Flap's got the answer, HH to HOTM is open 7-1 to 8-31 only - that was the deal contained in the last negotiated settlement which closed #8 to HH in the spring. At the time it looked like a good tradeoff, but with hindsight....
As you get south of the south side campers there is .2-.3 of a mile (down from a full mile) where you may drive by, but the shoreline is roped off to public access because one of the bird fanatics allegedly 'saw' an endangered royal tern there, and they want to make sure that the bird will have beach to land on if it returns. No kidding. The rangers are not happy with that, but the bird people rule out there.
Here is a excerpt from a recent article by Hugh Hewitt regarding the repub VP pick Sarah Palin and the Endangered Species Act (ESA):
"In many key states --Colorado, New Mexico, Florida, Washington and Oregon to name just five-- the “ESA” has had devastating impacts on many industries and communities. When Sarah Palin led her state into federal court to challenge the absurd listing of the polar bear as a “threatened species” because of predictions about what might happen to the bears if what might happen to polar ice actually did happen, she took a stand that will trigger sustained applause in places and among people who are actually familiar with the workings of this extraordinarily onerous statute. As an avid outdoorswoman and conservationist, she has zero fear of environmental activists jeering about her indifference to nature. Her passion for the great outdoors will reawaken the TR tradition in the GOP and combine it with an experience in federal bureaucratic meddling with state and local governance that will put inside the Beltway a true property rights’ advocate. I haven’t seen reference yet to any specific experience with Clean Water Act, NEPA or the Clean Air Act, but her familiarity with the federal hidden hand –the BLM, the USFWS, the ACOE—will be extremely useful as she campaigns across the country in communities hard hit by the expansion of federal regulation far beyond its intended and many believe constitutional limits. "
"devastating impacts on many industries and communities" and "communities hard hit by the expansion of federal regulation far beyond its intended and many believe constitutional limits" - kind of like the Cape economy now that the beaches are shut for summer.
We are at the mercy of these environmental zealots, and they do not intend to show mercy - they intend to drive us off of the beach. Next there will be a phantom siteing (sp?) of a passenger pigeon or dodo.
In speaking with the rangers, there is a bad cut somewhere north of High Head and they are discussing not opening that stretch. They need a few calls to persuade them otherwise @ 508-487-2100. After all, the movie shows us how to traverse a cut.
Here's the link to the beach map -
http://www.nps.gov/caco/planyourvisi...p.09.02.08.JPG