Second Section of the Paumanok Path Inventory Hike
Pine Trail Preserve to Halsey Manor Road
Following is the result of the second section of the Paumanok Path Inventory. Anyone who can hike 10 miles at a reasonable pace is invited to the subsequent inventory hikes. It is always preferred to have someone who doesn’t know the trail in the lead. This first series of inventory hikes along the entire ~125 miles of the Paumanok Path locates the issues and describes the resources necessary to address them. This documentation will be used to direct maintenance crews and better visualize stewardship objectives for the PP. Later inventory hikes can document interpretive, geological, ecological, and historic points of interest along the trail.
Bob Beattie and I started our walk on Thursday April 2 at 10:30 am
(Picture1) Section of trail walked from the Larry Paul map Long Island Pine Barrens, West Section. For Map info: http://
(Picture2) Kiosk in good condition with map and other trail information.
Three trails bisect the Paumanok Path within the first half mile. Need to investigate them to understand what impact they have on the main trail.
(Picture3) There is some sloppy blazing along the first few hundred yards of trail. Need to remove some blazes and refine others. After the sloppy blazes, the blazing can barely be discerned; we need to re-blaze from the parking area all the way to the LIPA ROW (trained blazing crew of two: 16 hours).
Picture4) Dumped tires need to be removed where Old Saddle Road intersects the Path. Have to see if County Parks can pick them up if we pile them by the road.
(Pictures5 and 6) Need a kissing gate at Margin Drive to block SUVs and discourage dirtbikers (need a trail crew for one day and post and rail fencing). After Margin Drive, the illegal vehicle abuse and equestrian traffic has churned up the tread. It is uncomfortable to walk on. The tire tread marks were left by a large vehicle driving all the way to the LIPA ROW using the Paumanok Path. Need to discuss possible solutions to this degraded trail segment with the land manager and trail group.
(Picture7) L. I. Greenbelt Tail Conference Pine Barrens Monday Crew created a very effective short re-route where the PP crosses the LIPA ROW. It keeps hikers from getting lost here by allowing for a hiker’s natural inclination to walk straight across the ROW. The replaced segment of trail needs to be better hidden and a confusing turn blaze needs to be removed. Still this is a very effective fix to a vexing problem.
(Picture8) Past the Brookhaven trail head. Need to remove the “unturn turn blaze” on the sign post.
(Picture9 and 10) Bob by Woodchopper’s Pond. Some dirt bike trail tread damage by Woodchopper’s Pond (work crew of two: 4 hours, or a bog bridge with kissing gate. The vegetation is very dense here).
Other than a couple of disturbed sections of wet trail, the trail tread is level and has a layer of duff of variable depth.
(Picture11 and 12) The turn by Grassy/Sandy Pond could use a blazed post for westbound hiker (Need a post and two people: 3 hours). Picture of Bob looking out over Sandy Pond. Picture: Bob points out confusing blaze near Grassy Pond.
A short distance after passing Jones Pond, and crossing Shultz Road several trees are blocking vehicular traffic from getting onto the trail. Please leave them, they are easy enough to step over. Several years ago someone (obviously well-meaning) removed the logs across the trail in this section, and dirt bikers had a field day. This section of trail is now stable, healing, well-cut and blazed all the way to Mill Road.
As you walk, you can just make out the Peconic River off to the right.
(Picture13) When you cross the Scout built, vandalized, County repaired bridge, you know you are close to Wading River Manor Road.
Where the trail crosses Wading River Manor Road, near the corner of River Road, I suggest a blazed post situated inside the turn-buckle of the metal guard rail (1 post, one person, 2 hours). There is a blaze on the road pavement, a blaze on the guard rail, and one on the telephone pole. I know where the blazes are; I painted all of them except for the one on the pavement, but you can’t see them from the other side of the road. It is important to put ourselves in the sneakers of someone unfamiliar with the trail.
Follow the culvert over the Peconic River.
Re-entering the woods the trail tread is only slightly impacted by vehicular abuse. There is a layer of duff on the trail, and the blazing is good. There is no noticeable impact on the trail tread from the between 50 and 60 runners who participated in the Paumanok Run several days prior, even though the ground was wet with melting snow when they ran. You can see the trail is badly scuffed up by a single pass of a dirt bike that came through behind them. (Suggest a kissing gate after the culvert: trail crew one day and post and rail fencing).
Should the County or LIGTC buy some flexi-stakes to blaze difficult places? They are much harder to vandalize and easier to install than wooden posts. EHTPS, PBC, and State Parks all use them.
(Picture14) About a mile into the trail, by a section of bog bridge, a second section is needed (wood and trail crew: 2 days).
For almost a mile, you can just make out the river bank to the left. Then after a sharp turn right, and a short walk, you will find train tracks to the left. Look down, they are 20 feet below the ridge you are walking on.
After crossing the tracks at grade, I suggest a blazed post by where the trail re-enters the woods (1 person 2 hours). Walk on the ridge looking down on tracks to the left of the trail, then turn right to cross the LIPA ROW
This section of trail was changed a number of times. Originally the trail cut across the train tracks, bypassing the out and back on the ridge above the tracks. The LIRR had issues with people crossing the tracks in the middle of the woods instead of at the road crossing, so we moved it. We moved the trail to cross the tracks at Mill Road at grade. Then there were issues with the kids driving onto the ROW and having a party, dumping, and target practicing right where the trail crosses it after the elevated track walk, so we cut out one half of the train track ridge walk and moved the trail onto Mill Road. It stayed like this until I started working for the S.C Parks Department, and with permission, I restored the ridge walk because it is safer, keeping hikers off the road, the ridge trail is pretty, and the elevation and watching a train pass below you is exciting.
The trail tread is in excellent condition here. We engineered this section of trail to be as unwelcoming to dirt bikers as possible.
The trail reaches Mill Road again, if you cut straight across the road instead of turning left, a hiker could follow the orange blazed trail to the blue one, to the Pine Barrens Trail Center. I don’t know when the Trail Center will be open this year. It doesn’t get much publicity and it doesn’t get many visitors. Maybe this will change when word gets out about the beautiful trails nearby.
After walking across the culvert that keeps a stream contiguous under Mill Road, the opening to the trail has a log across it discouraging vehicular access. Again the trail is well maintained. The three kissing gates County Parks Environmental Crew installed, and the logs across the trail where there is very dense vegetation, have discouraged access by dirt bikes.
(Picture15) Bob is sitting on a log expertly dropped by SCP Environmental Crew in front of a kissing gate.
For several years after this trail was built, it was badly ripped up by dirt bikers. After blocking the trail with logs and kissing gates, I pulled the soil back into the belly of the trail tread, and now two years later there is a thick layer of duff covering it. It is a pleasure to walk this section of trail now. One short section of trail comes too close to Mill Road. It should be re-routed (need to contact Suffolk County Parks for permission, and will need a trail crew for 2 days).
Where the trail reaches Halsey Manor Road, I recently blazed the trail to take you over the Expressway on the walkway, but the walkway was damaged by an accident. This damage pushes the hiker onto the road. Don’t know what the solution to this is. There is also a long gap in the blazing here that a pole or flexi-stake would fix.
We finished Inventory Hike Pine Trail Preserve to Halsey Manor Road at 2:00 P.M.
---The Paumanok Path has been protected, groomed, leveled, and blazed all the way from Jones Pond to Toppings Path, with an extensive network of trails Suffolk County Parks enabled me to create in between. I want to thank Suffolk County Parks for helping me refine the implementation of these trails, and for paying me to work on them, because without their financial support, I could not have continued to work on them.
Most of all I would like to thank the numerous volunteers, who helped me leverage Suffolk County Park’s resources to such an enormous extent. I appreciate so much what trails volunteers freely give to benefit their trails. I am looking forward to working with all of you again, as soon as Suffolk County Parks calls me back to work.
----We will walk the Paumanok Path through Manorville County Park on the next leg of our journey, perhaps the most challenging 10 miles of the entire Paumanok Path.
The security patrolled parking at the college is gated on Sunday. Monday 04-06-15, is the East Hampton Trails Preservation meeting. Weather permitting; Tuesday 04-07-15 will be the next hike.
---This long distance trail is in close proximity to a thriving urban environment. We need to capitalize on the economic benefits of the trail: hotel / bed and breakfast, sports retail, food, and wine. Perhaps the L.I. Convention and Visitors Bureau could work with us on that inventory and make it available to residents and tourists alike. The Paumanok Path visits many naturally beautiful places, and leaves a bit of that beauty in the heart of all who walk it. Only those vested in it will work to protect and steward it. I have been walking, building, maintaining this trail for two decades, and it is obvious to me that even with the enormous amount of work volunteers have been exerting to steward the PP we really aren’t even beginning to realize this trail’s great potential. Please try to imagine how user and nature friendly this trail could be. Imagine a trail that is so well stewarded that it becomes a guiding beacon to other communities fortunate enough to have such a vast natural resource at their doorstep.
Following is the result of the second section of the Paumanok Path Inventory. Anyone who can hike 10 miles at a reasonable pace is invited to the subsequent inventory hikes. It is always preferred to have someone who doesn’t know the trail in the lead. This first series of inventory hikes along the entire ~125 miles of the Paumanok Path locates the issues and describes the resources necessary to address them. This documentation will be used to direct maintenance crews and better visualize stewardship objectives for the PP. Later inventory hikes can document interpretive, geological, ecological, and historic points of interest along the trail.
Bob Beattie and I started our walk on Thursday April 2 at 10:30 am
(Picture1) Section of trail walked from the Larry Paul map Long Island Pine Barrens, West Section. For Map info: http://
(Picture2) Kiosk in good condition with map and other trail information.
Three trails bisect the Paumanok Path within the first half mile. Need to investigate them to understand what impact they have on the main trail.
(Picture3) There is some sloppy blazing along the first few hundred yards of trail. Need to remove some blazes and refine others. After the sloppy blazes, the blazing can barely be discerned; we need to re-blaze from the parking area all the way to the LIPA ROW (trained blazing crew of two: 16 hours).
Picture4) Dumped tires need to be removed where Old Saddle Road intersects the Path. Have to see if County Parks can pick them up if we pile them by the road.
(Pictures5 and 6) Need a kissing gate at Margin Drive to block SUVs and discourage dirtbikers (need a trail crew for one day and post and rail fencing). After Margin Drive, the illegal vehicle abuse and equestrian traffic has churned up the tread. It is uncomfortable to walk on. The tire tread marks were left by a large vehicle driving all the way to the LIPA ROW using the Paumanok Path. Need to discuss possible solutions to this degraded trail segment with the land manager and trail group.
(Picture7) L. I. Greenbelt Tail Conference Pine Barrens Monday Crew created a very effective short re-route where the PP crosses the LIPA ROW. It keeps hikers from getting lost here by allowing for a hiker’s natural inclination to walk straight across the ROW. The replaced segment of trail needs to be better hidden and a confusing turn blaze needs to be removed. Still this is a very effective fix to a vexing problem.
(Picture8) Past the Brookhaven trail head. Need to remove the “unturn turn blaze” on the sign post.
(Picture9 and 10) Bob by Woodchopper’s Pond. Some dirt bike trail tread damage by Woodchopper’s Pond (work crew of two: 4 hours, or a bog bridge with kissing gate. The vegetation is very dense here).
Other than a couple of disturbed sections of wet trail, the trail tread is level and has a layer of duff of variable depth.
(Picture11 and 12) The turn by Grassy/Sandy Pond could use a blazed post for westbound hiker (Need a post and two people: 3 hours). Picture of Bob looking out over Sandy Pond. Picture: Bob points out confusing blaze near Grassy Pond.
A short distance after passing Jones Pond, and crossing Shultz Road several trees are blocking vehicular traffic from getting onto the trail. Please leave them, they are easy enough to step over. Several years ago someone (obviously well-meaning) removed the logs across the trail in this section, and dirt bikers had a field day. This section of trail is now stable, healing, well-cut and blazed all the way to Mill Road.
As you walk, you can just make out the Peconic River off to the right.
(Picture13) When you cross the Scout built, vandalized, County repaired bridge, you know you are close to Wading River Manor Road.
Where the trail crosses Wading River Manor Road, near the corner of River Road, I suggest a blazed post situated inside the turn-buckle of the metal guard rail (1 post, one person, 2 hours). There is a blaze on the road pavement, a blaze on the guard rail, and one on the telephone pole. I know where the blazes are; I painted all of them except for the one on the pavement, but you can’t see them from the other side of the road. It is important to put ourselves in the sneakers of someone unfamiliar with the trail.
Follow the culvert over the Peconic River.
Re-entering the woods the trail tread is only slightly impacted by vehicular abuse. There is a layer of duff on the trail, and the blazing is good. There is no noticeable impact on the trail tread from the between 50 and 60 runners who participated in the Paumanok Run several days prior, even though the ground was wet with melting snow when they ran. You can see the trail is badly scuffed up by a single pass of a dirt bike that came through behind them. (Suggest a kissing gate after the culvert: trail crew one day and post and rail fencing).
Should the County or LIGTC buy some flexi-stakes to blaze difficult places? They are much harder to vandalize and easier to install than wooden posts. EHTPS, PBC, and State Parks all use them.
(Picture14) About a mile into the trail, by a section of bog bridge, a second section is needed (wood and trail crew: 2 days).
For almost a mile, you can just make out the river bank to the left. Then after a sharp turn right, and a short walk, you will find train tracks to the left. Look down, they are 20 feet below the ridge you are walking on.
After crossing the tracks at grade, I suggest a blazed post by where the trail re-enters the woods (1 person 2 hours). Walk on the ridge looking down on tracks to the left of the trail, then turn right to cross the LIPA ROW
This section of trail was changed a number of times. Originally the trail cut across the train tracks, bypassing the out and back on the ridge above the tracks. The LIRR had issues with people crossing the tracks in the middle of the woods instead of at the road crossing, so we moved it. We moved the trail to cross the tracks at Mill Road at grade. Then there were issues with the kids driving onto the ROW and having a party, dumping, and target practicing right where the trail crosses it after the elevated track walk, so we cut out one half of the train track ridge walk and moved the trail onto Mill Road. It stayed like this until I started working for the S.C Parks Department, and with permission, I restored the ridge walk because it is safer, keeping hikers off the road, the ridge trail is pretty, and the elevation and watching a train pass below you is exciting.
The trail tread is in excellent condition here. We engineered this section of trail to be as unwelcoming to dirt bikers as possible.
The trail reaches Mill Road again, if you cut straight across the road instead of turning left, a hiker could follow the orange blazed trail to the blue one, to the Pine Barrens Trail Center. I don’t know when the Trail Center will be open this year. It doesn’t get much publicity and it doesn’t get many visitors. Maybe this will change when word gets out about the beautiful trails nearby.
After walking across the culvert that keeps a stream contiguous under Mill Road, the opening to the trail has a log across it discouraging vehicular access. Again the trail is well maintained. The three kissing gates County Parks Environmental Crew installed, and the logs across the trail where there is very dense vegetation, have discouraged access by dirt bikes.
(Picture15) Bob is sitting on a log expertly dropped by SCP Environmental Crew in front of a kissing gate.
For several years after this trail was built, it was badly ripped up by dirt bikers. After blocking the trail with logs and kissing gates, I pulled the soil back into the belly of the trail tread, and now two years later there is a thick layer of duff covering it. It is a pleasure to walk this section of trail now. One short section of trail comes too close to Mill Road. It should be re-routed (need to contact Suffolk County Parks for permission, and will need a trail crew for 2 days).
Where the trail reaches Halsey Manor Road, I recently blazed the trail to take you over the Expressway on the walkway, but the walkway was damaged by an accident. This damage pushes the hiker onto the road. Don’t know what the solution to this is. There is also a long gap in the blazing here that a pole or flexi-stake would fix.
We finished Inventory Hike Pine Trail Preserve to Halsey Manor Road at 2:00 P.M.
---The Paumanok Path has been protected, groomed, leveled, and blazed all the way from Jones Pond to Toppings Path, with an extensive network of trails Suffolk County Parks enabled me to create in between. I want to thank Suffolk County Parks for helping me refine the implementation of these trails, and for paying me to work on them, because without their financial support, I could not have continued to work on them.
Most of all I would like to thank the numerous volunteers, who helped me leverage Suffolk County Park’s resources to such an enormous extent. I appreciate so much what trails volunteers freely give to benefit their trails. I am looking forward to working with all of you again, as soon as Suffolk County Parks calls me back to work.
----We will walk the Paumanok Path through Manorville County Park on the next leg of our journey, perhaps the most challenging 10 miles of the entire Paumanok Path.
The security patrolled parking at the college is gated on Sunday. Monday 04-06-15, is the East Hampton Trails Preservation meeting. Weather permitting; Tuesday 04-07-15 will be the next hike.
---This long distance trail is in close proximity to a thriving urban environment. We need to capitalize on the economic benefits of the trail: hotel / bed and breakfast, sports retail, food, and wine. Perhaps the L.I. Convention and Visitors Bureau could work with us on that inventory and make it available to residents and tourists alike. The Paumanok Path visits many naturally beautiful places, and leaves a bit of that beauty in the heart of all who walk it. Only those vested in it will work to protect and steward it. I have been walking, building, maintaining this trail for two decades, and it is obvious to me that even with the enormous amount of work volunteers have been exerting to steward the PP we really aren’t even beginning to realize this trail’s great potential. Please try to imagine how user and nature friendly this trail could be. Imagine a trail that is so well stewarded that it becomes a guiding beacon to other communities fortunate enough to have such a vast natural resource at their doorstep.
