Day #17 on the Paumanok Path...

We were out on the trail Wednesday morning, a little before 7 am, to get ahead of the heat that was expected. We parked my jeep on Upland Road, and headed back to Napeague Harbor Road to begin our long day.  This section, by far, was our FAVORITE piece of the trail.
The trail put us directly into Hither Hills State Park, with some beautiful scenery on the trail. After two and a half miles in, we came across this beautiful body of water, named Fresh Pond. This area was serene and beautiful, in spite of the overcast skies.

Just before hitting mile 3, we crossed over Fresh Pond Landing Road, and came across another informational sign about history in this area.  A man named Stephen Talkhouse was written about, with a sign posted. You can read about him HERE.  We walked another 2 miles, with the trail just a few steps away from the edge of a cliff overlooking Napeague Bay.  We heard the seagulls, the waves crashing, the birds chirping ~ it was amazing. The view was breathtaking from each overlook point we came across.



They became pretty clever with where they placed the white blazes, like this one seen on a rock! The trail was clearly marked and awesome to travel on.  We were surprised on how high up we were, as the path down to the water if one chose to go, was really steep!

The trail continued to weave in and out of shrubs and trees hugging the coast. It was not too hot, or buggy.  Parts of the trail were like walking through a cave as you can see from the last picture below, while others were on the edge of the cliff.  It was spectacular.

 After these great views, with about 7 . 5 miles hiked, we reached Rocky Point, which is funny because that is the name of the town where we began this trail.  This was the point at which the trail returned into the woods, and we began heading south towards Rte. 27 again.  The temperature dropped a little, and bursts of cool air would touch us sporadically. At the 8 mile mark, we entered into Hither Woods Preserve and the trail remained in this preserve for just under 2 miles. This was yet another beautiful, scenic part of the trail.

Rocky Point

Hither Woods Preserve

 With a little over 9 miles hiked, we exited the preserve, crossed railroad tracks, and continued through the woods towards our endpoint.  Fatigue was beginning to set in, as we were about to approach the 10 mile mark.  We found a few interesting things to see in the woods.

The last two miles brought us south to Montauk Highway, with the trail running just inside the woods, parallel to the highway.  We exited out onto Upland Road, where my jeep was waiting for us. It was a long day, but we set ourselves up for the grand finale on Saturday, the 26th.  You can view our progress on the map below.

 We are excited, and happy to announce that we will complete the Paumanok Path this weekend. It took us 18 hiking days, and have over 116 miles under our feet.  We will set out early in the morning, finish up the 9 miles we have left, and celebrate with our families in Montauk for the day.  Stay tuned for our final post of the Paumanok Path Adventures that have taken us from Rocky Point to MOntauk Point this summer.

Until Next Time,
Rosa & The Thruhiker's Wife