Getting Here
Tracy Lake is a short drive from the Route 81 Tully exit. Please see our map for directions from your location.
There is an off street parking lot on the corner of State Route 80 and Gatehouse Road where you will find the trailhead behind and to the left of the Tracy Lake sign.
Tracy Lake History & Preserve Features
Tracy Lake Preserve is located just west of the Village of Tully off of Route 80, and is part of Tully Lakes - a series of kettle lakes, which are evidence of the recession of the Laurentide Ice Sheet 14,000 years ago. Kettle lakes are depressions created as relict masses of glacier ice, which are left behind by the retreating ice sheet.
Tracy Lake Preserve contains Tracy Lake and the surrounding marshes and woodland. It also contains a large portion of the adjacent Mud Pond and East Gatehouse Pond. The wetland area around Tracy Lake is protected under the New York State and Federal Wetlands Acts.
Visitors will find well-groomed trails with a minor incline at the trailhead, which opens up to mildly undulating terrain, and a pleasant winding hike through the woodland and wetland around Tracy Lake. The trail reveals several views of the water with ample opportunity for nature photography, and a viewing bench. The trail circumnavigates the majority of the lake before terminating at Gatehouse Road, at which point you can retrace your journey or follow the road back to the parking area.
This preserve is located within the original territory of the Haudenosaunee, or Iroquois Confederacy, who lived here for thousands of years and continue living in the area today. We hope to honor their relationship with the land by conserving this wild space forever.
Special Notes About this Site or Volunteer Group, etc.
I'm sure you can also use this space to drum up volunteer interest and donation information.
