For the last two years, I have been visiting the North Sea, Roses Grove, and Noyac area with painting tools, bringing along my wife and stepsons, friends and volunteers to paint the white rectangle blazes of the Paumanok Path on the trees so people can follow it; one rectangle blaze on a tree for straight ahead, or two blazes with the top one offset in the direction of a turn. Ken Bieger and Tony Garro of the Southampton Trails Preservation Society cut the trail (call Ken Bieger to volunteer 631-283-5432).  My friend John offered to walk this new 6-mile section with me so we could check the blazing.  We would walk west from Laurel Valley to the Youth Center.  John and I met at the Southampton Youth Services Center on Majors Path located 0.6 mile north of Mary’s Lane, south of Great Hill Road.  We left my car in the parking lot. 

If you’d like to take this hike:

Meet at the SYS parking lot, there are bathroom facilities in the lobby of the building. Drive one car up the driveway to Majors Path and turn right on Noyack Road.  Travel several miles to Deerfield Road where you turn right.  Travel less than a mile south on Deerfield Road to the Laurel Valley County Park kiosk.  You can park on the Deerfield Road shoulder by the kiosk, opposite the entrance to North Side Hills or on the Deerwood Path road shoulder inside the North Side Hills Development.   

To head west on the Paumanok Path, cross Deerfield Road towards North Side Hills.  Here the Paumanok Path goes around a vernal pond and comes out onto Deerwood Path; turn left.  White blazes are on the road surface; turn right onto Northside Drive.  Blazing is on trees, pipes, the metal posts of signs and other structures.  Continue on Northside Drive a short distance past where it intersects with Rolling Hill Court.  Soon you will see a turn blaze on a tree leading to the left where the trail enters the woods.  You are in the woods for a short distance then a right turn blaze takes you out to Rolling Hill Court for 100’ where you turn left into a dense laurel, oak woods.  Travel through a wide preserved parcel that narrows down to a corridor between backyards.  When you come out onto Laurel Valley Drive, a sparsely developed cul-de-sac, turn right; walk past the Northside Drive intersection and continue to the end of Laurel Valley Drive into a straight bulldozed woods road.  Some of the blazes look different here; Ken Bieger is experimenting with plastic tape trail blazes.  The blazes are well placed and the sharp edges of the tape make the white rectangles stand out.  After about 0.4 miles note some dead trees and disturbed woods. Here a left turn blaze takes you up an incline and across a small paved driveway and then onto a sandy woods road.  At this point the trail corridor narrows; you will see swimming pools and tennis courts.  Soon however the corridor becomes wider, and you come out onto Roses Grove Road.  Walk straight across Roses Grove Road onto Weidner Lane.  There are no blazes on Weidner Road; head into the woods where Weidner bends at a right angle.  Soon you will cut straight across Turtle Pond Road; the trail comes within a few feet of a newly built home.  At this point you are in a very narrow corridor with “No Trespassing” signs nearby.  As long as you stay on the trail, you are not trespassing.  When you come out of this corridor cross over Water Mill Towd Road onto Old Sag Harbor Road.  There is a blaze on a stop sign, a speed limit sign, and then you will see a left turn blaze on a “Children at Play” sign.  Enter into a young oak woods with plenty of low bush blueberry.  Follow a right turn blaze onto a woods road. The Path takes a right turn off the woods road; travel up a hill between two houses.  Soon you cross over Great Hill Road onto a trail with deep ravines and follow the trail to a large split rock, where you turn right onto Split Rock Road.  After traveling a fair distance on this straight, wide woods road the trail heads north towards the SYS Center and Majors Path.  When you reach a black cyclone fence near a corner, head down the left leg of the fence.  If you head in the correct direction you will see the roof of the SYS Center and then a little further along look for a panoramic view of Peconic Bay.