Those are good questions, but here are some of the differences I see between the two beaches:

1. Gunnison is used by literally thousands of nude beach goers on a good summer day. Not sure about Lighthouse Beach, but I always thought it was significantly less.

2. Gunnison has a bathroom and shower area that is fairly close to the beach. It's only a little bit of a walk and it's mainly due to the fact that Gunnison has so much distance from the dunes to the shoreline. As a result, I don't think I've ever seen someone try to vacate their bowels in the dunes.

3. It seems to me like over-the-top sexual behavior at Gunnison has gone down dramatically over the years. I haven't seen any lewd behavior there in years. And I don't think I ever saw any of that kind of behavior in the dunes.

4. Gunnison has two to three lifeguard stations on the nude portion of the beach throughout the summer.

5. Gunnison is so isolated from the roadway that there is literally no chance that someone is going to accidentally see a nude beachgoer no matter how much erosion the beach has experienced due to the recent storm.

6. There is plenty of parking for Gunnison. While the main lot fills up relatively quickly, there is an overflow lot about 1/4 mile down the road that people can park at.

The wildcard could be how the rangers and park service actually feel about Gunnison. From what I can see, it's not a problem beach for them in that it seems to be very self maintaining. I also think that beachgoers generate a huge amount of income for Sandy Hook National Seashore because of all the people paying the $15 daily visitor pass for cars. It seems like they would be cutting their own throats to cut off that funding.

every one of your points about gunnison is spot-on.

lighthouse beach is REALLY popular and crowded. young, old, single, families, just about every type of person you can imagine. i was there three times last summer and it was packed with people from the dunes to the water. these crowds, combined with the lack of lifeguards, has always been a touchy point with the NPS. with the dunes washed away, the "privacy" of the beach has also been washed away. perhaps this is a big deal to the NPS.

i'm going to remain optimistic about gunnison, but unless there are people using the beach starting in a couple of months, the wildlife will claim it for the summer and we all may be out of luck. gunnison is by far the most crowded beach at sandy hook and the rangers and lifeguards keep any unsavory behavior at bay.

i just grumpy because i selfishly love going to both of these beaches with my wife and friends, and this year we may have neither.

Unfortunate
 

I began to come to LHB with my 2 sons a few seasons ago, I have a friend that has been going there since he was 19....39 this year. We are all saddened by the apparent inability of the state to accomodate a portion of taxpaying individuals that wish to have an area for their likes. I hope by some miracle the beach does open and will reintroduce nudism to a brand new beach for us. Good luck to us all.

I'm grumpy, too. We tried to get out to Lighthouse two summers ago, but it was too complicated a route for us, and we gave up. Now, we'll never get a chance to experience it.

Looking at alternatives, what is the status for other beaches on that coast for this summer? I've heard there is a different unofficial nude beach somewhere in Long Island. Topless-ness is somewhat common on Jones Beach and Brighton Beach, are those beaches going to be closed this summer due to hurricane damage? Same question for the Jersey beaches. It would be horrible for the economy if multiple beaches are closed for the summer.

I'm curious about that, too. I think it would take some kind of massive dredging operation to get Gunnison Beach ready for summer time. I haven't seen pictures of the beach lately, though. I've Googled for them, but don't see any. Even if the beach has sand, apparently, there is a problem with drinking water lines being broken and needing repair. There was even mention about the possibility of live ordnance on the beach.

in NJ it varies by location. some towns had moderate dunes, some towns were smarter and had bigger dunes and then some towns had barely any dunes to speak off. obviously towns that had higher and wider dunes made out better than towns that didn't. but there are spots along the shore that had little to no damage from surge while others are destroyed regardless of dunes. where the bands from the storm hit is not as you'd expect. one town could be destroyed but the next town north or south is fine. as little as 2 or 3 blocks made a huge difference. a lot of variables, some that could be controlled while others you can't prepare against.

most towns will be back up and running by this summer beach wise. a lot of beaches cold open tomorrow. most towns have already committed to opening the beaches, a lot without raising badge prices. sandy hook probably won't because it's a national park and funding for that will be the last to go through. the beaches will obviously not be was wide as people are used to. dredging is going on in places like Belmar, Pt. Pleasant Beach and Manasquan, but too much of the beach was lost to ever get it back to the way it was. no amount of dredging will. some of those places 1/2 of the beach is gone. most if not all of the sand is cleared off the streets in every town and piled back on the beach after going through trommels. the piles are sitting there waiting to get spread along the beach. most places with significant damage on the barrier island lost a lot of sand into the bay. that is a major problem no many people are talking about, how much sand and debris washed into the bay and the extensive amount of dredging the bay will need. it has me questioning if i will even use my boat this summer.

as for ordnance on the beach you are correct. that has been a problem at Sandy Hook and other beaches up and down the NJ coast for many years. Sandy Hook was as proving ground up through WWI. every once in a while some shells or other larger caliber ammunition will wash up. Sandy just washed up and was uncovered a whole bunch all at once.

Encouraging Gunnison Beach News
 

Sound like Gunnison will be open this summer. This link stays current on the beaches status.

gunnisonbeachnj.us/tracker

Lighthouse Beach, Long Island New York
 

Sorry to those uninterested. Better and more current image of the devastation of Hurricane Sandy.
Picture 1 two months before the storm.

Those before and after pictures seem to demonstrate the point that the NPS was making about the visibility of the nude beach now that the dunes are gone. In the first photo, you can't see the houses by the lighthouse at all and anything happening on that part of the nude beach would be blocked. In the second picture, you can see that everything from the house and the bottom of the lighthouse.