| Issue #31, October 27, 2006 |
Take a hike with Ken Kindler
Trail Report
I missed the annual South Fork Trails Event last weekend; a family gathering and a trail obligation took claim to my time. I was particularly sad to miss the two hiking events on the Paumanok Path (PP), and the traditional discussion of the future of this regional initiative.
The East Hampton Trails Preservation Society (EHTPS) has an Adopt-A-Trail program and I realized that my adopted section of the Paumanok Path would be part of two events this year. Even though I couldn’t walk my section with the trails group, I decided to walk it on my own so I could report its condition to the EHTPS, Adopt-A-Trail Committee. If you wish to know more about EHTPS, its programs or events, visit their wonderful new website at www.ehtps.org.
Officially, my adopted trail extends from Town Line Road to NY-114. The section of trail that I actually walk, however, is from Sagg Road to NY-114. Town Line Road is unpaved and tough to drive on, so I walk an extra mile of trail to Sagg Road. When I check my adopted section of the PP, I always walk it in both directions, but if you wish, you can also walk the trail in only one direction.
Traveling east on Montauk Highway, Sagg Road is the next traffic-controlled intersection after the Bridgehampton-Sagg Harbor Turnpike. The trailhead is 2.4 miles north of Montauk Highway, on the east side of Sagg Road, just south of Widow Gavitts Road. Park on the road shoulder. If you meet a friend here, you can leave one car there and drive the other to the starting point of the hike.
Head north on Sagg Road. Sagg Road becomes Madison Street; after 1.1 miles turn right onto Harrison Street. After .5 miles, turn right onto Hampton Street (NY-114). Continue on NY-114, 1.9 miles to the trailhead on the east side of the road, just south of the junction with Edwards Hole Road. Do not block the dirt road; park on the road shoulder near the kiosk.
The trail was easy to follow as I crossed over NY-114 heading west; it runs right by the new kiosk with the map of the Northwest Woods. This kiosk was facilitated through a grant written by EHTPS member Ray Hartjen. Unfortunately, you can’t park directly next to the kiosk, because last summer, a bulldozer scraped the grass off of what used to be the parking area.
I entered the woods on the west side of NY-114, and I was surrounded by red-leafed blueberry bushes, oak, and orange-leafed hickory trees. The trail winds through a knob and kettle topography, traveling through sweet fern, laurel, bayberry, pitch pine, and small meadows of grass.
Just short of 1 mile into my walk, I crossed over Wainscott NW Road. The quality of the blazing varies greatly along this portion of the trail, and needs to be touched up in places. One area of great concern is a quarter mile west of Wainscott NW Road, where the PP intersects the Miller’s Ground Loop. If my memory serves me correctly, the loop is the result of a re-route of the PP. Unfortunately, I missed the turn here, because of a faded blaze and an unconscious bias towards the more heavily traveled trail. If I hadn’t seen white rectangular blazes after a while, I would have backtracked to the missed turn. Unfortunately, just as I was about to turn around, I started seeing old white blazes. The blazes seemed worn, but it wasn’t until they turned into white dots that I realized what I had done.
Having inadvertently walked the loop along with my section of trail, I noticed that there seemed to be a decrease in the illegal motorized traffic on these particular trails. A short distance west of the loop, I crossed over Town Line Road, and a short distance further, I turned right onto the Power Line Road (ROW). There is a wrecked car on the ROW that I use to alert myself to another turn that is easy to miss. When you see the wreck on the left, look to the right for the turn back into the woods. Again, after a short distance, the trail turns onto the power line, only to immediately turn back into the woods. From here to Sagg Road, the trail is well-trimmed and blazed, thanks to a recent Herculean effort by the STPS Trail Crew.
This 3 mile-long trail is much nicer to walk now than it was eight months ago. Someday, I would like to be able to write that all of our trails are nicer this year than they were last year.
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 at www.hike-li.org
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