Wandering back in time Wednesday

Here is a short post from an entry awhile back from one of my first few hikes ever. It is a great hike in my favorite place in NY state, which I will expand upon details in a following post.


Sunday May 16, 2010

New Hobby

Too much traveling between city, mountain, city, mountain... is leaving me exhausted.
I am always tired and sore the day after a hike as well. I can't wait until I improve and don't feel the exhaustion post-hike. I want to become an intermediate by the end of summer. This would ikely entail a change in diet as well to get in better shape for more strenuous hikes.

 *End of post*

Can you tell which state park this is before I reveal it? It is one of the ones that initially sparked my interest in hiking.

Paumanok Path - Section #2 Long Island, NY April 27, 2014

Location: Paumanok Path on Long Island - Manorville and Brookhaven sections
Mileage:13.70 on Paumanok, 1.46 side trails
Terrain: Flat
Difficulty: easy-moderate
Type: Out and Back (but can do a car shuttle)
Sightings: Bumble bees, one snake, deer, tick, brush fire wreckage


In the quest for completion of the entire Paumanok Path this year, this weekend's hike led me to Part 2 of the Path. The entirety of Part 2, (in the link below),  is 7.8 miles. I chose to start it from the trail head off route 111 at the Pine Barrens Trails Information Center. It is just a bit north of the LIE on the right. There are some blue and orange blazed trails to start off with here in order to get to the white blazed Paumanok trail. I wasn't quite sure which trails led to the white so I estimated and luckily came upon it. At the trail head you will start on the blue blazed trail that is nicely paved with benches along the side. This will eventually diverge to the orange trail. At each divergence, turn left each time. Eventually the white and orange will intersect. Once I reached the white trail I turned on my gps to track the path. The side trails weren't that long and it was only .73 mile to reach the tree marked with the Paumanok sign. Although .73 is too long if it ended up being the wrong trail!

Yay Paumanok!

 You will walk for about a mile or so until you reach the first street crossing at the train track. You might also notice there is a yellow blazed trail across the way, but stay on the white.

The trail is mostly entirely flat, with just a handful of very tiny hills.
I did not see any other hikers at all. The trails out here don't seem to be be very popular, as compared to the crowded parks with bbqs and malls on the weekend. The Manorville Hills County Park is more traversed than this route and still my favorite.

Look closely and you will see the trees are tinged from fire.

Walking though this path, the surroundings have a noticeable change. Most of the trail is cushioned by soft pine needles beneath your feet. Some sections will become sandy and others are grassy. It is definitely nice to walk through and feel these different changes occur. On this particular section though, an unusual change occurred as I looked around I saw many blackened and charred trees. I vaguely remembered there had been a fire somewhere out east in the past, but did not realize it was right here. The last time I was on these trails was in 2011 before the fire.

Close up

 So many scarred trees. Have you ever stood in a forest surrounded by deadened trees? It is sad to see, but also burns of a beauty all it's own. It was a fire that raged for a day and half and shows that mother nature is the queen ruler of all.

"On April 9th, 2012 several brushfires joined together to ignite over 2000 acres of woodland around Manorville, Ridge and Brookhaven. By the end of the day, the fires were intense enough to cause a closure of parts of the LIE. As of 5:00 PM parts of Riverhead were placed under mandatory evacuation.
Brush fire burned 1124 acres of pine lands. About 600 firefighters from about 109 departments battled the fire with 30 brush trucks, 20 tankers, and 100 engines. Airdrops of water were made by a State Police helicopter." - from Wikipedia

Observe everything as you walk.

 Among the burned trees, stood this sign tacked to a towering tree. I think John Muir would agree with that advice.

 Walking amongst some more trees...

This tree was quite big and ghastly.

Some mushrooms growing on it.

 It was a nice open area and quite nice to look up into the sky in the quiet of a perfect sunny afternoon.

I really liked this spot above that had a bit of an open field to it. On my way back from lunch I stopped here and munched on my pasta for a bit and felt happy to be there. Pasta and blue skies are a great mix. :)

Bridge crossing

 There were a few ant mounds in this section. Watch out for all the red ants!

 After awhile you'll reach an intersection with the Brookhaven trail. We're almost to the end of the section.

A snake!

 This section after the bridge had been a bit more boring as it passes more through neighborhood backyards. Eventually you will reach the parking lot on Ridge with the below sign. The total distance to here was about 6.85. Now we get to turn around and do that all again!

I decided the bridge was a nice place to have my lunch. Today it was from MaryJane's farm. My favorite from this company is the Mac n Cheese and have been pretty happy with their meals so I'd recommend them. Very easy to prepare. Just boil water and steep for 10 minutes. For this hike I tried out the Alfredo pasta. It was also good. Similar to the Mac n Cheese, but a bit more italian spice to it. Eventually, I'll learn to dehydrate my own meals.

I should say that I absolutely love my camp stove. The pot is a titanium one by evernew and the stove is an MSR microrocket. It comes with a self ignitor so no need to light a match. It's the perfect size and easy to boil water. This spot was a bit windy, but the stove handled well. I'd recommend this stove to others looking to purchase one.

A last photo looking back.

Mileage for the white path only

 The mileage between the green and red flags consists of the blue and orange trails.

The Long Island region, especially the east end, is very prone to ticks. Which is not surprising, given the amount of deer here. There are always deer sightings on hikes. I had found one crawling on me when I got home, most likely from the high grass areas. It's a good sized tick and was easy to spot. It had a white dot on it's back. The Lone Star Tick. This must be a populous tick here as it's the second female lone star tick that's been plucked off. I didn't manage to grab a picture of this one. It went straight into the toilet without my camera near by. But here is a photo of one from a few years past which is how I could immediately identify the one I found on me from this hike. These ones luckily don't carry Lyme disease. They are fast crawlers too.

Nevertheless, the Pine Barrens on Long Island remain my favorite spot to hike here.

 Last Thoughts

Scrubs

"Misfortunes are forgotten in the excitement of new enterprises." - Tom Sawyer

Links:

Paumanok Path

Music for this hike:

Winter's Come and Gone

Belmont Lake - Babylon, NY April 19, 2014

Location: Southard's Pond and Belmont Lake
Trailhead: On Park Avenue near the tennis courts
Distance: 6 miles average (can add or subtract more/less)
Difficulty: Easy, flat terrain
Sightings: Pond, Lake, Skunk Cabbage, Fishermen


This is a trail I've done many times as it's the most accessible. There are a few starting points. You can start from Park Avenue in Babylon and walk north to Belmont Lake or start at Belmont Lake State Park and walk south. Note that the state parks have entrance fees so by walking north, you can also save a few bucks, if you don't have the parks pass already. There are also a few side entrances from the neighborhoods that border the trail.

The beginning of the trail by the tennis courts entrance has a sign showing a general map of the trail. The trail is very easy to follow. You won't get lost. But it's nice to note the distance. A while back a Boy Scout troop had put in a mile marker at each half mile which is really nice to have something to track how far you've walked. They did a good job by adding motivational words to the mile marker posts.

So let's begin our walk to Southard's pond!

ACTION

To accomplish anything in life, it most often requires action to begin with. We can sit and daydream. Say "If only this" or "If only that...," but to get anything done or to just give it a try.... if you are going to accomplish that dream you've held in your heart and make it a reality, you are going to have to take that first step. Act.

So here we are a baby step. Mile 1.

Just when reaching Southard's Pond you'll see the 1 mile marker.

TRIUMPH

Where all the fisherman hang out.

When you first reach the lake, you'll turn left and cross the bridge where the trail will make a right. To the left there is another trail if you want to make this a short hike and turn back.

 This is the tunnel to walk under Sunrise hwy. Watch out for horse poop.

For some reason there is no 1.5 mile marker. Hmmm...

 PEACE

 Peace. Peace within one's heart. Within one's family. Within one's community. Within one's country. Within one's world. Or within this moment. Treasure the now.

We are almost to the lake!

WISH IT

Wish upon a shooting star. For all your dreams to come true.
Spend a night laying in an open field and gaze at the stars. Look for that one special star that will make your dream come true. That one that stands out from all the rest. The one that shoots out amongst all the still ones in a crowd, straight into your heart and never leaves your side, planting the pulse of love. Wish for that.

The tunnel under Southern State pkwy just before the lake.

We made it to the Lake.

A small waterfall

This duck was really jonesing for some wonder bread. When I would open my plastic bag of almonds, it would hear the rustle and immediately walk over expecting a handout of bread. I felt a little bad, but I did not have any bread and I believe feeding the ducks has been banned for awhile now. I remember as a kid, my parents would take my brother and I to feed a loaf of bread to the ducks. It was fun, but not healthy for the ducks, which we didn't know back then.

 The park has some lovely paddle boats you can rent during the summer season. They have regular boats in addition to the special swan ones. A swan adds a little extra fun to the ride.

 DREAM IT

We are at the half way mark. Do a happy dance.

 DO IT

Almost everyone is guilty of over thinking things. It can be a dangerous thing to do. Over contemplation. Sometimes it's better to just DO IT. Don't look back after it's done.

The park has a few exercise stations around the perimeter of the lake that can be fun to do if you have some extra energy to expend.

 These cannons are fun to play on as a little kid. I've never paid attention to the sign before, but was interesting to learn the history behind the cannons.

 EXCEL

 Excel. Whatever you decide to do today, decide to excel at it. "Do your best and forget the rest," as Tony Horton would say.

 IMAGINE

This post has a 70's John Lennon feel to it. Don't you think?

Much of the trail has these large bright green leaves lining along the swampy areas. They are beautiful to look at and peaked my interest. I wondered if they were edible as they look like healthy lettuce leaves. I ripped a piece off of one in curiosity. But the intensity of the smell was so strong, it deterred me from any experimental eating. Can you identify what these are?

 The internet is a wonderful learning tool. After a search, I came to the conclusion that these are called Skunk Cabbage. The smell emitted from these then made sense to me. The roots are toxic so nature gives fair warning to us not to eat them. They tend to grow in swampy areas near water.
 

 EMPOWER

We decided to cut off the trail and walk a few blocks to a pizza place in the neighborhood. With a few back and forth walks we found a pathway through the Babylon riding stables that led out onto the neighborhood streets. It is about a half mile walk to the pizza place from here. If you are up for that, you'd turn off the trail when you see the sign for the stables.

walking the streets to some pizza with a hiker appetite

A beautiful horse at the stables. I'm not sure what the purpose of the head mask is for.

Yes this slice has garlic knots on it's crust. Ingenious?

 After fueling up on our pizza, we hiked on!

 ACHIEVE

When I hear the word achieve I often think back to my school days and awards ceremonies to recognize scholastic achievements, but it applies to anything you've poured your heart and soul into and produced an end product to be proud of. It is another positive word that contains a lot of hard work behind it. A simple word for a lot of time and effort. What was your most important achievement of your life? What are you most proud of?

 ENDURE

 Congrats! You've endured the hike. A quite appropriate word for the end of a hike. When you are a beginner hiker, it can seem very difficult at first and you may want to give up or never go again. Whether it's a long distance on flat terrain, or a short distance on a very steep hill or a long distance on seemingly never ending hills, you must endure to reap the benefits. This applies not just to hiking, but anything you may encounter in life. Just know that if something seems difficult in the moment, that it will pass and you'll only come out better for it in the end.

I'm proud of my mom for enduring this hike with me as she is a newbie and I think she has caught the hiker contagion of enthusiasm.

 Here are the trip map details, with zoomed in details of the sections. The flags show places I stopped and restarted the gps. You can see we got lost a few times looking for a good place to exit on the way for pizza. Our hike ended up being over the trail length of 6 miles due to our pizza detour.

The next 3 pictures are from a hike in summer's past. I thought I'd include them as it's not often one gets to see baby ducklings. A woman saw me with my camera and had pointed them out to me.

A mother and it's offspring.

Cute little duckie :)

Hope all those who celebrate the holiday had a Happy Easter this weekend.

Links:

NYS Parks

Southard's Pond

Pizza!