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| Westchester Wilderness Walk founder Paul Zofnass on the trail |
Westchester Wilderness Walk
150 acres
Upper Shad Road, Pound Ridge
Park on the pull-off on Upper Shad, about 1⁄4 mile from Long Ridge Road
Trail Map
Click Here for Google Maps Directions
Westchester Wilderness Walk, which includes the Zofnass Family Preserve, encompasses rocky woods, hillside streams, lakes and wetlands and, at 150 acres, is the largest of Westchester Land Trust's preserves.
An eight-mile trail network traverses some of the most rugged terrain in a town noted for its crags and outcrops. Paul Zofnass, a Pound Ridge resident and a member of the Westchester Land Trust's Board of Directors, first conceived the idea of creating a trail preserve here, and worked for over 10 years to put the project together, donating land himself, persuading his neighbors to donate land, and creating the impressive trail system.
The combination of wetlands, upland forests, and edge habitats is particularly important for sustaining populations of reptiles and amphibians that use several habitat types throughout the year. The variety of habitats means that there is a large diversity of plants and wildlife that occur on the preserve.
Observant hikers are likely to encounter wood frogs and spring peepers in spring, yellow-throated vireos and rose-breasted grosbeaks in summer, and wild turkeys year-round.
To see Westchester Wilderness Walk's trail map, click here. You can also read and print a checklist of birds that might be found at the preserve, a list of plants, and a biological report, all of which were compiled by our friends at Great Eastern Ecology.