Buckhorn Island State Park

Visited June 26, 2021

Beaver Island State Park, 2136 West Oakfield Road, Grand Island, NY 14072 (Erie County)

I used "Buckhorn Island State Park, East River Road" as my Google Maps point and that brought me to the first trail entrance. If I had progressed to the next entrance (Woods Creek, Buckhorn Island State Park: Canoe/Kayak Launch Area), I would have found a site that also has kayak access points. Both lots were paved and one area close to one of the launch sites was dirt/gravel.

69 degrees Fahrenheit, overcast with a breeze at 9:00 AM, 76 degrees Fahrenheit at 11:00 AM

No toilets available.

Leashed dogs are welcome on the trails. Please bring baggies and carry out your trash and any dog poo.

I had on bug spray, long pants, t-shirt, and hat; the weather was perfect for mosquitos and they enjoyed my visit.

Poison ivy was growing profusely along the trail's edge.

No cost to access these trails from the two entries I described above.

To walk from the road entrance on Park Road to the western point with a view across the Niagara River and back to my car took about 2 hours and just shy of a 5-mile hike. I saw a few abandoned water bottles and wrappers on this walk. During the entire hike, I only passed two women, a solo woman, and one Border Patrol officer in a vehicle on the way to the point. On the return to my car, I passed many hikers including two families and two dogs.

The trail surface was paved until after the trail went under the blue Grand Island bridges. Then it was natural. Most of the trail was bone dry, but there were a few easily avoidable puddles. This trail was single-file is some places but mostly wide enough for a vehicle. A bridge takes you over Burnt Ship Creek. The trail took me under the blue Grand Island Bridges! At one point near the bridges, a paved bike trail overlaps and then moves along. The entire hike is a level walk and I would classify it as easy.

I would classify this and Franklin Gulf and two of my favorite hikes in the past four months. It had a variety of wildflowers, trees, and settings including woodland, river edge, creek edge, and views of Canada.

Two young, fearless deer greeted me when I first arrived. I was surprised at how close they let me get before they headed into the woods. I saw a golden snail, pigeons, many goldfinches, robins, red-winged blackbirds, male and female mallards, Canada geese, and male cardinals. At the western point, I also saw a pretty little brown sparrow or wren. Rabbits. chipmunks, and squirrels scurried away. There are many varieties of trees including staghorn sumac. I need to learn what some of the ones with fragrant blooms were. I saw grapevine, lilies, chicory, morning glory, mayapple, plantain, mullein, ferns, buttercups, goldenrod, birds foot, cat tails, teasel, milkweed, daisies, jewel weed, and black raspberries.