). Very nice biking trails to explore the area. Cars not permitted at actual camp sites, but parking lot nearby (may fill up if busy). Well-lit central restroom facility with "flushies" but no showers. No electricity at sites but potable water nearby. No playgrounds. Some sites have picnic shelters. Plenty of poison ivy in parks but avoidable in camp. Must buy firewood there if you want a campfire (no gleaning/carry-in). No soda/snack machines (there are elsewhere in the park). 24-hr access to camp once registered (i.e., if you have to come and go during stay). Friendly rangers. My new favorite campground!

There are 20 tent sites spread across four loops. There is NO beach access. Some sites have shelters, others do not. Pay attention when reserving. All sites have a fire pit and picnic table. Sites are walk-in (only about ¼ mile) and carts are available to haul gear. Two water spigots and bathrooms with flush toilets are also on-premise. No electric, hook-ups, or showers. The nearby beaches have outdoor shower facilities though. The racoons are fierce. They will eat through your tent. Use the bear lockers provided to store anything scented. Activities abound: hit the beaches for (non-motorized) water sports or sunbathing (Gunnison is the nude beach), learn about the military history of the area on an NPS tour, visit the oldest working lighthouse in the US, walk or bike the multi-use trails, go birding, and more! Nearby Hartshorne Woods Park (Monmouth County Park System) has great hiking and mountain bike trails too.

Exceed expectations. Great location and safe. Even provided a cart to carry in heavy gear. Clean bathrooms at the camping and showers at the beach entrances. Bring a padlock for the bear boxes and have a secure place to leave stuff.

This is our second time camping at Camp Gateway. We love the easy access by bicycle to Fort Hancock and the beaches. The rangers and volunteers are friendly and helpful. The campground is clean, level and partly shaded. BUT this year the campground is infested with tawny roaches. Supposedly they do not infest homes, but instead prefer to be outdoors. That being said, despite our best efforts, they infiltrated every nook and cranny of or gear and tent. We had to shake out hundreds of them every morning and still be finding them throughout the day. We certainly do not want to bring them home to infest our porches and patio, shed and wood pile. We are experienced outdoorsy people and so bugs don't cause us much grief but this was obnoxious and a little disturbing. We will not return to Camp Gateway until we are sure the roach population is under control.

It makes me so sad to say this because we absolutely love going to Sandy hook beaches for a day trip, but no one should be camping here right now. The campground is absolutely teeming with roaches. The ranger tried to tell me they had a termite problem, but I don’t think I saw a single termite. I don’t think I even saw an ant. It was all roaches. We set up camp and went to the beach for sunset and came back and there were roaches, but we weren’t aware how bad the situation was until morning when we woke up to the tent covered in them. We spent an hour and a half shaking everything out, but we weren’t able to salvage the tent and even though I thought I got everything, there were roaches crawling around the car on the way home and I spent another 45 minutes shaking things out at home only to find more roaches hidden in things. It’s been 24 hours since I got home and I still can’t shake the heebee-geebees. Idk how to safely eradicate a campsite of a single bug without destroying the delicate ecosystem, but something needs to be done because that’s not natural. I’m aware that there are bugs in the outdoors, but this was extravagant. Do not camp here, but do stay nearby and go check out the beaches. They are roach free and gorgeous! update: both my and my boyfriend's cars were infested with roaches for a week (we bombed them twice each). My apartment was also infested until the cold came. I hope the cold killed all of them over the winter and it's a better season coming. Again, Sandy Hook is a wonderful, magical place during the summer. Please go check it out, and please carry out all trash!!!