The Beauty Around Us

1000 Islands Vacation – Day 3: Wellesley Island State Park

By Linda G. on July 28, 2016

On Day 3 (Tuesday, June 21) of our 1000 Island Vacation we visited places south of our home port of Alexandria Bay, NY.  Yesterday’s blog post was about Rock Island Lighthouse.  Today’s blog post is about our visit to Wellesley Island State Park.

Wellesley Island State Park is located on Wellesley Island.  Wellesley Island is the second largest island in the Thousand Islands.  In order to reach Wellesley Island you must cross the Thousand Islands Bridge.  You pay a toll ($2.75 during our visit) to get onto Wellesley Island, but not to leave the island.  There are three NY state parks on Wellesley Island: DeWolf Point State Park, Waterson Point State Park and Wellesley Island State Park.  The State Park land takes up about one third of Wellesley Island.  The rest of the land on the island is privately owned.  We chose to visit Wellesley Island State Park, as opposed to the other state parks, because the Minna Anthony Common Nature Center is located at Wellesley Island State Park.  According to the state park brochure, the other two state parks featured only campsites, cabins, boat docks, a gazebo, and a toilet building. Our NY Empire State Passport provided free entry to Wellesley Island State Park.

During our visit to the Minna Anthony Common Nature Center, we hiked three trails: Eel Bay Trail, Sand Cove Trail and Middle Trail. Our hiking loop was a little more than 2 miles in distance.  We spent approximately 1-3/4 hours on the hiking trails, making lots of stops along the way to enjoy the view.

Minna Anthony Common Nature Center
Our hike began at the nature center building.

The Eel Bay Trail follows the contour of the St. Lawrence River and provides scenic views of the river, rock ledges and glacial potholes.

The Eel Bay Trail followed the contour of the St. Lawrence River.

The Eel Bay Trail followed the contour of the St. Lawrence River.

The Eel Bay Trail follows the contour of the St. Lawrence River.

The Eel Bay Trail followed the contour of the St. Lawrence River.

The Eel Bay Trail followed the contour of the St. Lawrence River.
This is one of several islands that we saw during our hike.

 A special geological feature of the Eel Bay Trail were two glacial potholes.

Boardwalk to glacial potholes

 

One of two glacial potholes

Red Rock Ledges

The Eel Bay Trail ends at “The Narrows”.

On the way back to the nature center building we followed three trails: Eel Bay Trail, the mostly forested Sand Cove Trail and the Middle Trail (gravel trail).

We saw our first Pileated Woodpecker,
while on the Sand Cove Trail.

I took several pictures of the Pileated Woodpecker.  This was the best picture out of all the pictures that I took.  The woodpecker was too far away, in the shade, and surrounded by branches and leaves. When I moved to a closer position, the woodpecker flew away.

The Middle Trail passed by the Butterfly House. We didn’t see any butterflies.  A park ranger said it was a little early in the summer for butterflies.

How Big is Your Wingspan?
This sign was located on the Middle Trail, as we neared the Nature Center Building.

From Wellesley Island we drove back over the Thousand Islands Bridge to Clayton, NY — the subject of the next blog post in my 1000 Islands Vacation series.