Walks in the Woods: Knolls Park and the Barbara Frost Trail

“Ok deer, I’m going to pass now.” 

It was the first time I’ve spoken to a deer. This particular one, a female holding firm in the middle of the trail and not breaking for a second her eye contact with me, was chewing on some leaves as I neared the end of my nature walk in Knolls Park in East Northport. 

I’ve been “popping” into Knolls Park for years: during my daughter’s soccer practice, with my dog, with my family, or on a solo jaunt while listening to my favorite podcast. Every time I am left grateful for this little slice of nature right here in my backyard. Every time I see or smell or encounter something new – a snake, the sweet scent of mountain laurel, a small mammal’s skull I have yet to identity, that fearless deer. 

Part of the Veterans Park complex on Bellerose Avenue, Knolls Park was acquired by both Suffolk County and the Town of Huntington in December 2000, through the Town EOSPA, County Greenways/Active Recreation, County Land Preservation Partnership and Drinking Water Protection programs. Formerly a part of the Northport Veterans Administration property, the land was proposed for a 61-lot housing development before the town and county acquired it. 

In the southernmost portion of the park are the neighborhood’s popular turf fields, used both competitively and recreationally by community residents, local sports teams and numerous sports leagues. The rest of the site has trails that wind through the property and connect with neighboring Meadowlark Park. There’s over nine miles of hiking trails on the property. Shorter trails are available in Knolls Park for those interested in leisurely walks. I am interested in leisurely walks. 

If you enter the park from the back parking lot (behind the turf fields), you’ll be closest, on the east, to the Veterans Park Nature Study Area. Also known as the Barbara Frost Trail, this area of the park was named after a beloved Bellerose Avenue Elementary School counselor killed by a drunk driver while on her way home from watching the Northport girls basketball team compete in the county playoffs. I often go this way when in search of a shorter hike – there is a choice of two mostly forested loops that trace part of the school’s perimeter and, in 15 to 20 minutes, get you back to where you started.

Heading north will bring you more options of trails and terrains. I tend to overly romanticize my trips into nature; I’m desperate like that. If you’re imaginative and in need of an escape, you’ll easily be able to envision yourself away from it all here, in the forest, in the prairie, on a wide sandy trail with open grassland or a narrow dirt trail surrounded by trees. 

The trails are marked and fairly easy to navigate (though I know some people who started at Vets and ended up in Meadowlark Park by Middleville Road). Most of the time, you only need to follow the voices of children playing sports or coaches blowing whistles to find your way back. The few times I’ve confused north and south, I just check my phone. 

On the days I prefer to take a longer hike, I’ll walk north and then west – the biggest loop abuts backyards and residential streets before winding back past the turf fields (where I had my friendly run-in with the deer) and up a quick but challenging hill that opens up to the grass playing field behind Vet Park’s pickleball courts. 

And just like that, you’re back to the real world, ready to pick up your kid from practice or tackle your day of work or the laundry or food shopping, not worse for the wear but much, much better.  

Length: 3.6 miles Acreage: 83
Terrain: Mostly flat, slight elevations, a challenging hill if you choose it
Noise levels: Minimal to medium (local kids playing, trucks passing)
Parking: Super easy and plentiful in the back lot of Veterans Park (on Bellerose Avenue in East Northport)
Ticks? I hear they're really bad this year. Protect yourself and your pets.
Up next: You tell me 

Send suggestions, tips or feedback about your favorite walks in the woods to joanne@northportjournal.com.