Dan's Papers - May 29, 2009

Long Island was formed approximately 20,000 years ago by a mile-wide glacier that pushed and deformed the land, then dropped sediment as it melted and receded. Geologists believe that the glaciers not only pushed soils ahead of them to form a moraine, but also deformed the bedrock. Kettle holes are the result of chunks of ice (buried by sediment) that left a depression as they melted. Because of how Long Island was formed, it comprises a diverse and unique geology.

Last week I visited Winter Harbor Hill on the Ronkonkoma Moraine. I parked nearby at Chatfield's Hole, a kettlehole pond. To get to Chatfield's Hole in East Hampton, head north on the East Hampton-Sag Harbor Turnpike (Route 114), turn right onto Swamp Road and travel approximately one mile to Two Holes of Water Road. Turn right; continue about a quarter of a mile and park on the left shoulder alongside a pond called Chatfield's Hole. A marker there reads: "Chatfield's Hole. Named after one of the early settlers, Thomas Chatfield, who was collector of the Port 1668 and Town Clerk in the early 1700s." The two holes of water are actually located a short distance north of the road, not on parkland. During the winter, you can see Northwest Harbor from the top of Winter Harbor Hill; in summer, you'll see a wide diversity of plant and animal life from Chatfield's Hole.

Winter Harbor Hill is traversed by the Paumanok Path between CR 114 and Two Holes of Water Road. Here it shares its corridor with the Northwest Path. The town built the trailhead at CR 114 through a cooperative effort with the East Hampton Trails Preservation Society. If you were to follow the trail marked by the yellow triangles of the NW Path and the white rectangles of the Paumanok Path northeast to Chatfield's Hole, it would be two miles, round trip, with Winter Harbor Hill in the middle.

The Foster's Path trailhead is at the road shoulder parking by Chatfield's Hole. This trail is marked with orange markers. You can take a number of walks from this location. Last week, to visit Winter Harbor Hill, I followed Foster's Path up onto a bluff that overlooks Chatfield's Pond. When I reached the intersection with the Paumanok Path, instead of continuing north on Fosters Path, I turned right and headed southwest on the Paumanok Path. I followed the Paumanok Path, crossing Two Holes of Water Road, south of where the car was parked. If I had headed north on Foster's Path, after four miles, I would have intersected the Paumanok Path at Scoy's Pond by the Grace Estate. If I had gone left on the Paumanok Path I would have travelled along the shore of Chatfield's Hole, where just before the Paumanok Path heads north, you can turn left and follow an unmarked, but well-defined, trail around the pond, taking you to the road north of where the car was parked. Follow along on the map of East Hampton trails, obtained by sending a check made out to EHTPS ($11 for EHTPS members and $16 for non-members) to Richard Lupoletti, 66 Oyster Shores Rd., East Hampton, New York 11937.

On January 5, I visited the badly eroded trail at Winter Harbor Hill with several members of East Hampton Trails Preservation Society, and Mike Vitti, president of CLIMB, a regional mountain biking group and NY representative for IMBA, an international mountain biking group. We discussed a project to remediate the trail. LITLC has assisted in developing the volunteer base for this initiative. On February 22, a rainy Sunday, about 30 people worked together to plan a re-route of the trail. They were hikers, bikers (including the Spokes People, a local mountain biking organization), equestrians and town officials from both East Hampton and Southampton. The plan was approved by the EH Department of Land Acquisition and Management and the Department of Natural Resources. On April 15, it received approval from the Town Board. On June 12, 15 volunteers from Goldman Sachs, along with members of EHTPS and the Spokes People will do the actual work. Mike Vitti will be there to lend his expertise to the event.

If you love our trails as I do, you are aware that this cooperative effort, spearheaded by EHTPS, is the beginning of something that will help insure that our trails can continue to provide us, and future generations, the quality trails experience we have grown to expect on our unique and lovely island.