Target Rock National Wildlife Refuge

A beautiful place, like no other on Long Island, that mismanagement and public demands for more accessibility (in a wildlife refuge !!) have led to its beautiful bluff area being horribly scared by heavy equipment building a staircase to the beach… Again, this is a wildlife refuge, not a volleyball court ! I will try to post some photos of what the place really looks like now. This is not a biking park, by the way, but again, a wildlife refuge !!!

Nice, quiet place to take a walk through the woods and reset your head.
The trails aren’t particularly long or challenging, but you should be in good enough physical condition to manage a few fairly steep inclines and declines.
Be on the lookout for wildlife along the way. You may spot fox, deer, wild turkey and a whole lot of birds.
Take the beach trail for a beautiful view of Huntington Bay. You’re even allowed to fish from the shore. Make sure you have a saltwater permit with you.

Stay on target… stay on target!
That’s what crossed my mind when driving along West Neck Road which becomes Lloyd Harbor Road and passes by Caumsett State Park and the Lloyd Harbor Historical Society.
When are we going to reach the target? Stay patient and eventually by when Lloyd Harbor Road becomes Target Rock Road you know you’ve arrived. The sign does help as well.
Entry is based on an honor system of sorts. Park your vehicle and make your way to a small information hut that explains the pricing system. While I abhor paying taxes (which already finances anything «national» or «federal»), the $ 4 fee isn’t going to make a huge dent on the internal treasury. Insert your payment into the small envelope, use the pencil to write your license plate number, rip off the receipt to place on your dashboard and insert envelope into the green box. Then start hiking!
My observations are based on a visit in February where fields of virgin snow remained as white as the aforementioned… snow. I enjoyed walking where no foot has walked before (or at least recently) and leaving my tracks for others to follow. The trails are clearly marked and we made our way along the beach trail.
You’ll encounter a brackish pond that was frozen like so many other bodies of water during this cold spell. The abandoned landscape of frozen desolation seemed foreign, almost alien, as if we were astronauts landed on Europa in search of Arthur C. Clarke’s odyssey life forms.
A beach in winter offers a parfait of sand, shells and snow. One of the artifacts on the beach was a plastic bowl that was entirely frozen. The Target Rock site states that in winter there’s a chance you’ll spot harbor seals. Perhaps it was even too cold for their blubbery bodies.
Another trail leads through a forest where you’ll observe and hear plenty of birds.
One animal we didn’t hear much of at all was man. For those moments of peace alone, a visit to Target Rock is in order. It’s the perfect way to forgot about «Train Traffic Ahead of us» announcements while riding the subway.

I have to say I’m underwhelmed but I can’t give less than 3 stars to public parks unless they’re terrible: Public water access is really important and this is one of the few places available for that. Private homes surround the area but it still manages to be welcoming and retain some peaceful natural settings.

this National Wildlife Refuge encompasses only 80 acres of land in Lloyd’s Neck but seems much larger. About 1.5 to 2 miles of pristine walking trails. There’s also a brackish pond and hundreds of yards of shoreline and pebbly beach. You can check out the famous ‘target rock’ from a lookout or hike out onto the beach and check it out up close. The parking area has a bathroom and payment station. Put your cash in the yellow envelop, save the tear off portion to display in your car and drop the envelop in the deposit box. Worth the $ 4 and the drive out to Lloyd’s Neck.