Welcome. You have found yourself wondering on the first installment of Happy Trails. Whether you are a biker, hiker, photographer, or pack of wild teenagers looking for an out of the way nature spot to hang out in, this blog may be for you. Every two weeks, I will be visiting a trail or nature reserve, mainly on Long Island. I will do my best to show you the pros and cons of the land, as well as share some of the cool stuff I find buried in the trees along the way.
This first week's trail is located in Coram, NY, sandwiched between a busy Route 112 and a residential Mill Road. It is maintained by the Town of Brookhaven and is named after David Overton, an early settler in this particular area of Long Island around the mid-1700s. While this trail is made for the biking community, there is nothing stopping anyone from walking it, skipping down it, or even crab-walking the entire thing (while I wouldn't recommend this.) Personally, without a bike rack on my vehicle, I decided to walk it.
There are two entrances to this set of trails. One is located on Route 112 and the other on Mill Road. I entered on the side of the former and was immediately greeted with a billboard set up by the town, where anyone can leave flyers of their choice. At this current point, it has several flyers for religious groups, local addiction support groups, and bands in town. As you walk into the actual trail, you are immediately met with a Robert Frost poem. Either you take the main road straight ahead, or the "one less traveled by," to the right. Because I've always been a follower, I went on the main road. This trail is full of intersections and opportunities to take different and more secluded paths. I took several of the trails, which are labeled by biking signs nailed to the trees. They display the distance of the circuit, the difficulty level for bike riders, and how close you are to both parking lots.
While this trail is by a relatively busy road, there is little to no road noise once you get even 50 feet into the park. It was a particularly peacefully trip. I only saw one other human being along the entire 2 hours that I was out there.
The trail is full of beautifully tall trees, colorful flowers, and the occasional animal. Towards the end of my journey, I even ran into a deer that stared directly into my soul and told my future. I apologize in advance for the quality of the photo, as it was taken with my smartphone.
Finally, I leave you with a cautionary tale that everyone should take note of. If you are walking this trail or any trail, wear boots, or thick socks that you tuck your pant legs into. I left this park with incredibly itchy ankles from little microscopic bugs called chiggers that had a Thanksgiving feast on my legs that lasted for the whole week.
Overall, the David Overton Biking Trail is a peaceful and secluded triangle of land that you can spend a few hours wandering in. Below I have attached the photos I took during my hike.
Pros: scenery, quiet, marked trails for bikers with distance and difficulty, possibility for deer sightings, and a cannon (that I unfortunately never found, but I heard of its existence from others).