Zoar Valley Multiple Use Area, Holcomb Pond Loop & Red Trail

Visited June 6, 2021

Holcomb Pond Parking Area,

Vail Road, Collins, NY (Erie County)

Rescue Access Point 2

Google Maps brought me to the parking lot listed above when I typed in Holcomb Pond Parking Area, Collins, NY. It will hold 5 or 6 vehicles. We were the first vehicle of the day.

82 degrees Fahrenheit, sunny 10:10 AM-11:15 AM

No toilets available.

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

There were mosquitos especially by the pond, but long pants and bug spray kept the worst of them away.

No cost to access these trails.

The Holcomb Pond Loop and then walking part of the red Pond Trail to the two ponds before Ross Pond and then back to parking is a 2-mile hike. I would budget at least two hours if you want to explore the traill all the way to the Ross Pond Loop. I did not see any trash on this walk. I had the trails to myself until the end of my walk when I passed to pairs of people headed toward Ross Pond as I was returning to parking.

The trail was natural and dirt. Today it was dry. It is wide at the entrance for rescue vehicles, I imagine. Then it narrows to a single-file trail. This trail was mostly flat with a few gentle inclines and only a few tree roots to navigate. The evergreen area would have been inviting to spread a blanket for a picnic except for the mosquitos and the blanket of poison ivy.

The birds were singing and there were Canada geese with their goslings on the pond. On both sections of trail there was evidence of beavers living nearby. Near a muddy section at the pond’s edge which was the only mud on the trail, there were many little dragonflies with blue bodies. There are birch, oak, hemlock, maple, cherry, and other varieties of trees. We saw daisies, birdsfoot, ground pine, mayapple, ferns, cat tails, buttercups, blackberry blossoms, phlox, jewel weed, and poison ivy.

This hike is part of the Summer 2021 WNY Hiking Challenge. For more information:

https://outsidechronicles.com/challenges

For more information about the park:

https://www.dec.ny.gov/lands/36931.html

Nearby:

Zoar Valley Multiple Use Area: Valentine Flats (see my write up for more information on that hike)