Visited April 8, 2023

Address: I used Google Maps to get to Weeks Road, Panama, NY, and then travelled a bit further to find the parking at the lower end of the trail where I left my car.  This time, I remembered to use my Google maps to get the GPS coordinates: 42degrees 01'22.9"N  79degrees 31'37.5"W

My husband dropped me off at the Eggleston Hill Road trail marker M.  Google Maps was not helpful in finding the parking spots for the trail; I relied on the PDF provided on the website for the trail and used Google Maps to get me to Eggleston Hill Road, North Harmony, NY.  (Link to the PDF map is below.) The Google maps GPS coordinates for this marker: 42 degrees 06'43.2"N 79 degrees 30'40.2"W

Parking: Room for 10+ cars, dirt parking lot at Weeks Road, Panama

30 degrees at 9:15 AM, 53 degrees at 2:46 PM, sunny, no significant breeze, 9:15 AM-2:46 PM

No restroom facilities available

The trail is free.

Leashed pets are welcome but I left Wesley home today.

The trail has a natural surface interrupted by occasional wooden bridges.

I walked 11.35 miles according to my phone's walking app and 9.57 miles with 939 feet of elevation gain according to Strava (I think it missed a few miles because it also only thought I was hiking for 4 hours and 13 minutes. I obviously still have some learning to do with using the Strava app). The hike included natural trails with no snow, no ice, and less than a half inch of mud in some places.  There was one bridgeless stream to cross with a few slippery stepping stones. The trail was quiet except for the occasional sound of water, birdsong, woodpeckers pecking, my footsteps, a chainsaw during the last mile, and few distant vehicles passing on the nearby roads.  According to the map available in the trail boxes, the trail should be around 8.41 miles between these two markers; I am not sure why the disparity of mileage unless there was re-routing since the paper map was produced.  

Sections of the trail were well marked with frequent blue paint and wooden markers.  There were other areas, especially where snowmobile/horse multi-use trails crossed the Overland Trail where there were not as many markers as I would have liked to see.  

I am sure that I am not the only person who would benefit from a small sign by each roadside trail marker that stated the name of the road  that is being crossed.  

There were sections of trail where the cell signal was very weak or non-existent.

I would not recommend a stroller for this hike.  There were downed trees in the trail, muddy sections, and a creek crossing.  Some of the bridges are getting old and missing sections in them but not as bad as the middle section of the trail I did back in February.

I had the trail to myself except for passing two runners and a hiker who were going north while I was going south.  And I said hi to a nice lady raking the gravel out of her yard when I walked the trail at the edge of her yard.

I really enjoyed today's walk. The trails have been built up with gravel for most of today's trail and were not as muddy as the northern section of the trail; this section is much nicer to hike than I remember it being back during our early geocaching days in 2006 and 2007.  The sunshine, birdsong, and the small ephemerals beginning to bloom were exactly what I had hoped to find in a peaceful, early springtime walk.  The woods were just beginning to "green" and even though there has been maintenance cutting that has been occurring in the last sections of this trail, seeing spring arrive can be magical.

I would avoid this trail during hunting season which why I have been working on it these past few months.  

I did not see any trash while on this section of trail except when I was walking along Kings Corners Road.

A few mosquitos were starting to wake up today. One actually bit me. I had sprayed my pant legs but not my arms when I started, because when I started, I was still wearing long sleeves.

Even in summer, I would wear long pants for the briars at the edge of the trail which I am sure will grow during the warmer months and spray to avoid ticks.

I saw people prints, dog prints, deer prints, evidence of recent beaver activity and a pileated woodpecker, two chipmunks, and a duck that I scared off.  There were mosses, fern, blackberries, teasel, ground pine, spring beauty, trout lily, skunk cabbage, cat tail, and a variety of tree species including cherry, oak, birch, beech, pine, willow, staghorn sumac, hemlock and maple. 

 The trail webpage for closure or notices to check before visiting: https://hikechautauqua.com/west-trail/

The PDF map can be downloaded from: https://hikechautauqua.com/map/west-trail-map/.