Dan's Papers - September 12, 2008

This article continues our trek another five miles along the Paumanok Path. We left off last time at Rod's Valley near Fort Pond Bay in Montauk. Traveling east on Montauk Highway, look for Second House Road sign, and make a left; it's after the Recycling Center. Don't make the first left after the sign into South Delphi. Note Fort Pond to the right. After nine tenths of a mile, at Industrial Road intersection look for Navy Road Sign, cutting across a dangerous curve. Drive over the RR tracks. Turn left when you reach Block Island Sound. Travel seven tenths of a mile, past the park that is cut in along the road. Continue straight to parking area. There are portable restrooms here and a new trails kiosk.

Next to the parking area is a large mowed meadow of grass located in a valley between Fort Pond Bay and the ridge to the north along which the Paumanok Path runs. If there is a dog heaven, this is it. It's not surprising that so many people bring their dogs to Rod's Valley to play.

From the parking lot, walk north along the shore of the bay looking out onto Block Island Sound. There are people fishing off of the decommissioned Navy pier where the water is lapping up against the rocky shore. Follow the trail up to the ridge, and walk around a metal gate; note the kiosk with a trails map to the left.

Turn left before reaching the first Paumanok Path blaze. If you continue following the PP blazes instead of turning left, you will be following the PP west, along the shore. This turn can be confusing because here the Paumanok Path runs west along Jack Cord's Valley Trail before it once again continues east. After a short walk through the laurel woods, cautiously cross the train tracks. Cross over North Shore Road (dirt trail), and at the intersection with Redmond's Path follow the left turn blaze onto Riah's Ridge Trail. Note the rough-hewn trail signs nailed to a tree. Follow the PP through dense laurel woods over rolling hills. Now heading southeast, cut across Rod's Valley Road; there is a brush layer of spice fern, bayberry, and blueberry. Beech trees intersperse with the laurels as the trail heads upslope. At a "Y" intersection, bear right. Where the trail once again heads uphill, it passes close to several moderate sized glacial erratics. Once again, the trail heads downhill, winding its way through a tunnel cut through laurel. The trail now heads directly east with a left turn onto Flaggy Hole Road.

A right turn takes the hiker south-bound onto the Lost Boulder Trail. Some climbing turns through woods with huge old beech and oak trees, takes us upslope along the Lost Boulder Trail. After reaching the huge glacial erratic, the trail winds its way down slope. This well-engineered trail is very stable and comfortable to walk on. The trail reconnects with Flaggy Hole Road, heading east. It approaches North Shore Road close to the tracks, then turns south bearing right at a "Y" intersection. It leaves Old North Road, and then reconnects with it. Cut across a woods road and enter Laurel Canyon Preserve, a long deep depression lined with mature laurel trees punctuated with interesting glacial erratics and large oak trees. Unfortunately, the trail tread is not comfortable to walk on because it is chewed up by illegal dirt biking here. Cross another dirt road and head south. Heading east, the trail takes winding turns up, out of Laurel Canyon, then through gradually rising turns, and works its way over several knobs approaching the edge of Montauk Mountain Preserve. Turn right at the Upland Road intersection, where the trail takes you along the edge of the Montauk Landfill. Begin heading southwest to where the trail leads to a ridge looking out across the landfill at Fort Pond Bay.

Heading south towards Route 27, pass a trail marked "Private" branching to the right. A short distance beyond this trail, a left turn takes you onto the Parkway Right-Of-Way Trail continuing east on the PP. A right turn will take you back a couple of hundred yards to the parking area by the Recycling Center entrance accessed from Montauk Highway a mile west of Montauk Village.

This takes us halfway through the ten mile hike; Rod's Valley to Third House. Five miles may be enough for one day. I'll continue with the description of this long hike in my next column.