Ringwood Ponds Natural Area

Difficulty // Difficult

Activities // Hiking, Snowshoeing

Distance // 1.7 miles

Features // Unique wildlife viewing, Dog-friendly (on leash)

Route Type // Loop

Estimated hiking time // 41 mins

Not open year-round.

Hunting allowed, use caution.

Surface types // Earth

Trail markers // red blaze

The trails at Cornell Botanic Gardens Ringwood Ponds Natural Area start at the roadside parking area and loop through a landscape strongly shaped by glaciers, which formed steep slopes, dry ridge tops, kettle holes, vernal ponds, and forested swamps. This kame and esker landscape is more common in river valleys so it is quite notable in the Finger Lakes Region to be found at so high an elevation (1500 to 1850′ above sea level). The vegetation along the hillsides is largely maple-beech forest, with smaller areas of oak-hickory and hemlock dominated forest. A large part of the forest has not been logged since the 1850’s.