Cape May Beach Walks: Stone Harbor Point

For a feeling of solitude in the middle of the Jersey Shore's hustle and bustle, there's no place like Stone Harbor Point for a beach walk.

Stone Harbor Point changes each year, shaped by storms, winds and tides.

Some of the low lying areas of this Cape May County beach become tidal pools at high tide ...attracting thousands of migrating shorebirds each year.

You can do an easy one and a half mile loop on hard packed sand if you plan your walk for low tide.

Start at the parking lot, at Stone Harbor's south end.

Walk down the clamshell access pathway to the beach...Note: this is not for bare feet. And follow the ocean.

Late summer through fall, shorebirds of every shape and size will be flittering in and out of the waves. It's a no bathing beach, as the signs will remind you.

Thanks to that, it's sparsely populated.

As you keep walking, you'll see fewer and fewer people..

Maybe an occasional surf fisherman or beachcomber or romantic couple and then..

No one.

For as far as the eye can see, there is only sand, and surf and seabirds...the Sahara Dessert with a shoreline.

Make sure to walk ALL THE WAY to the end of the point.

No cheating - to experience Stone Harbor Point's solitude, you have to do the whole nine yards.

You'll know you're almost there when you see this totem style monument - no beach patrol ever walks this far so it's been left untouched (until the tide reclaims it).

You'll know you've gone far enough when you reach Hereford Inlet...across the inlet you can see North Wildwood. in the distance.

Then turn and follow the curve of the land .

You're now heading back, but along a different path - along the tidal pools instead of the ocean. Thanks to the shifting sands, this is now walkable for humans as well as for birds.

Thousands of tiny bird prints cover this portion of marshy beach. You might run into a birder or two, toting a telescope, with a longing look in his eye.

Rare birds often overnight here.

Somehow, the word has gotten out in the bird world that the far reaches of Stone Harbor Point are safe from the rest of us.

Access, Parking, and Hours

Before 5PM in the summer, you'll need a beach tag for access. The best time for walking is early evening.

Sunsets are wonderful here. There's ample free parking at the parking lot. And porto-potties are located in the parking lot.