Explore Long Island's best nature trails this fall

On a fine autumn day, Long Island offers a variety of nature trails resplendent with fall color, wildlife and other natural wonders for those who want to get out and take a hike.

The Long Island Greenbelt Trail Conference maintains and offers guided hikes of 200 miles of trails across the Island, said David Reisfield, president of the nonprofit conservation group headquartered at Blydenburgh County Park in Smithtown. For a list of upcoming fall hikes, visit ligreenbelt.org.

If you want to head out on your own, here are trails to try for wildlife encounters (including the occasional coyote), panoramic water views, kid-friendly trails and off-the-beaten path larks.

Kid-friendly trails

Sweetbriar Nature Center

62 Eckernkamp Dr., Smithtown

Younger hikers can see a veritable menagerie of wild furry or feathered friends on the animal rescue organization’s child-friendly sections of two miles of wildlife trails. The quarter-mile Chipmunk Trail features stops telling a seasonal story and lots of chipmunk sightings.

Chipmunks as well as squirrels, birds and turtles abound around the Lower River Trail, with half-mile and mile-long options and scenery such as a natural spring with little waterfalls, said Veronica Sayers, program coordinator.

• COST Free
• OPEN The preserve and nature center are open daily from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
• MORE INFO 631-979-6344, sweetbriarnc.org

Connetquot River State Park Preserve

4090 Sunrise Hwy., Oakdale

Reisfield calls the 3,473-acre preserve one of Long Island’s “great family hikes,” and not only for its main attraction, the historic fish hatchery where kids can feed trout raised to stock Long Island streams. Visitors to the hatchery can follow the river along a new raised wheelchair-accessible boardwalk.

Before and after a hike along the preserve’s 50 miles of trails, tour the South Side Sportsmen's Club Historic House where U.S. presidents and millionaires once played ($4) or see 19th century technology such as a churning water wheel inside a restored, water-powered grist mill (free).

• COST Parking $8 daily through Oct. 16; weekends from Oct. 17-Nov.15.
• OPEN Tuesdays to Sundays: 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. through Oct. 16, 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 17 through May 2. Closed Mondays.
• MORE INFO 631-581-1005, parks.ny.gov

Near the water/beach

Norman J. Levy Park & Preserve

1600 Merrick Rd., Merrick

Located at Exit M9 of the Meadowbrook Parkway, Levy Park was transformed in 2000 from a former town landfill site, into a 52-acre public space, plant and wildlife sanctuary built entirely from recycled materials. Paved trails lead up a moderately easy grade to a plateau-like parkland that’s 155 feet high at its center — one of the highest natural points in Nassau County.

Take in views stretching from the New York City skyline to the Jones Beach State Park Tower in Wantagh. The trail continues around duck ponds and a windmill before heading back to the parking lot.

• COST Free
• OPEN Daily 
• MORE INFO 516-804-2000, hempsteadny.gov

Sunken Forest 

Fire Island National Seashore, Sailors Haven Visitor's Center, Fire Island

To explore this gem, hop on the Sayville Ferry Service (41 River Rd., Sayville; 631-589-0810, sayvilleferry.com), which runs Saturdays, Sundays and Columbus Day to Sailors Haven on Fire Island (round-trip, $10-$18). The Sunken Forest is not actually “sunken,” but it looks that way because it’s hidden by high sand dunes from the surrounding Atlantic Ocean and Great South Bay. To get there, take the ferry across the bay and pick up a trail guide in the visitor center.

From there, follow a paved footpath and boardwalk through a globally rare maritime forest of American holly trees, some estimated to be up to three centuries old. There are also sassafras, oaks, black cherry and other trees, none of which grow taller than the dunes shielding them.

• COST Free
• OPEN Visitor center open Wednesdays to Sundays, 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m., through September; closed October through Memorial Day weekend
• MORE INFO 631-597-6183, nps.gov/fiis

Wildlife in nature

Muttontown Preserve

25A west of Jericho-Oyster Bay Road, Muttontown Lane, East Norwich

The preserve’s miles of trails through fields and woodlands follow “a very beginner-friendly trail system,” said Glen Malings, of Muttontown, president of the Long Island Orienteering Club and a contributor to Stroll Muttontown magazine. Numbered wooden posts guide hikers along the 0.7-mile Upland Woods Trail and the 0.9-mile Goldenrod Field Trail.

The abundant birdlife includes orioles, thrushes, catbirds, warblers, and red-tailed and Cooper’s hawks, Malings said. “Coyotes have been spotted [inside the preserve] recently,” he added. Another curiosity: the 2½-mile trail known as King Zog's Loop that includes the vine-covered ruins of an Albanian monarch’s former estate.

• COST Free
• OPEN Daily, sunrise to sunset
• MORE INFO nassaucountyny.gov

Caumsett State Historic Park Preserve, Fisherman’s Drive

25 Lloyd Harbor Rd., Huntington

The wide dirt road anglers take to Caumsett’s Long Island Sound beach also has caught on as a nature hiker’s trail, Malings said. Fisherman’s Drive begins directly across from the main parking area (pick up a trail map at the kiosk). It “goes downhill gradually toward the water” and connects to many side trails that also lead to the water, Malings said.

One offshoot trail starts next to a pair of benches at the bottom of the Fisherman’s Drive hill and leads through what Malings calls “fern gully,” which he describes as “ferns as far as the eye can see.” Other trails are so remote that “baby deer are often found sleeping on the trail,” he said. Hikers can continue on a trail along the bluff or walk along the beach until they see the preserve’s historic mansion. From there, take the main road back to the parking area.

• COST Parking $8 weekends and holidays through Oct. 12
• OPEN Daily, year-round, sunrise to sunset
• MORE INFO 631-423-1770, parks.ny.gov

Under the radar

Coffin Woods/North Shore Wildlife Conservancy

90 Oyster Bay Rd., Matinecock

One of Malings’ favorite off-the-beaten-path hiking spots, this 73-acre woodland park abutting Portledge School was originally part of General Electric Company chair Charles Coffin’s estate.

It contains oak, beech, tulip and red maple trees and wetlands with a small pond and box turtles. “It’s hilly and the trails are very well maintained,” Malings said. Leashed dogs are allowed.

• COST Free
• OPEN Daily except Fridays, sunrise to sunset
• MORE INFO 516-671-0283, nswildlifesanctuary.org

Bethpage State Park

99 Quaker Meeting House Rd., Farmingdale

The state park renowned for its famously difficult Black Course also offers plenty of challenges for hikers. It has “probably the largest network of trails” on Long Island with hiking trails “all over” its 1,500 acres, Reisfield said.

There are 15 miles of trails, on terrain varying from flat to hilly. Like the golf courses, the trails are color-coded — orange, pink, red, yellow and dotted. Several trails overlook or follow the perimeter of the Black Course.

• COST Parking $8 weekends and holidays through Nov. 8
• OPEN Daily, year-round, sunrise to sunset
• MORE INFO 516-249-0701, parks.ny.gov