Mileage: 8 miles
Difficulty: Easy (moderate for Long Island)
Wildlife: Deer, ticks, birds, frogs, spiders
 |
| Summertime Flowers |
This is my favorite place to hike on Long Island when I want solitude. You can almost forget you're on Long Island here when you're in the middle of the woods. I almost want to keep it a secret and not include it on this blog :) I'm not quite sure why there are so few hikers on this trail when I go. In the many times that I have gone, I've seen maybe 2 other hikers on the entirety of the trails, but that's ok by me. It lets me run as wild and free as I want. :) The park also has a great mountain bike trail here and there are always mountain bikers parked out by the trail head, but the hiking trails are just as nice. It makes for an easy drive as well, heading away from the city and out more towards eastern LI.
The map in the link I included at the bottom of this post shows different paths you may take. I usually do the Yellow/White to the orange loop, which is about 8 miles. I added in some spurts of interval running this time and got my total time down to 2 hours for the 8 miles. It helped that this last one was done close to sunset so it was a rush to finish before dark. It is a pretty mellow hike with mild ups and downs. I find that running in the woods alone is one of the most freeing and uplifting things I've experienced. It brings me back to my childhood of running around and playing with the freedom of no constraints tying me down. I find as I run a smile appears on my face that I can't wipe off until my energy is fully expended. It is one of the greatest sources of happiness.
 |
| Winter Pines |
 |
| One of the hills |
 |
| Twilight Darkness |
The only downside I find with this hike in the summertime is that there are many, MANY spiderwebs. As there are so few people on the trails, there are constant spiderwebs strung between the trees on the path. I must have walked through a minimum of 20 webs! So be prepared.
My favorite spot on this trail is a little section towards the beginning just before the intersection with the orange trail. It takes you through a small grove of pine trees and it feels as if you enter another magical world for a few minutes as you pass through.
What I like about this hike also, is that there is a lot of wildlife. You are 99.9% guaranteed to see deer prance through the woods. They are very quick here I notice though and run away quickly at the first sound. The deer I had seen in the catskills on the other hand had stood there staring at me until I left. There are also many ticks. On a previous hike here, I spotted a very tiny tick crawling on my arm on the drive home and had to pull over to swipe it off. It was the smallest tick I had seen thus far.
This park is also the location of where bodies have been found last year, that could have a connection to the Gilgo Beach killings, but no definite link has been made. article here Maybe this could be a reason for the scarcity of hikers, but I doubt it. It adds a dexter-ish kind of fear to your hike doesn't it? Makes you hike a little bit faster? ha
Anyway I would still highly recommend this hike to Long Islanders who like hiking and trail running. It's worth the little bit of a drive's out of the way. Check it out!
I'm not sure about other hikers out there, but I know for the good majority of the second half of my hikes, my thoughts tend to drift mostly to food! What am I going to eat after the hike?? Another favorite part of this hike for me is that there is a nice all vegetarian chinese take out place on the way back home that has some pretty awesome lo mein. It's a new addition to LI called Vege Favor located in Islip and is all non-GMO and that good stuff. Check it out here if you're into good health! http://www.vegefavor.com/
(I've included pictures for this post from both the recent hike today and past ones in the previous year.)
 |
| Resting Spot |
 | |||
| This is a feather I found on one of my hikes here. What animal can it be from??? Any ideas? |
Links:
Trails
Listen for this car drive: Rich Roll Pod Cast http://www.richroll.com/
Music driving the hike: Bush - Razorblade Suitcase and Golden State albums
No comments:
Post a Comment