Long Island Gardening Community Resource

Every year that goes by, I find more and more great places to visit on the island. From the sandy beaches of the south shore to the the rocky beaches of the north shore, it goes without being said that Long Island displays a vast diversified lanscape. Yes, Suburbia is knocking down any open spaces that are left, but not all. There are many people fighting to preserve the very reason people move out here in the first place, “to get some peace and quiet (and open spaces).” It’s not upstate, but certainly a great getaway from the New York City madness.

My goal is to make an ongoing list of great places to visit on the island for pure enjoyment and to show my support for these amazing natural places still thriving here. Since I am an avid hiker (from Nassau County!?), I will start there and rattle off a few places to get away from the craziness of say…Old Country Road (or any other major road). This list will be updated as I find more great places to go. I must give credit to a gentleman named Lee McCallister for writing the book “Hiking Long Island,” for without it, I would have gotten lost at trail junctions even more times than usual. No, seriously, this book has opened my eyes to the fascinating places to go for a hike. It is a “must read” (more like a comes-in-handy book) for anyone interested in detailed descriptions of the trails, history and geology, Flora and Fauna and where to find the chickadees that will fly over to you, land on your outstretched hand and eat right off your hand..sooo cool!!! I also saw him give a speech about the Paumanok Trail the night before my big 53 mile hike (on the Paumanok). So without further adoo , adeu, (no idea how to spell that) I present:

Great Places to take a Hike on Long Island

Nassau County Section

Welwyn Preserve
Beautiful Place to go for an afternoon walk in the woods and then onto the north shore beach. Located in Glen Cove, you will come across an abandoned building (which we think was an old school/greenhouse). Other interesting things I noticed: small ponds with loads of frogs and other wildlife, beautiful old growth trees, and loads of berries. Not a huge place but worth the go if you live around there. It has become a whimsical favorite of mine. Heres a cool site that describes Welwyn a bit more.

Nassau-Suffolk Greenbelt Trail
Here is the description that the Long Island Greenbelt Trail Conference gives it. They help to maintain the trails and if you care about preserving our open spaces, you need to join up with them ($20/year goes a long way). Heres their description:

“From steep hills to old fields to quiet wetlands, this 20-mile National Recreation Trail offers surprising diversity. From Cold Spring Harbor, where mountain laurels bloom in June, the trail crosses Long Island to Massapequa Preserve watershed, where dozens of species of birds stop on their fall and spring migrations. Paths for mountain bikers parallel parts of this trail, and a loop in the Plainview area provides a connection with the Walt Whitman Trail.”

I like doing the stretch from Cold Spring Harbor to Jericho Turnpike, basically from the North Shore to Mid Island or vice versa. My girlfriend and I take two cars. Park one at Jericho Turnpike and drive up to Rt. 25A in Cold Spring Harbor and park the other car there.

It starts off real hilly (that’s what i really like). Its one of my favorite places to go. In Cold Spring Harbor, the Greenbelt Trail also links up with a trail that goes right into the Nature Conservancy (another fantastic place on the island). When I get into those hills, I feel like I’ve entered into a different world, a magical land of rolling hills and humongous rhododendrum forests, huge beautiful beech trees. I feel like a visitor in a world of chipmonks. Then, once I cross Rt. 108, it gets a little swampy, but beautiful still. As I walk the terrain flattens out and I pass through Stillwell Woods (a big mountain biking area). Its nice but a bit noisy at times. Then there is a nice open field, a good sunny spot. And a nice walk back to the other lot with, if your lucky, a boat load of wild blackberries.

If you want to keep going, the trail continues, actually, all the way down to Sunrise Highway. Although, after Bethpage State Park, it turns into a paved trail. One day I walked from Plainview to Cold Spring Harbor and had my friend pick me up there. That was a real nice, long hike and really gave me a feel for the area. I used to live in Plainview. There is an entry to the trail on Haypath Rd. and leads right to Bethpage State Park. I wake up really early before work, bike up to the trail, 1/2 mile later in Bethpage State Park, pickup the paved trail amd ride until Sunrise Highway and ride back in half hour to 45min.

And another time I rode my bike from my friends house in Syosset into Plainview and picked up the trail just as before and rode down to Merrick Rd. From there we rode west a bit until we hit Cedar Creek Park. From there, there is an entrance onto the Jones Beach Causeway (right along the Wantaugh Parkway) until we hit Jones Beach (right by the theatre). It’s nice to ride down there and hang on the beach for a while and then bike back (or have someone come pick you up as we did).