Nickerson State Park

[jpaigeadams]

We are taking our 2 and 4 yr old tent camping at Nickerson this week. This is our first tent camping trip as a family and we are so excited! It's also our first time to Nickerson SP and to the Cape - we would appreciate any tips, suggestions, advice. Any gear you could or couldn't live without? Any places to go or things to do we shouldn't miss? It seems like we will probably just walk across the street (or, given our assigned camping spot at the back of the park, we will drive to the front of the park and then walk across the street) to the beach and hang out there most of the day. We have a little pop up beach shelter - I am hoping there is no rule against them. We also have some floats we are hoping to use in the water.

Thanks!

[mumm]

No specific Nickerson advice but I wanted to wish you fun.  We just got back from a 7 week camping adventure and even though I am a sahm who is with my kids most of the time, being away from everything else really let me see my kids and how we relate in new light.  You may not get that on a short trip, but short trips lead to longer ones. 

Also, if you have any advice once you get back let me know because we are going to nickerson next month after not having been there in years.

[jpaigeadams]

I just wanted to post that we had a great time at Nickerson! The park was evacuated Sat at noon due to Irene, but we were scheduled to check out anyway that morning, so the timing was perfect for us. Since this was our first tent camping trip with our 4 and 2 yr olds, we weren't sure what to expect on any level. So we kept it simple, didn't try to do too much. The park has great lakes with beaches, so we spent most of our time there, floating in the shallow water. We also went to the playground in the park twice - it's pretty awesome, but also terrifying - one of the main focuses are three giant fake rocks (very nicely done, with tons of "fossils") with rope ladders between them to aid in climbing to the top - great for my 4 yr old, exhilarating in a Mommy heart attack way for my 2 yr old. We did go to the beach (Crosby) once, but at low tide (most of the day), it's really really low, which is fine except the pools get all mucky and lots of algae. I don't like it much, and the kids honestly preferred the lake.

Bring clothesline to hang wet stuff!

Really impressed with park, felt they did a great job considering how many people camp there.

[DaughterOfKali]

Did you get many mosquito bites?