Take a hike
Spinney Road North
with Ken Kindler
One of my favorite places to take
a winter walk is in Flanders. It is comprised of the half-mile Owl
Pond Trail, a 1.5-mile section of the Paumanok Path (PP) and a 5-mile
hiking loop that visits Hubbard County Park north of Route 24, and
Sears-Bellows County Park south of 24. This article guides you to
the Black Owl Loop and in the next article, we will walk around
the loop.
The parking area at Spinney Road
North is an excellent place from which to access these trails. To
get there, heading east on the Long Island Expressway, take exit
71 and continue east on C.R. 94, towards Riverhead. At the circle
in Riverhead, take Route 24 south into Flanders. You will find the
right turn for Spinney Road North on the south side of the road,
just east of Birch Creek.
The parking area is visible from
Route 24, but recessed from the fast moving traffic, so there is
less danger from speeding cars as you access your car. Park and
Police stations nearby also make me feel secure about leaving my
car there. The parking area is easy to find. It is located on the
south side of the road between Pleasure Drive to the west and the
two NYS DOT roadside rest areas on either side of the road, to the
east. Look for a large paved parking lot with a kiosk.
The walk begins by the kiosk at the
entrance to the Owl Pond Trail. Note the “Hiking Only”
sign and the yellow-painted blaze on a vertical concrete stanchion.
It is easy to lose the trail; be alert for the somewhat renewed
yellow blazes. After walking about a half-mile, you reach Owl Pond.
You will see a white and blue Paumanok Path emblem on a tree at
a “T” intersection. To access the Black Owl Loop, turn
left to follow the white painted rectangles of the PP east. If you
are looking for a less challenging walk, you can turn right and
follow the trail where it travels for a short distance along a very
picturesque stream and swampland, which feed into Birch Creek. Turning
left (east) the trail takes you through some wetlands and over a
brook forded by a couple of logs. On sunny days in the wintertime,
sunlight shimmers off of the shiny evergreen leaves of the inkberry
bushes and the sparkling droplets of water from melted ice on bare
branched highbush blueberry and swamp maple make this a magical
place.
The trail is a little muddy here
for a short distance; there is sheep laurel, wintergreen and various
mosses along its sides. The trail is being encroached by brush for
the next quarter mile, but it is passable. Soon the trail climbs
to higher ground, where it is dry and its tread is covered by a
spongy duff of pine needles. The trees here are mostly pitch pine
with some oak. The trail cuts across Spinney Road and you will see
“Hiking Only” signs on either side, as the trail cuts
across this wide dirt road, with “No Unauthorized Trespass”
County Park signs. The County does allow hiking on its trails, so
don’t let these signs discourage you from walking them. Enjoy
the sight of the dappled sunlight playing on the woods floor and
the sound of wind through the pines, which sound like ocean breaking
on the shore. Nearing Sears Pond, the trail forks; to the left a
trail heads around the north end of Sears Pond. The trail rises
up a ridge along one deep kettle hole and then ascends towards another
kettle hole that reaches below the water table. This kettle pond
is commonly known as Sears Pond. There is erosion on the trails
here; however, water bars and check dams have stabilized the trail
tread where it ascends steeply to the pond. As you approach the
Southern tip of the pond, you can see water through the naked branches
on the right side of the trail.
About 1.5 miles into this walk the
trail reaches another “T” intersection, this is where
the PP intersects the Black Owl Loop. Walking this spectacular hiking
loop treats you to a wide range of ecological experiences, taking
you through upland woods, marsh and swamp, over brooks and streams,
past creeks and ponds. My next article will furnish a short walking
guide for this trail.
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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