Oneonta Creek Recreation Area
Wilber Lake Road, Oneonta
Look for DEC sign and parking area on Wilber Lake Road. There is a second entrance off East Street, also marked with a DEC sign, with room for a few cars to park as well.
Oneonta Creek Trail and Wilber Lake Recreation Area Map (includes three additional parking locations on East Street, Lower Cross Road, and Wilber Lake Road)
February 2026: The City of Oneonta and its Environmental Board have officially named these trails the Oneonta Creek Recreation Area. Previously it was called the Wilber Creek Recreation Area, and prior to that the Wilber Lake Cooperative Fishing Area (though that was prior to the new trails created along the creek).
November 2025: Many of the trails at the Recreation Area are now closed because of logging. We will put it back on the Otsego Octet Challenge as soon as logging is complete.
The Oneonta Creek Recreation Area is a great destination for trail activities such as hiking, mountain biking, trail running, and skiing as well as fishing, birding, and photography. Three new trails, the first segments of the planned Oneonta Creek Trail, south of the Wilber Dam, opened in June 2025. The trails were cleared and blazed by volunteers from the Oneonta Trail Association and the Oneonta Susquehanna Greenway Committee.
Wilber Lake is the reservoir for Oneonta. No swimming or boating permitted. The lake is a popular fishing spot. Although fishing is limited to the shoreline, decent catches of panfish and bass have been reported. You may see folks ice fishing in winter as well. A bridge installed by the City of Oneonta links the logging road that connects the Wilber Lake Road and East Street entrances. An out-and-back walk along the logging road is about two miles. There is also an unmarked trail on the East Street side of the bridge, which follows the shoreline and brings you back to the logging road. (On the map this trail is indicated by the dotted yellow line on the north side of the lake.)
New Oneonta Creek Trail
Three new segments (Graveyard Trail, Oneonta Creek East, and Southern Cross) of the Oneonta Creek Trail opened in June 2025.
Graveyard Trail: 0.5-mile trail leads gradually downhill from the dam access to Lower Cross Rd. Access this trail from Wilber Lake Rd, at the gate below the lake. After descending 0.2 mile, the trail meets the Oneonta Creek East trail. Turn right, crossing the dam outlet channel on a plank bridge past a 200-year-old cemetery with graves from the Gifford and Peet families who lived nearby starting in 1803.
Oneonta Creek East: this windy 0.6-mile trail section follows Oneonta Creek from the dam spillway to Lower Cross Rd. Start from the dam access road. Turn right to follow the creek 0.3 mile downhill past the Graveyard Trail, then cross the creek. After a small rise the trail intersects an unmarked logging road. Turn right to reach Lower Cross Rd.
Southern Cross: this 1.1-mile trail continues along Oneonta Creek, south of Lower Cross Rd to Wilber Lake Road near East Street. Start on Lower Cross east of the creek. A recent logging road ends after 0.25 mile. Two footbridges lead to a lovely trail above the creek as the valley narrows. At 0.6 mile, the trail leaves the creek, through an old orchard to a series of grassy meadows with loop trails. Cross the creek on a long footbridge, then turn left to exit on Wilber Lake Rd.
Hiking Options include:
- The shortest option is a 0.75 mile loop. Follow the dam access road to the Oneonta Creek East trail (blue blazes) Take it along the creek halfway to an intersection with the Graveyard trail (white blazes). Turn right to go back uphill to the dam.
- For a moderate option (1.5 miles) follow the dam access road to the spillway, where you can see Oneonta Creek pour over the dam into the creek. Backtrack about 100 feet to the beginning of the Oneonta Creek East trail. Take that down to Lower Cross Road. Turn right, across the bridge, to the Graveyard trail and follow that back to the dam, passing by a 200-year-old family graveyard.
- A longer option (3.5 miles), starts the same as above but at Lower Cross Road, cross it to continue south along the creek on the Southern Cross section. This passes a favorite section of Oneonta Creek, with rocky ledges above the creek. You can continue through the meadow loops out to the road. Return back via Southern Cross and Graveyard trails.
- At the end of the Southern Cross trail section, you can explore further. Go through the meadow on your left (east) to see a large beaver pond, or cross Wilber Lake Road where the blazed East Side trail climbs the ridge to College Camp, then back down on City Trail One (adding another mile loop).
- Another option back at the dam is to walk up Wilber Lake Road a quarter mile to the Upper Cross trail, which follows the north side of the lake across a bridge to the peninsula on the far side.
All these options and others can be seen on the Oneonta Trail Association map here https://www.oneontatrails.com/the-trails. For the more adventurous, there are many miles of unmarked trails and logging roads on city land west of Wilber Lake Road and east of East Street which you are free to explore.
Want to help maintain and expand the Oneonta Creek Trail?
Please contact the Oneonta Trail Association or the Oneonta Susquehanna Greenway to volunteer and find out more about the plan for the Oneonta Creek Trail to link Wilber Lake with Wilber Park, creating a six-mile trail connecting downtown Oneonta with Wilber Lake.
Maintained by the City of Oneonta, volunteers, and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. website
What Octet-ers are saying:
7/30/25: “Our favorite part was crossing stream at Wilbur Lake and finding the gravestones.”
7/18/25: “Combined the 2 trails to make a nice down and back loop.”
6/20/25: “Hiked the Oneonta Creek Trail at Wilber Lake Rec Area for the first time today. Very pretty, peaceful and well marked.”
2/7/25: “Nice trail and nice sunny winter day. Very scenic and serene, only nature sounds. One large fishing hut/tent on the frozen lake but no sign of fishermen.”
3/12/24: “My family and I walked the Wilber Lake logging road from one end to other and back last night. Was a great walk, but unfortunately me and my son got 2 ticks attached to us. The new bridge is beautiful.”
