Allegany State Park | BeeHunter Trail Hike •

The Beehunter trail is one of the most popular hiking trails at Allegany State Park.

Allegany State Park is one of the most popular outdoor spots in western NY. There are so many activities available including hiking, cabin rental, camping, fishing, canoeing and bike trails. It’s a great place to get four legged friends out and about for some exercise too!

The BeeHunter Trail was pretty enjoyable as it offered a variety of terrain, incline and a small waterfall over the 5-6 mile hike.

This post is all about what to expect on the BeeHunter Trail at Allegany State Park.

BeeHunter Trail At Allegany State Park

Hiking Supplies:

Since Beehunter is a 6 mile hike you should be able to complete in 2 1/2 -3 1/2 hours.

Here’s what I took along on our hike:

Camelback with 1 liter of water
Maize spray (for bears and anything else)
Dog water bowl
2 Nature Valley Bars. I ate both on the hike. I probably should have taken more in case of emergency.
Bug Spray (we only encountered a single bug since it was March, but this is a must in the summer)

What I wore (high: 68 degrees, no wind)

Popfit Leggings
Cropped sweatshirt- I’d recommend more layers. I was a little too warm. I should have worn a t-shirt with a zip up or a light long sleeve t-shirt.
Merrell Waterproof Hiking Boots
Baseball hat

Map of Allegany State Park

The Beehunter Trail is a six mile hike that stems from the Red House Area Lake part of the Park. Parking is found by the lake and picnic area. There are two ways to start the BeeHunter Trail. One is by going across the field to the trail head pictured below. The other is following the paved path up to the cabin area then taking a right at the trailhead. The right turn isn’t very clearly marked.

This loop is pretty symmetrical as far as incline, so it doesn’t really matter which way you start, though we hiked clockwise, starting up by the cabins.

beehunter-trail-allegany-state-park-trailhead

Allegany State Park Trail Map

We decided to hike the BeeHunter as our first hike of the year on a sunny day in March! The temperature got up to 72 degrees in the sun, and we’d had 3 days of dry, warm weather so 99% of the snow was gone.

Most of Allegany State Park is dog friendly, so it’s very likely you’ll run into other dogs. Unless we’re going kayaking, we always try to take the dogs, especially since Razz is such a high energy dog. She was ~almost~ a little tired at the end of the hike.

Along the trail, it was quite wet in some spots. It was impossible not to get a little muddy, and the dogs definitely got a bath when we got home. Luckily my feet stayed dry thanks to my waterproof hiking boots. There were at least 5 creek crossings- some of them required some strategy, others were pretty easy to jump across.

Some terrain was pretty clear, other spots were quite rocky. There were some steep long inclines and plenty of logs to rest on.

Allegany State Park Hiking Trails

Allegany has several hiking trails that range in difficulty including some more difficult trails and a paved walking and biking path. The trails around the park are generally really well marked.

The BeeHunter Trail is well marked with these blue diamonds. We did have to stray for the trail a couple times due to the mud, but we were always able to find our way back to the trail smoothly and quickly.

Along the way we did see several deer, chipmunks and plenty of birds. We didn’t come across another hiker, but we did see a handful of people picnicking and several other dogs at the trail head.

BeeHunter Trail

There is some debate on exactly how long the BeeHunter Trail is. Some signs say 6.5 miles, other signs say 5.5. My watch said we did 6.4 miles after we hiked from the car all the way back around to the car. It took us about 3 hours to finish and this was one of our slower hikes. We took many breaks since we were both coming out of our winter hibernation and a little out of shape.

Allegany State Park Reservations

It is free to get into Allegany State Park in the off season. During the summer months there is a day fee of $7 or you could purchase the Empire Pass which is $80 for the year. Visit the NY State Park website for an up to date fees list.

I didn’t see any established campsite while we hiked the BeeHunter trail, but there were a few areas that could be used for backpacking. But, there are much better options for backpacking in Allegany State Park. This area pictured below was pretty flat and open.