Dan's Papers - May 23, 2008 - Take a hike with Ken Kindler

This 10-mile section of the Paumanok Path visits some of the most beautiful natural places in eastern Southampton. It's tied together with miles of trail created by weaving through narrow residential corridors.

Take this hike with a friend; park one car at the ending point: Coming from the east, follow Noyac Road; just after the sign for the Whalebone Landing Community on your left, turn right into Northside Hills onto English Garden Lane. Turn left onto Northside Drive, and then left onto Deerwood Path. Deerwood Path leads you to the Laurel Valley trailhead on Deerfield Road.

To get to the starting point of the hike, follow Noyac Road west to CR 39. Turn right at the first traffic light onto North Magee. Follow North Magee to an intersection with five corners and turn right onto Millstone Road (road sign missing). A cleared area large enough to accommodate 4 cars is notched into the side of the road, opposite the opening of Big Fresh Pond Road. Look for the Nature Conservancy's (TNC) Marguerite Crabbe Greiff Wildlife Sanctuary sign.

Follow the PP blazes through a post and rail-kissing gate into a predominately beech wood. Aggressive tree roots make the trail tread uneven and crowd out other trees, as well as brush and blueberry. Pass a trail to the left that runs west along Millstone Road. The next marked left turn is where the TNC trail runs into the heart of this 90-acre sanctuary, visiting the Sebonac Creek tidal marsh. The PP continues straight ahead, turns right into Town land, and then left onto Peconic Land Trust (PLT) property. To the left of the trail are glimpses of wetlands. At one place, the trail leads you to an opening that looks out onto a vast expanse of marshland and open water. Another trail branches left, to head north into the PLT preserve. The PP however continues east across Scotts Road. Here we start to see oak trees and the brush layer reasserts itself.

After traversing some verdant, undisturbed, rolling hills, cross over Millstone Brook Road. Pass through open metal gates, up a dirt road that leads to a boat ramp on the north side of Big Fresh Pond. The day that Phil and I walked this trail the water was boiling with excited fish. TNC Wolf Swamp is south of the PP, between the west side of the pond and Millstone Brook Road. It's a wetland trail, with boardwalks and bridges. Turn left just before reaching the pond. The PP soon runs between the Big Fresh Pond parking area and the bathing beach. Follow the blazes across a clearing, pass the monument to Emma Rose Elliston and back into the woods. Here the PP follows the route of the Big Fresh Pond Nature Trail (BFPNT) for a while. This trail runs through the 133-acre Elliston Park along an embankment that allows the hiker to look out over the pond between the trunks of oak, hickory, and maple. Cross a small bridge and then a larger one that takes you over the "Alewife Dreen" that flows into the pond.

The next section of trail had included deer fencing into catbrier and crossing North Sea Road at a dangerous point leading into the Highway Department "obstacle course." Over the last few months, at the Southampton Trails Preservation Society (STPS) meetings, I've been listening to discussions of plans to re-route the PP around these obstacles with great interest. The re-route is a multi-lateral effort spearheaded by STPS and has been approved by the County. Alyn Jackson, of Town Parks, has promised to supply materials for a bridge and short boardwalk. I asked Ken Bieger, STPS trails planning guru, to send me one of the great maps he is famous for. It shows the path that the trail will soon take. Instead of turning right, into the farm fencing, keep walking straight ahead, following the BFPNT, marked with yellow blazes. Enter woods shaded over by Norway spruce trees. Walk along the northern edge of an old cemetery, and turn right onto Millstone Brook Road. A short walk leads across a straight section of North Sea Road, where traffic moves slowly near an intersection. Cross the road and cut 300 yards through County Parks land; soon, there will be a bridge crossing a small steam. Turn left and follow a wide grass-covered road. Turn right; follow this grassy avenue to a post with a turn blaze. The PP will be entering straight in here, instead of entering from Harrison Ave.

This section of the Paumanok Path to be continued in my next Dan's Papers column.