Allegany State Park: Beehunter Trail, Salamanca, NY

Visited March 27, 2021

Allegany State Park has more than one entrance.  We entered via the Red House entrance as we approached from Route 86.

Allegany State Park Red House Bathhouse Parking Lot,  2373 ASP, Route 1, Salamanca, NY 14779

61 degrees Fahrenheit, sunny 

No cost to access this park during the winter months. There is a fee usually starting some time in May. 

Plentiful parking today even though there were more people at the park today than I have ever seen except when I have attended Geocaching events in past years.

Bathrooms open to the public were located in the Red House Administration Building, a beautiful building on the other side of the lake from the Bathhouse parking lot.  I turned right when I entered the building and took a few steps down to the women’s bathroom (up the stairs to the men’s bathroom).  The women's bathroom was clean, and there were two stalls.  The park folks have recently installed touchless toilets, disposal containers, soap, water, paper towels, and hand dryers.  These were not in place when we visited the park two years ago.  Near the main doors were new brochures with maps of the park.  

The bathrooms at the Red House Bathhouse parking lot were padlocked shut today.

Dogs on leash are welcome.  Ticks are common in western New York so Wesley is treated.  In fact, I picked up two ticks today when I went off the bike trail to find a geocache.  

This is a great park for geocaching.  During a non-Covid year, the local geocachers host a Mega Geocaching Event in May.  To learn more about geocaching, visit www.geocaching.com. 

Beehunter Trail is also part of the WNY Summer Hiking Challenge.  I joined the Summer 2021 challenge and this was the first trail I completed for the challenge.  https://outsidechronicles.com/challenge

The paved bike trail starts by the parking lot.  The trail's big signboard is across the road from the parking lot along the edge of the woods.  

The 6.5-mile trail was marked clearly.  Blue markers were on trees at intervals.  The first section of the trail was dry and a fairly steep incline.  We saw a group of three people enter the trail as we were leaving our car, but we never encountered them on the trail. There were really great huge rocks during the middle four miles of the hike that the glaciers deposited when they melted at the end of the Ice Age; there were varieties of moss and ferns already at this time of year so there were different shades of vibrant green to contrast with the tired brown of last year’s leaves.  There were muddy sections and very muddy sections.  There is no bridge over Beehunter Creek and Wesley was pretty happy about that.

Last time we hiked this trail in 2006, we had to climb over at least 20 huge tree trunks that had fallen into the trail.  This year, the only trees that blocked the trail were in the last third of the hike (or the first third if you start at the end of the trail that starts in the Red Cabin Loop).  They covered a very muddy section of the trail and must have been down for a while because there is already a fairly visible path that people have forged around the blockage. 

When we were on the last mile of the hike, the trail dried up again and then widened from a single file path to a wider trail where 2 or more could walk side by side.  We passed two couples during the entire time but otherwise had the trail entirely to ourselves and enjoyed wonderful quiet broken only by bird song, chipmunks’ startled squeaks, and our huffing and puffing.  

Just as I was thinking how slippery the leaves on the rocks could be when they are wet, I found myself airborne.  As cautious as I was, I still fell and was covered in mud.  (Always glad I pack a spare set of clothes in the car.)  

On the paved bike trail leading to the start of the trail and in the Red House cabin area leading from the trail back to the bike trail and parking, we encountered MANY people and a few very polite dogs.  Most of the people we passed had a smile and a hello for us on this exceptionally beautiful March Saturday; some even told Wesley that he was handsome.

It was still early enough in the year that mosquitos were not a problem for us today.

The hill goes uphill and downhill enough that trekking poles might be welcome for those who are not already juggling a dog leash, camera, and gimbal.  I also encourage good hiking foot care and nail trimming prior to this hike including hiking boots and socks that fit well.  

This is a long, fairly strenuous hike.  (Allegany State Park's brochure has it listed as a black diamond trail, which is a ranking of "most difficult" with other ranking choices being "easy" or "more difficult." Hikers should take water for each member of the group and make sure to leave the hiking plan with someone before heading out.  There are a number of places along the trail where there is no cell signal so hikers should not rely on only their phones for navigation. (We were not rushing by any means, but the 7.2 miles from the parking lot and back took us a little over 4 hours.)

Beautiful views of Red House Lake, history, geology, and nature to enjoy.  While in the park, we saw a woodchuck, many chipmunks, Canada geese, and robins.  We heard woodpeckers and bluejays.

Information and Trail Maps: https://parks.ny.gov/parks/alleganyredhouse/maps.aspx