Find the top rated birding trails in East Patchogue, whether you're looking for an easy short birding trail or a long birding trail, you'll find what you're looking for. Click on a birding trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
A hidden gem in Queens. The actual Vanderbilt section might only be 3 miles but you can bike from Alley Pond Park near the tennis bubble all the way to Citifield in Flushing Meadows Corona Park. That’s more than 8 miles of biking only crossing 4 or 5 streets. All of it is through or alongside parks where cars cannot run you over. Great, underutilized trail!!!
This is not really a one long trail but a series of segmented trails. While the beginning of each segment is marked with an "OCA" post, at the end of most segments there is no indication about where to find the next thread of the trail. Often you have to go through busy suburban streets to make the connection, some of which are quite dangerous. Other reviews recommended using GPS on your phone, but Google maps only indicates where the various trail segments are and it is difficult to find out how they connect. My friend & I attempted to do the northern half of the trail from Tarrytown up to the Old Croton reservoir. When you get to the Clearview School in Scarborough, you have to ride on a very busy Rt. 9, which has no shoulder, until you can take up the trail on Scarborough Rd. When we got to Ossining, the trail ended with no indication how to continue, so we again had to ride on Rt. 9. Then my friend hit a broken drainage grate on the side of the street, which was covered with leaves so that she could not see the gap in the pavement. It threw her head-first onto the asphalt. She was knocked out for several minutes, had a concussion, was bleeding profusely and nearly broke her neck. I called an EMT which took her to a hospital, where she stayed for two days and had stitches to her face and several tests. She was lucky she was not paralyzed (thanks to wearing a helmet). Exercise GREAT caution if you take the Ossining part of the trail. Some of the other segments are O.K. but some of them are just like riding through peoples' backyards.
Great trail. Southern section paving is beautiful. Trail is clean with surprisingly little litter or debris. Some sections in southern Westchester seem like they laid pavement directly on top of the old rail road ties, but newer sections are very smooth. Safe for family rides with minimal road crossings. Mostly flat or shallow grade (up to 100’ per mile). Beautiful scenery through parks. Too bad that this route does not continue South through Van Cortlandt Park and connect into the bike networks of Manhattan. (About 2 miles away.) Some sections are very near the Saw Mill Parkway and Major Deegan. Parts of the Saw Mill / Bronx River still need cleanup. And access points in southern Westchester to the towns are not great. (Be prepared to street ride if you want refreshements.)
I did the southern part of the trail from Massapequa park to Bethpage park. While the scenery and lakes are nice, the trail needs repair. There are many cracks and bumps especially near the beginning of trail. Also there are several road crossings but cars were careful to yield to cyclists.
This trail is great for biking but there are a lot of people who use it for walking.
A nice 23 mile up and back from soundview. The most scenic part being from bronxville north to the dam. Definitely have a map handy though, as you will need to do street riding a few times. There are some hilly portions that will get you into gear changing which is nice. Bronxville has a great downtown with food options if you need to stop for a break. If this trail is ever connected it would be 5 stars for me. Solid ride and the dam at the conclusion is quite impressive.
It is perfect for quick morning ride with nice view.
We started at Tait road entrance around 4:30 pm. Path was leafy but dry and good with great views.
The southern half of the trail is great - smooth, not too steep, and mostly shaded. The northern half, until you reach the North County Trail, is terrible. Cracked, potholes, and sunken spots that are hard to see for almost the entirety of the trail.
I am an experienced cyclist who doesn't mind hills and other challenges. My wife is a casual rider who likes mostly flat, but not boringly flat, rides.
I drove almost an hour to scout out this trail for one of the leisurely rides we like to do together. After literally two minutes, I turned around and rode back to my car.
This trail is NOT suitable for occasional cyclists, beginners, older riders, or younger riders. In fact, I don't really know WHO it is good for, as for someone like me who can live with a few hills, it is way too short.
Perhaps if it, at least, led somewhere scenic or lined with coffee and pie shops, it might be worth the effort. However, it appears to start in the middle of nowhere and end in the middle of nowhere.
I gave it two stars instead of one on the chance that it might get better after the first thousand feet I covered. You'll have to find out for yourself. I'm not going back.
We rode from Sleepy Hollow High School to the Croton Dam and back on 9 26 20, total 22 miles round trip.
This is quite a varied trail experience. First, there are several on-road segments that connect the trail sections. The trail itself was mostly hard packed dirt, with some gravel...you need a trail bike or a mountain bike. Basically flat, but some of the road crossings had ups and downs and there were a few slightly hilly areas too.
It’s a complicated route, you definitely need a map or a Ride With GPS route or something similar….trail has signs but not always marked clearly. Old Croton Aqueduct.org has a lot of info.
The first section, from Sleepy Hollow High School to Scarborough was all off road. Once in Scarborough, we took a detour down River Road, to Creighton, to Scarborough Station Road to avoid a section right along Route 9. Crossing Route 9 at Scarborough Road, you ride on-road up a small hill to Long Hill Street, where you pick the trail up again. This section ends in the parking lot of an apartment building You’ll need to cross Route 9 and make your way diagonally through Nelson Park and Nelson Sitting Park to Spring Street in Ossining. After a couple of blocks we took a right on Maple Street and then on the left you’ll see the trail proceed between buildings…sort of like a walkway. This “walkway” continues through Ossining, over a nice high bridge and eventually ends up out by the Northside fire house, where you pick up the trail again. The next big cue will be crossing Route 9 again at Audubon Street, you ride on road up to Piping Rock, take a left, and pick up the trail shortly on the right, finally coming out on Ogden drive. Turn left, ride on road to Old Albany Post Road, turn right, pass under the highway, and then you have the choice of turning right on Shady Lane Farm Road and picking up the trail to go around the GE property (this was very rough, hilly, and difficult) or staying on road, riding uphill and turning right on Hillcrest Road. Both options take you out to Indian Brook Service Road, where you’ll again pick up the trail and follow it to the Croton Dam, passing over Quaker Ridge Street a number of times.
The area through Rockefeller Park and Scarborough is really nice, including that off road detour in Scarborough where you can see the river behind some nice houses. The section next to Rockefeller park is really beautiful, you can see the hiking trails of the park from the Aqueduct. And the section immediately before you reach the dam is nice too, pretty wide, nice tree-lined stretch. I have to say though that the section to get to that (around the GE offices) is rough. And you have to ride through downtown Ossining, not hard but not of course a real trail, and there’s one section where you have to walk your bike up and over some steps. So, all in all – sort of a mixed review, some really nice sections and views but be aware that there are some challenging sections and on road sections too. And please note that there’s a whole other section south of here that goes all the way to NYC.
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