Oakley Corners NY State Forest

Quick Bits

Main Activities - Hike, Mountain Bike, Paddle
Distance - 13.2 miles of trails
Quiet - relatively isolated and quiet
Surface - many trails have root tripping hazards. Can be pretty muddy in spring
Elevation - mixture of relatively flat and then moderately steep sections
Pets - permitted on leash
Address - Intersection of Dutchtown Road & Hullsville Road, Owego, NY

NYS DEC Map

In a Nutshell

I hike Oakley Corners a lot as it's relatively close to where I live and has a variety of trails, multiple ponds, and other unique features. It's also relatively quiet, apart from a couple trails that parallel roads.

Location and Parking

There are a few different places to park:

Southerner section, parking off Hullsville Road, shortest walk to the larger pond. This is shown in the map to the right.
There is a little space on Hullsville Road near the intersection with Dutchtown Road. There is a sign and kiosk at this trailhead for the sourthern/yellow trails.
At the intersection of Dutchtown and Hullsville, there is a service/gravel road that extends north. There is space for a few cars on the shoulder of this service road just as your turn onto it, and then a lot for several cars about 200 yards up the service road.

More details

It is rare that a week goes by that I don't hike at Oakley Corners. Or now and then take the mountain bike there. Several creeks or small streams traverse the 1143 acres of the State Forest that spans the towns of Owego and Newark Valley. There is also two ponds within the forest (and a couple on land adjacent). The larger pond is about 28 acres, south of this is the smaller one at about 5 acres. The lower one, smaller, is a bit more marsh like. Herons, ducks, and geese can be found here.

Oakley Corners is in two sections. The portion north of Dutchtown road has 6.9 miles of trails, marked with blue trail markers. Additionally a service road of hard-packed gravel winds through the Northern Section and trails cross this at a couple locations, giving you another route out if you want it. In the Summer, you'll have plenty of shade, except when on the service road. The Northern Section trails tend to be steeper and narrower. In general, I also find these less traveled.

The Southern Section has both the ponds and 6.2 miles of trails. These are marked with yellow markers. While you still need to watch for roots, in general, the trails here are smoother and have a gentler slope. The exception is a portion of trail Y6 which is moderately steep and has a series of switchbacks. If you're on mountain bike or skis, exercise caution.

A significant ammount of trail work was started in 1990 with cooperation between the DEC and the Triple Cities Ski Club. Other groups and individuals continued to make improvements. Included was adding gravel to some of the southern section trails to make them more suitable for mountain bikes. Additionally, in 2022, the "Red Trails" were added in the southern section. Tom Harvey led the effort on this with help from the Triple Cities Hiking Club.

For those that depend on technology, note there are areas without cell coverage. So download your maps or take a paper one if you aren't familiar with the trail system.

Link for Oakley Corners Scenic Chronicles.