Great River - Heckscher State Park and Bayard Cutting Arboretum

A 12-mile, moderate-paced walk to and through Heckscher State Park and Bayard Cutting Arboretum State Park beginning and ending at the Great River LIRR train station.

Meet at Great River LIRR train station at 10:37 am.
Take the 9:10 am LIRR train from Grand Central to Jamaica or the 9:16 am train from Penn Station to Jamaica, and at Jamaica transfer to the Speonk train arriving at Great River at 10:37 am. Great River is on the Montauk line; this train ends in Speonk and will be listed as a Speonk train. We will get the 4:54 pm return train which will arrive at Penn Station 6:17, transfer at Jamaica for the Grand Central train which arrives at Grand Central 6:27. The round-trip fare is $32.00, 65+ $10.75 each way must show ID to the conductor.

You can RSVP here on Meetup but also please register on the AMC website in order to complete the required online waiver. It's quick, it's easy, it's free and you don't need to make an account or log in, just click this link to get to the hike listing on the AMC website and then click Register Now and follow the prompts AMC online waiver

LIRR schedule: LIRR Montauk line
Strava map: Strava Map
All Trails map: All Trails Map
Google map: Google Map

Heckscher State Park is a 1600-acre park on the Great South Bay. Bayard Cutting Arboretum State Park is a 690-acre former estate with a mansion and formal gardens located on the Connetquot River.

Take tick precautions. Wear pants and a hat, tuck pants legs into socks, use bug spray, avoid walking in tall grass or brushing up against leaves, check yourself for ticks during and after the walk.

Sneakers are fine for the terrain, boots are safer than sneakers and you may be happy to have boots on the sandy paths. There will be about one mile of beach walking, three miles of road walking, with the rest a mix of paved, gravel and dirt paths in the parks. Restrooms in Heckscher State park at 2.5 and 9 miles and at Bayard Cutting.

Bring water, lunch, snacks, sunscreen, bug repellent. There will be water fountains along the way and Bayard Cutting has a cafe with fancy pastries and tea service. When we arrive at Bayard Cutting we will take a short walk around the grounds together then we will take a long lunch break that will give you plenty of time to walk around the gardens and see all the flowers at your own pace.

We will regroup at 3:45 and leave together to catch the 4:54 train.

Leader: Tom Bergen [tom.bergen@yahoo.com](mailto:tom.bergen@yahoo.com) 917-727-5507
I will be wearing a green AMC cap.
Photo of Great South Bay in Heckscher State Park by Ying from May 2024 walk.