Greyfield Beach on a foggy day on Cumberland Island
See the Beaches web page for an interactive location map.
Little Greyfield Beach is a public beach on Cumberland Island’s Atlantic coast. It is not connected with the Greyfield Inn, which is on the Cumberland Sound. It is about two miles from Sea Camp, though actual mileage depends on your route. You can bike north for two miles on Grand Avenue and then take Little Greyfield Crossing (a side road) for another half mile. If on foot, take the Parallel Trail and make a right at the intersection with Little Greyfield Crossing, a 2.1-mile hike. You can also walk to Sea Camp Beach and then head north along the shore for about one mile, a total distance of 1.8 miles.
If biking on Grand Avenue or hiking on the Parallel Trail, Little Greyfield Crossing is the third road you will come to after leaving the Sea Camp dock area. If on the Parallel Trail, there is no sign stating that you are at the Little Greyfield Crossing, so just keep track of the number of roads you cross. Little Greyfield Crossing runs for a few hundred yards before hitting a wide, road-like trail that leads through the sand dunes. You will be walking on deep beach sand, and it is slow going—you must take two steps just to move forward one step. The road is also used by vehicles, so be careful. Island residents can drive on the beach with a permit.
Path through the dunes to Little Greyfield Beach on Cumberland Island
Like all beaches on Cumberland Island, Little Greyfield Beach is composed of hard packed sand except by the dunes. For those looking for shells, there’s not much to find. Most are small shells and often broken. My daughter did find a sand dollar, which was a big thrill, but that’s about it. The water is too cold for swimming comfortably until May at the earliest. A Ranger told me the air temperature needs to be at least 80° F before swimming is tolerable. Of course kids don’t mind and seem to swim in anything short of water with icebergs floating around in it, and even then I’m sure they’d venture in.
While “beach is beach,” the farther you venture from Sea Camp the less people you will run into. Most beaches are too far away to be reached by day trippers without a bike, but Little Greyfield Beach is a viable alternative to Sea Camp Beach. It takes about an hour to reach on foot.
Once on the beach, if you take a walk along the shoreline, keep in mind that you can only cross the sand dunes at paths marked with black-and-white posts. These were installed by the National Park Service to keep people from getting lost; be on the lookout for them. Any paths through the dunes without a marker are on private property.
Black and white posts mark official dune crossings at Cumberland Island National Seashore
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Last updated on April 13, 2022
