Easy winter hiking through Doris Duke’s old estate.
I’d had this on our list since it opened a few years ago. While we generally avoid manicured, popular places, I thought this would be a good choice when trails were icy or snowy.
Overall, this park was interesting and worthwhile to check out even if it is more suited for casual walks. We pieced a perimeter route together as we went and managed to get 7.5 miles in.
For complete hike info visit our main “Duke Farms” page.
Miles: 7.5
Route: Perimeter route from Hay Barn to 34 to Coach barn to Wood Duck Lake to around Great Falls lake to Old Foundation then Old Foundation Lane to Eagle Gate Path to Habitat Lane to Hay Barn Meadow Path – Hay Barn and back to lot. Then Conservation Lake right hand loop.
The amount of snow on the ground was a toss-up – not quite MICROspikes worthy but not snow-free either. The well-trodden paved paths were clear but as a rule we try to avoid pavement when we can.
The snow was firm and crunchy and not slippery until later in the morning after the sun melted it some.
We ran into a few large flooded sections that were an icy mess but with so many available trails, we just took a different direction.
This is an old estate so there are several buildings, statues, and man-made lakes.
We passed through a deer gate which is intended to create an enclosed area free of deer so that the foliage can recover.
But we saw deer prints EVERYWHERE… like they were dancing around, laughing at humans and their silly fences.
The Coach House and it’s clock tower is being renovated and is closed for now.
All the lakes were frozen, and one had a neat set of concentric circles.
A large pet cemetery on the Fox Hollow Lane loop around Great Falls Lake is the final resting spot of the estate’s pets… including Baby the Camel and Ernie the Toucan.
We wandered over to the “old foundation” of a mansion that they decided not to finish.
After getting back to the Farm Barn Orientation Center area, we took one loop of the trails behind the center.
These weren’t that exciting – just gravel paths curving through open fields – so we cut it short and just did one loop. Only add those in to add extra mileage to your hike.
2/2024 – Archived the original, now outdated, hike description from 2016 to this Trail Blog:
Back when the intersections were numbered it was possible to provide a turn-by-turn route description, and this route gave an idea of hike length and scale.
This 6.1 mile route is basically a counter-clockwise loop around the majority of the property:
- Follow the Pedestrian Path from the lot/Orientation Center to cross the road. (The majority of the trails start across the road).
- Paved to #7, R through the Hay Barn, Quick L
- At #34 – Around the Nursery Loop and back to #34
- R on Railroad Way (paved)
- #33 to #29 Coach Barn (under construction and closed but we walked around)
- #28
- #27
- #26
- #25
- #24 and then out-and-back along Wood Duck Lake
- West Way (paved)
- #16 and Fox Hollow Lane (Need to cross the bridge to pick up this loop). This is the only minor hilly area we encountered)
- Cross under the bridge
- #18
- #19 and walk over to look at the Old Foundation. Walked down the steps into the lawn area.
- R to #13
- Old Foundation Lane to #14
- Eagle Gate Path to #12 then #11
- Habitat Lane to #10
- Hay Barn Meadow Path to #7
- R on the paved path back to the Lot
Optional extension: There are trail loops behind the Orientation Center. We did one section which added 1.2 miles – #1 to #6 to #5 to #6 to #1. It’s not overly exciting, so we’d recommend only doing it to add miles to your route.