Prosser Pines Preserve

It was another beautiful September day, so I decided to explore Prosser Pines in Middle Island. The actual loop trail is not long, (listed in most Long Island hiking books as about .8 of a mile) but I wasn’t looking for anything arduous, just something to get me out into the woods. And what better place to connect with nature than walking through a pine forest!

According to the South Shore Estuary Reserve Council, Prosser Pines is “one of the oldest surviving pine plantations in the eastern U.S. The pines were planted in 1812 on farmland. The seedlings came from a neighbor’s farm, descendants of pine seedlings brought from Quebec in 1759 by an officer in the French and Indian War.” And so I began my walk, not only walking underneath pines that were hundreds of years old but wandering past areas were the next generation was claiming it’s own space.

One of the things I enjoyed about this walk, is that the floor of a pine forest is relatively clean. In another words, one does not have to worry about encountering that smallest creature that puts fear into the hearts of even the bravest hiker – ticks! With little undergrowth, I could wander off-trail and explore some of the wonders that this preserve offered, such as the fungus covering the remains of a fallen tree.

When I had gained some elevation, I gazed down through the trees and watched three deer running along the fence before they disappeared further into the woods. Shortly after, a man with two dogs appeared – obviously the reason for the skittish behavior of the deer. Soon, the trail curved and there were my four legged friends again, blocking my way. The four of us stopped and stared at each other for a time, before I made a slight motion which caused them to turn and run.

Throughout the preserve there was still reminders of the damage caused by Super Storm Sandy almost 11 months ago. As I approached one particularly large uprooted specimen I noticed that one side of the root was a much lighter color than the rest of the trunk. As I came around this tree, I noticed that the off color patch actually had 2 legs attached and realized I was staring at the back end of a young deer. The poor thing was attempting to hide from the two dogs on the trail below us. As the dogs approached the young deer looked back at me before bolting away.

A splash of color caused me to wander off the trail again for further exploration. As I approached, I discovered small blue flowers arrayed in a color I would not normally associate with this time of year. I believe they were some type of Dayflower.

After about an hour of traveling; sometimes along the marked loop trail, sometimes an some other unmarked trail and occasionally off the trail completely, I arrived back at the entrance. Just inside the entrance to the preserve were two rather large red benches which I had passed when I began my journey. Now that I had completed my excursion I thought that these benches would have been better place at the far end of the loop, where the wanderer could pause deep in the woods and observe the gifts this tiny place had to offer.

Frank Melville Park – September

It was one of those beautiful, clear days in September that brought autumn days to mind. My schedule dictated an early release from work, so with a cool breeze blowing I decided to take a late afternoon walk at the Frank Melville Park in Setauket. Early in the spring, I had walked around the pond during my lunch hour, but now, with more time on my hands I decided to explore the preserve as well.

The first half of my walk took me around the pond. I don’t know if it was the time of day or the time of year but there seemed to be a wildlife convention going on. A good portion of the pond was filled with geese swimming lazily about, swans nibbling on the algae near the bridge and turtles resting on logs. Perhaps they all knew it was time to re-fuel or rest up before the next season came upon them. The autumn season was already tugging on the trees lining the pond, subduing the greens of summer with a hint of rust on their leaves.

All around the pond there were patches of Spotted Jewel-weed, looking a little tired at this time of year. Continuing on, I was surprised to find some Honeysuckle still exhibiting a healthy display of white flowers. The late summer flowers were all making a valiant effort to display their brilliant colors before the bright colors of autumn set in.

At the back end of the pond, there is an old grist mill. When I walked around the pond in early spring, the wheel had been removed, either for repairs or to prevent damage over the winter. On this day, it was in place and turning slowly, matching the lazy mood of the day. The door of the mill has a scene painted on the window panels. It is a scene that has captured the essence of Long Island.

Next to the grist mill is the entrance to the preserve and located just within the boundary of the preserve is a bench. It calls out an invitation to the passerby to sit and meditate on the different worlds of the park and preserve.

Shortly after entering the preserve I came across a rather small Pokeweed, still dressed in delicate white flowers. I was rather surprised at this find since most of the Pokeweed I have come across in the last few weeks has grown several feet tall; flowers long gone and berries almost completely consumed by the local wildlife.

The trail eventually led to an open area with benches arranged in a way to allow the traveler to rest a while; absorbing the restorative powers of nature. This was the far end of the preserve. As the path led back towards the pond, there were short side paths leading towards the marsh. Taking one of these paths, I was able to observe  the activity of dragonflies and other insects reflected in the late afternoon sunlight.

As I neared the end of my walk, I discovered a Damselfly resting on a leaf. It stayed long enough for me to get a decent picture and then moved on. Even though my walk was less than 1.5 miles, I had taken an hour to enjoy what nature had to offer.

Brookhaven State Park – Green Trail

After accomplishing some hikes that actually gained elevation, I decided that it was time to try and add distance to our relatively flat hikes. We decided to hike the green trail in Brookhaven State Park, which is the longest of the three trails located there. Somehow, I keep forgetting that hiking in the pine barren area of Long Island means hiking on trails that consist of sand, and hiking over 5 miles on sand was a bit ambitious. Sections of this trail where so sandy that at one point my hiking partner commented that maybe I should have put the snow cups on my hiking poles; this on top of adding weight to the leg press and hip machines the day before. Needless to say this generated all sorts of complaints from my leg muscles for days following this hike.

As we walked along the first half of the trail, we noticed that the ground cover of ferns that were so green (with the occasional brown fern) back in June were now completely brown; the ferns declaring the season over for another year.  The weather this year must have been conducive for Wintergreen and Indian Pipe growth because they were everywhere. I have never seen so many groups of Indian Pipes in one area! A little further on we came upon an interesting yellow flower, which after going back and forth at a number of my favorite identification sites, I think is some kind of golden rod.

About an hour into our walk we reached the first of three ponds that are located in the park. The first was Lake Panamoka, just visible through the trees. The late afternoon sunlight and some dead trees partially obstructing our view, gave the lake a ghostly appearance. We continued on and passed an un-named pond that sits under the high tension wires before arriving at Tarkill Pond. We commented that the water level looked a bit low yet I don’t recall this being an exceptionally dry summer.

Once we passed the ponds, we entered an area consisting of short densely packed scrub oaks. The trail was lower here than the surrounding area and with the dense vegetation on either side of the trail I couldn’t help but feel a little claustrophobic. Despite the starkness of the trail itself, we still found some wildflowers in bloom which added some beauty to the area. We located some late summer flowers which I believe were Fern Leaved False Foxgloves. As in the beginning of our hike with the Indian Pipes, once we came across a specific type flower we would notice an abundance of them as we traveled on.

When the trail changed from sand to hard dirt and the Scrub Oak thinned out we located some Late Purple American Aster, which has less flower petals than a New England American Aster. Unfortunately the picture does not do justice to the deep purple color of this flower. It was a pleasure to see so many flowers in bloom this late in the season. I guess this is another lesson on being aware of my surroundings; to realize that plants do not stop blooming at the end of summer but continue bringing pleasure to our lives well  into the fall season.

The beauty I saw on this walk more than made of for the  2.5 hour arduous 5.3 mile walk through some sandy conditions.

Carriage Trail

After hiking Bald Rock Mountain twice within three days, I decided to go for something a little easier and suggested the Carriage Trail, another trail within the Camden Hills State Park. The Carriage Trail is located on Route 52 about 1.5 miles from Route 1. The description I read somewhere (on an old map I had obtained years ago at the Chamber of Commerce) describes the trail as easy to moderate with great views at the top. If I had read this a little more closely, I would have recalled that the “easy to moderate” hike was towards Mount Battie, and not towards Ocean Overlook.

We parked our car on the shoulder of Route 52 near the trail head and began our hike on a nice, easy, fairly flat trail. Unlike the Multi-Use Trail for Bald Rock Mountain, the incline was so gradual we couldn’t tell we were ascending the hill. We crossed several bridges; some over streams, some just logs laid down to protect the hiker from tramping through a few very muddy sections.

Once we crossed the bridges we had a choice of continuing on the Carriage Trail or taking the Carriage Road Trail towards Mount Battie and this was probably our first mistake. The trail began to curve around and began a slightly steeper ascent, noticeably following the lines of the mountain. The terrain of the trail changed from smooth ground to a trail strewn with rocks. Still, the climb was not too bad at this point and it was worth a stop to admire the wooded scenery.

After a short time, the Carriage Trail intersected with the Tablelands Trail and that is where things began to get interesting. Now, I figured, since I was ten months out from my hip replacement and we had successfully maneuvered Bald Rock Mountain I would be up to this “easy” hike. It is ironic that I chose this hike because I thought there were some rough patches on the Maiden Cliff Trail that I would not be able to climb. So I was not expecting to find a point on the trail where the trail marker pointed straight up.

Somehow, I did make it up this portion of the trail but I was wondering how I was going to get down. I am not ashamed to say, that on the descent there were some sections that I used the “butt approach” to get down some of the more difficult sections that would have broken all hip precautions. One of my hiking experts has assured me that this is a perfectly legitimate approach to coming down a mountain. Once we climbed this rather rough patch, we cleared the woods and emerged on the “tablelands”, an area covered with flat, smooth boulders.

We continued across the Tablelands, accomplished a few more steep climbs and finally found ourselves on Ocean Lookout. My hiking partner continued up to the Megunticook Summit while I admired the view. From where I sat I could look down on both Camden Harbor and Mount Battie.

After resting a bit we made our descent. As mentioned above, I am standing by my expert consultant’s opinion of a legitimate approach to making a descent. It had taken us about 2 hours to make the ascent and 1.5 hours to come back down.