Take a hike with Ken Kindler

Library to Library Hike

During the June '07 East Hampton Trails Preservation meeting it was announced that initial work had been completed on the proposed Springs-Amagansett Trail. GPS expertise and knowledge of trail design principles received from the East Hampton Natural Resources Department was invaluable. Several months later, Black Locust logs were harvested at the old brush dump on Bull Path. They would be used for the new trail as signposts and components of a log staircase being built in Amagansett.

Last week, Gene Makl, EHTPS VP in charge of Trails Planning, met me at the parking lot behind The Amagansett Library on Montauk Highway for a preview of this trail. Follow the signs for public parking to find the library. From there we drove north to Parson's Blacksmith Shop in Amagansett, facing Ashawagh Hall, across Old Stone Highway, at the Springs Fireplace intersection.

We parked in the parking area in front of the Library and headed south on foot, behind the building, to the beginning of the trail marked with 4-inch round, yellow painted blazes. Gene explained that the EHTPS trail crew developed a method using round sponges and paintbrushes to make the blazes uniform in size.

Gene is very energetic, he walks and talks fast, so I was prepared for the information he provided: "The Springs-Amagansett Trail was conceived by Deb Foster, a retiring council person on the East Hampton Town Board. She approached EHTPS in early 2006 with a proposal to establish a north/south neighborhood trail that would link the two hamlets. Her original idea was for a 10-mile trail to run from Maidstone Park in Springs to the ocean beach in Amagansett. Deb and EHTPS conducted a feasibility study and concluded that many land parcels were not available, resulting in considerable road walking and/or long delays in receiving approvals. As a result, the plan changed - the trail would run 4.5 miles from the center of Springs to the center of Amagansett. In August 2006, EHTPS made a presentation to the East Hampton Town Board and received unanimous approval to proceed. This was the first time EHTPS was approached by the Town to create a trail. With Deb Foster leading, landowners were approached, accommodations were made, approvals were obtained, trail connections were established and the trail was completed in late October 2007. Over half the trail was created from existing trails with little cutting or disturbance to land parcels. Eventually the trail may be expanded to the original plan. Meanwhile, the people of East Hampton can enjoy this diverse trail that includes oak and beech forest, working farmland, school playgrounds, residential neighborhoods, and historic landmarks. On December 1 at 10 a.m. an inaugural ceremony and hike will take place beginning at the Parsons Blacksmith Shop in Springs. Everyone is invited. That evening at our annual holiday celebration, EHTPS will honor Deb Foster with the George Sid Miller Friend of the Trails Award. On December 8, EHTPS will lead the hike in the opposite direction, starting at the Amagansett Library.

As Gene and I walked, we saw Pussy's Pond on the left through the dense woods, then came out onto School Street and turned right. Soon a yellow-blazed telephone pole directed us into Lassaw Preserve. We walked though oak, beech and red cedar forest by a sign indicating a trail to the nearby school. We reached Hildreth Place and turned left onto Accabonnac Road for a short distance. We began to see the blue-rectangular blazes of the Jacobs Farm Loop. We followed yellow blazes through Jacobs Farm Preserve across Red Dirt Road and entered through the "kissing gates" into Peconic Land Trust Stony Hill Preserve. We turned left at Stony Hill (dirt) Road and walked it a short distance, then turned right by a Peconic Land Trust sign. We found ourselves walking on a trail that had once been part of the Paumanok Path, but the blazes are now covered with blue paint. We were on a narrow, rugged, winding, picturesque stretch of Town property that abruptly opens up into cleared agricultural land. The blazes were now on "flexi-stacks" and locust logs harvested from the old brush dump. We cut across Town Lane and followed Windmill Lane, walking across railroad tracks. Yellow blazes on a pole (on the right side of the road) led us down a stairway built from black locust logs to what looked like someone's backyard. Once again we walked through agricultural land, across a field, through a farm shed, and into the parking lot behind the library.

When I asked Joan Porco, author of Holding Back the Tide; The Thirty-Five Year Struggle to Save Montauk, why she feels that this trail is so important, she said, "Deb Foster initiated this trail with the hope that young people may understand the precious history and beauty of the area in which they live."

Ken Kindler is a Trails and Open Space Advocate working to help the trails groups and land managers care for our "Natural Island." If you would like to learn more about our trails or help care for them, visit the Hiking Long Island website. www.hike-li.org

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