Map of the West Pond Trail at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge

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Jamaica Bay Unit Home Page | Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge Home Page

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Length: 1.8-mile loop
Time: 1 hour
Difficulty: Easy

A wide, gravel nature trail circles the 45-acre West Pond at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge at Gateway National Recreation Area. The main reason to hike it is to see birds, but even if birds are not your thing, the trail is perfect for families and friends who want to walk side-by-side while engaging in conversation and viewing nature. It starts behind the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center. When the Visitor Center is open you must walk through the building and out the back door to get onto the trails. When the building is closed, and while the grounds are still open, a side gate will be unlocked to allow access to the pond.

All sections of the West Pond Trail are exposed to the sun. Even when you are surrounded by trees on both sides, the trees are not very tall and do not provide overhead shade. If avoiding the sun is important to you, be sure to wear a hat and apply sunscreen. Furthermore, I was there in late June and the biting flies were everywhere, especially in the areas of heavy vegetation. They can land on your shirt and bite right through it. If you have a hat and mosquito net for your head, I highly suggest using it, and be sure to wear long pants. As for your shirt, wear a light jacket unless the heat is unbearable. If that’s the case, just be ready to swat flies for most of the hike. I’m not sure what the progression of bugs is in New York, but in many places there is fly season, gnat season, mosquito season, etc., so I can’t tell you what to expect later or earlier in the year.

Typical terrain along the West Pond Trail at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge

Numbered benches have been placed along the trail, with the ascending order running in a clockwise direction. If you have a trail map, which you can pick up at the Visitor Center, you will see the bench numbers marked on the map. I suppose this makes clockwise the intended hiking direction, but other than the benches, it doesn’t really matter which way you go. I hiked in the clockwise manner and will describe the trail in this direction.

Bench #4 on the West Pond Trail at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge

When you come out of the back door of the Visitor Center you aren’t directly on the West Pond Trail, so you must hike down a short path to reach it. Once there, take a left at the four-way intersection to start the hike in the clockwise direction. Obviously a right sends you in the counterclockwise direction, but there is also an option to stay straight, which puts you on the South Garden Trail. This is one of two detours that allows you to step off the gravel path and onto a traditional, earthen hiking trail for a short distance before reconnecting with the West Pond Trail. The second detour, the North Garden Trail, is located at the northern end of the pond. If you want to hike the South Garden Trail, I suggest doing so at the tail end of the pond hike.

When walking in the clockwise direction, the pond is on your right and Jamaica Bay is on your left. When you first start the hike you won’t see the pond or bay, but you will see the marsh. Be on the lookout for an osprey platform on the bay-side of the trail.

Osprey platform in the salt marsh of Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge

As you make your way around the pond you will find that you aren’t always walking right next to the shore. There are often trees blocking the view, and even when there is a clearing, the water is still a good ways off. Thus, if your goal is to bird watch or photograph wildlife, you’ll need binoculars or a 400mm or greater lens. There are plenty of side trails that lead down to the water, but the pond is still fairly large, and birds out in the middle of it will be hard to see without some sort of help.

Bay view from between Benches 1 and 2 at the start of the West Pond Trail

About .3 mile into the hike, which is just before the trail makes a big curve to the north, the terrain clears and you have a much better view of the pond. In fact, some points of the trail are so narrow that you could run and jump into both the pond and the bay. This wide-open section extends from Bench 2 to just about halfway between Benches 9 and 10. Between benches 10 and 12, the terrain is still open, but nowhere near as open as the area around the big curve at the southwest end of the trail. The benches, by the way, are located at clearings, and many are at paths that lead down to the water—nearly all lead to the pond, not the bay.

View from near Bench #9 on the West Pond Trail

Open section of the West Pond Trail between Benches 9 and 10

View from Bench #12 on the West Pond Trail at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge

When you reach the intersection at the north end of the trail near Cross Bay Boulevard, take a right to proceed south towards the Visitor Center. No sooner do you make the turn than you come to the North Garden Trail. You have a choice to remain on the main trail and head straight back to the Visitor Center, a half mile away, or take the detour. The North Garden Trail runs parallel to the West Pond Trail and merges back with it about .2 mile farther down. Since the return leg of the journey is nowhere near the water, there is nothing much to see, and thus no real reason to stay on the main trail. At the same time, the North Garden Trail offers nothing worth seeing either, so the choice is yours.

I took the North Garden Trail, but I don’t really know why it is called a “garden trail,” for there is no garden to speak of. It does cut through what I call river cane—reed like plants with sections similar to bamboo—but that’s the only unusual plant you will see. Other than that, the terrain is just like that of the main trail.

Reed plants along the North Garden Trail at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge

There are some numbered markers along the trail, but I have no idea what they refer to. The first is #19, which hints that the trail should have been started on the other end, but it really makes no difference. I never did see an entire ascension of posts from 1 to 19 but instead just passed a few here and there. Also, there are a lot more trails back in the wooded area than are shown on the trail map, so it gets a little confusing. At one point the trail seemed to fade into obscurity and only a numbered post led me to believe that I was still on the intended path. However, the place isn’t that large, nor is it far from the West Pond Trail—which you can often see through the woods—so you can’t get lost for long. Just remember, you are heading south, so when in doubt, keep taking lefts at any unmarked intersection and you’ll eventually come out back on the West Pond Trail.

Faded North Garden Trail near Marker #14

From the time that you get back on the West Pond Trail it’s just a tenth of a mile to the South Garden Trail. As with the North Garden Trail, there’s a hodgepodge of paths back in the woods, and there’s nothing much worth seeing, so it’s up to you as to whether or not to take the detour. The only thing to keep in mind is that depending on the turns you make, you may end up back on the West Pond Trail to the west of the Visitor Center, as if you were starting the hike around the pond a second time. If you suddenly see the pond and bay again, you went the wrong way and must turn around. Ultimately, if you want to make it easy on yourself, just stay on the main West Pond Trail.

Terrain on the South Garden Trail at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge

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