Oct. 4: Five Local Parks to Visit During Fall

Whether on the water or encompassed in woods, North Fork Parks are still great to visit during the fall. Here are five — feel free to let us know what your favorite is in the boxes below.

Check out this park as its pristine maritime forest changes with the weather. Stroll along the expansive beach, now peaceful without too many tourists, in the cool breeze off of Gardiners Bay.

Fall is a great time to hike the trails around Dam Pond Preserve, a county-owned park in East Marion. The trails are tucked away just off the Orient-East Marion causeway.

Like the birds of fall? Then this 55-acre nature preserve in Greenport is for you. Take a walk around its 1.6 miles of groomed trails leading to Inlet Park and the Long Island Sound.

  Who needs summer to go to the beach? Grab a chair and a book and head to this quiet sandy expanse on Peconic Bay at the end of South Harbor Road in Southold.

The trails of Laurel Lake Preserve take you away from the relative hustle and bustle of daytime Mattituck and provide excellent scenery if you're into foliage. Over 480 acres of land are preserved here just north of Route 25 in Laurel around a 30-acre freshwater body formed by a glacier 10,000 years ago.