Fun Survey of the Paumanok Path

I have been teaching myself how to utilize the digital imaging potential of both a digital camera and my computers. We will document the Trans-Path Experience, as we walk through the heart of Suffolk County.

We will ponder Gods Knuckles and wonder who first found the Lost Boulder and why were holes named after both Hetty and Chatfield. I will encourage collaboration from my fellow hikers and create photographic records of the Paumanok Path on CDs.

The first eight hikes will be done through the Long Island Greenbelt Trail Conference, I’ll skip a couple of weeks and then do the Southampton and East Hampton hikes through the Southampton and East Hampton Trails Preservation groups. We will create two records of The Path one addressing its enchanting beauty and the other addressing its areas of issue.

All the hikes will start at 9:30 AM, Manorville Hills is a tough hike, not for beginners, Sarnoff Preserve is also surprisingly strenuous, but there is a way to cut it in half for the less energetic hikers. Always assume that we will stop to eat, bring plenty of water, and expect a swim during or after the hike.

In order for us to experience as much of the Paumanok Path as possible the hikes are linear: they start in one place and end somewhere else. When you take a linear hike there must be a means of getting back to your car. The way this is normally done is by meeting at the end point of the hike and filling a small number of cars up, bringing the hikers to the starting point of the hike. At the end of the hike a volunteer will drive the hikers who “shuttled” the group, back to the starting point of the hike to retrieve their cars. Explicit printed directions will be furnished to all the drivers; I won’t let anyone to get lost.

If you wish to do this series on your own visit http://www.hike-li.com/concerns/pparking.htm There are directions to all the parking areas and they are numbered. For example, on the first hike we will meet at parking area #3, shuttle to #1 then hike back to #3. For the second hike we will meet at #6, shuttle to #3 and hike back to #6 and so on. The eight hikes are as follows: 1-3, 3-6, 6-11, 11-13, 13-16, 16-18, 18-20, 20-22. If you decide to do it on your own, you will find the western portion of the Paumanok Path well blazed and easy to follow.

Location: North side of Whiskey Road 1 mile east of Rocky Point Road (CR 21) DEC parking lot #18

Directions / Description: Take Middle Country Road, in Middle Island, to C.R. 21 (Yaphank Middle Island Rd. / Rocky Point Rd.). This intersection is located ½ mile west of Artist Lake. On C.R. 21 travel 3 miles north to Whiskey Road, Turn right (east), travel 1 mile looking for DEC parking lot on your left (north side of Whiskey Road, it is an 8 car unpaved lot). Note brown and yellow sign: “Rocky Point Natural Resource Management Area, State of New York DEC. It is roughly a half-mile west of Wading River Hollow Road.

Would you believe me if I told you there is a beautiful, 125-mile trail running from Montauk Point to the Rocky Point Burger King?

LOCATION: West side of Schultz Road between Grumman Blvd. and exit 69 of the L.I.E.

Directions / Description: travelling east on Middle Country Road, pass Wading River Hollow Road, William Floyd Parkway, and the Pine Trail Preserve Parking area. Continue east. Pass Lake Panamoka Plaza. As you approach the next traffic light note a Wildwood Park sign on the right, the fenced in W.E.S. trailer sales of Wading River on the left and then a Wading River / Manorville sign near the turn. Head south (right) towards Manorville on Wading River Manor Road. Where Wading River Manor Road veers off to the left continue straight onto Schultz Road (2.4 miles total from C.R. 25)

This parking area is where the Paumanok Path crosses Schultz Road. There is ample parking on the west shoulder immediately north of “The Path”. There is also additional parking ½ mile north.

Location: Halsey Manor Road, 1 mile north of CR 111 south of the LIE, in Manorville

Directions: There is ample parking on the east-side shoulder of the road. From the LIE Exit 70 travel east on CR. 111. Turn left; travel 1 mile north on Halsey Manor Rd.

From Sunrise Highway, take exit 62 (County Road 111) heading towards the L. I. Expressway. Before reaching the LIE turn right onto Halsey Manor Road. Approaching the bridge that goes over the LIE, look for a large meadow on the right and park on the shoulder there. Follow the wire fence to the woods on the far side of the meadow.

Near the Manorville, Riverhead border in Hampton Hills: on the north side of C.R. 51 opposite Old Moriches Riverhead Rd.

Directions / Description: approximately a half-mile south of the intersection with Speonk-Riverhead Rd. (the turnoff to Suffolk County Community College). Look for a roadside sign green with the white silhouette of a hiker, several hundred feet before the trailhead.

C.R. 104 DEC parking lot David Sarnoff Preserve in Riverhead. Dirt parking lot west side of C.R. 104 midway between C.R. 105 to the north and C.R. 31 to the south.

Directions / Description: From the Riverhead circle take C.R. 104 south approximately 2 miles.

From Sunrise Highway heading east, take Exit 63 (C.R. 31 North) to C.R. 104 North.

Location: Spinny Road North in Flanders: Flanders Road (Route 24), on the south side just east of Birch Creek. Ample, level dirt parking lot with kiosk.

Directions / Descriptions: The road is closed off with a gate 50 yards south of the Flanders Road intersection, so park anywhere along Spinny Road's west side.

Location: Route 24 NYS Public Parking, in Hampton Bays (Rest Area north side of road)

Directions / Descriptions: The Paumanok Path crosses Route 24 just south of Red Creek Road. It is a couple hundred yards from the public parking areas on either side of Route 24 to this crossover point. The parking areas are a short distance north of Red Creek Road. The Paumanok Path generally runs east – west, but at this point it connects two parks located north and south of each other. A walk to the south (right) will take you to the blue blazed loop trail that visits both Sears and Bellows ponds. A walk to the north will take you to Hubbard Creek and Red Creek Park’s Penny Pond. Make a left onto Red Creek Road and in a very short distance, you will see a gate with a Suffolk Parks sign on the left side of the road, this is where the trail heads northeast to Hubbard Creek. This is also a good place to pick up the Southampton Trails “Black Owl Loop.”

Directions / Description: From Sunrise Highway “Exit 65N, 24 North, Riverhead”. Travel north on C.R. 24 a couple hundred yards. You will see several signs before you bear right onto the turn lane for Old Riverhead Road West. There is NO Town Park sign here, the signs to look for are: “State Police”, “Town of Southampton Jackson Ave. Offices”, and “Town Police”. Turn right onto Old Riverhead Road, pass the entrance to Southampton Town Police, make the next left into the park. Where you turn into the park there is a small blue and white sign: “Town of Southampton Red Creek Park”. Once on the road into the park, continue past the picnic areas and enter the parking field to the right of the flagpole. Park by the small brown and yellow Southampton Town Trails sign between a basketball court and a baseball diamond. Two hundred feet north along a fence is where the trail begins. There are square yellow STPS “Owl Blazes” to mark the access trail to the Paumanok Path (about ½ mile north). There are Pay Phones and Restrooms near the parking area.

HIKING LONG ISLAND Copyright © 1999/2000/2001/2002/2003/2004 Hike-LI.com All rights reserved.		Ken Kindler Open Space & Trails Advocate Post Office Box 1466 Sayville NY 11782 Ken@Hike-LI.com
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