The hot summer is gone. The days are gorgeous now. Time to get out and see the beauty that surrounds us.
East Hampton Village Nature Trail: 20 acres in the heart of the village with trails for walking in bird filled wetlands and along steams tickling to Hook Pond. At David’s Lane is the Duck Pond, filled year round with ducks, geese and sometimes swans, all looking for a handout. Look for a lovely little clearing with benches.
Morton National Wildlife Refuge: Off Noyac Road, Southampton. 187-acre peninsula on Noyack and Little Peconic Bays. Follow the peninsula for almost 2 miles, see painted turtles, green frogs, songbirds and osprey, long-tailed duck, piping plover, terns, and other shorebirds.
Hither Hills State Park: Montauk. A 40 acre freshwater lake, the famous “Walking Dunes,” of Napeague Harbor, the Stephen Talkhouse path, and a little reddish pond we used to call Copper Pond. Nominicks Overlook, a vantage point with views of Napeague Harbor and Gardiners Island.
Atlantic Double Dunes: Amagansett. Walk the beach for two and a half miles, with the ocean on the south and the double dune system, a unique geological formation, on the north. Two rows of dunes, swales of freshwater sustaining animal and plant life forms, including America’s only marine-edge amphibian, the Fowler’s toad. Sea grapes, wild roses and low-bush blueberries. But don’t walk on the dunes. It’s destructive.
The Long Pond Greenbelt,: Bridgehampton, Sagaponack, Sag Harbor. Try hiking from Ligonee Creek in Sag Harbor to Sagaponack Pond in Sagaponack. Yes, walk from pond to pond. See rare plants, animals, and ecological communities along a collection of thirteen coastal plain ponds. It’s not organized but check their website.
Cedar Point Lighthouse: East Hampton. Once situated on an island, the 1860 lighthouse is accessible by a narrow sandy strip created in the hurricane of 1938. The light once guided whaling ships in and out of Sag Harbor. It’s abandoned now, romantic and beautiful.