This park is amazing!! My only pet peeve, pun intended, is the irresponsible dog owners that bring…read moretheir dogs to relieve themselves UNDER the kids playground and not picking up after them. Disgusting. Oh, and one more thing, the drug deals going on in broad daylight buy a woman at sitting at the picnic tables, screaming at her kids, and passing out heroin and God knows what else to paying customers. That's not just an ordinary picnic. The woman is my age. She looks like she's in her late 60's. Hey, to each his own. But, I don't want my granddaughter exposed to that and think it's okay. These are kids, just starting their lives, and now I have to lie and tell my granddaughter it's their medicine. Sorry, long winded. Officers just showing up for a drive by, don't see the things going on. Well, rant over!!! Let's pray she finds another park or gets help.

Love taking the dogs for a walk here. Lots of parking and there's typically families at the…read moreplayground. You can't let the dogs onto the field, but you don't need to because there's plenty of space to walk them. There are also tennis courts here there are garbage cans, but no facilities.

Clean. Quiet. Nice family park. Brand new tennis courts, brand new basketball courts. 2 baseball…read morefields. A brand new large playground. Older playground structure is also still there. They also have a few "work out" structures. They say 12 & Up - but the kids are always drawn to them. 3 swings- one infant 2 kid sized swings. Nice/tucked away in Hope Village. Somewhat hard to find- there is a small green Sign that says "Hope Park" where you need to turn.

This is a lovely little park settled along the meandering Quinebaug River. It is part of a 4 mile…read moreloop I run, as the bike path goes directly through it. There are benches, as well as sprawling grassy areas. There is free parking in and near the park. Overall I have no complaints!

Love the stories they have for the kids to read in the glass boxes my grandkids loved itread more

Great views along the vista points! Note ... there are no facilities to relieve oneself...so be…read moreready to be one with nature.

We were looking for a short hike with a water view and decided to check out the Quinebaug Lake…read moreState Park, and the Quinebaug Lake Loop Trail. According to Wikipedia, the Quinebaug Lake State Park comprises 181 acres in the town of Killingly, Connecticut. The state park offers fishing, hiking and non-motorized boating on the lake (aka the Wauregan Reservoir). Google Map directions took us to a dead end street, which does offer access to the trail, but you may/may not be able to park there. There are no signs indication that you can park here. However, they park does have a large, free to park, parking lot though it can be tricky to find. Look for a paved access road off of Shepard Hill Road, which is about a half mile long, and takes you to a large gravel parking lot. The lake trail which is a fairly easy trail and 2.1 miles long, takes about an hour to circumnavigate. Traveling clockwise, the footing is initially rocky, but gets progressively easier after the first quarter mile. We had no problem on this trail, but did notice that Camp Quinebaug is located about half way across the lake. Since it was closed, we walked through the camp and continued on the trail. There are no trespassing signs there, so we're not sure if you can cut through the camp in the summer, or if there is a longer way around it. We looked up the camp and found some interesting information: Camp Quinebaug is a summer Day Camp in Killingly. It is a camp for children with developmental disabilities, funded and operated by the Connecticut Department of Developmental Services and The Friends of Camp Quinebaug. It provides a unique summer camp experience for school age children with developmental disabilities and has the only beach on the lake. Approximately 90-100 campers per season enjoy the benefits of this 6 week fully accessible camp environment. We enjoyed our Quinebaug Lake Loop Trail hike though we found Pulaski State Park, which is about 20 minutes away, to have a more beautiful setting and interesting hike around their pond. Pulaski also has picnic tables and a rest room, but it's likely much busier in the summer!

This is one of my absolute favorite places to hike! The trail around the main pond is very easy and…read morea very short hike. There are also a few places that have picnic table sites for you to grill at! I always notice people fishing, and I see people in the water with their inflatables. There are a few other trails to hike, which I highly recommend! The birding here is also fantastic. This place is magical!! Bring the pups! .... One last thought, just be aware that service is very patchy here!

Bigelow hollow is a pleasant place to picnic and spend the day. It has become crowded, so try it…read moreduring the week. It is local to me. I have not yet kayaked there. When i do i will come back to report.

Beautiful hiking spot. Spectacular views…read more We found two parking lots that you can start your hike at. One is visible from the main road and the other you need to drive down an access road. We tried both ways and enjoyed the visible parking lot more. Well marked trail that isn't too difficult (well maybe the part with the views is a little harder).

This is a nice little CT State Park, that's recently had some (at least online) improvements,…read morecoinciding with it being featured in the Sky's The Limit Challenge. There's a couple of ways to access this park, depending on if you're here for boating or hiking. If you're here for boating, there's a large lot on Ross Road, between Old Furnace and Ross Pond. If you're here for hiking, there's a nice large lot at the northern end, off of S Frontage Road. There are a number of trails here, and you can make a pretty good day out of it if you want to take a decent hike. The west side of the pond is up on a ridge, where rock climbers have attached ropes at the vista areas, possibly semi permanently. There are some nice views here of the pond, and the trails are mostly well blazed. The Blue Blazed Old Furnace Trail could use some reblazing, but the other trails were fine. A nice little park to check out if you are at this end of CT.

Great place for a great hike and sweat. Also a nice cold stream to cool down. Will be my go to…read moreplace when I am nearby. Loved it

really nice camping spot. Different from what I was used too with the reservation I had which was a…read morefield campsite on the wolf den. However it was filled with families and couples alike. Nice hiking trails clean bathrooms/showers multiple sightings of deer, found a couple turtles . Cheap fire wood and convenient that it's only 15 minutes from essential business like food,superstores, etc. there was food and gas closer by too. Also the park ranger who I didn't catch his name but I wish I did (he wore a white hat), was super helpful and gave me his personal fishing spot nearby which was really cool and uncommon from another fisherman. I won't name his spot cause I have manners. But all around looking forward to my return in a few weeks.

It is a perfect little spot for seniors like me who just want a 20 minute walk, less than a mile…read more There are plenty of friendly squirrels looking for a treat. I bring a handful of almonds because I heard peanuts were no good for squirrels. Occasionally a blue Jay will follow you flying from tree to tree. You can walk along the lake for a bit if your feet prefer softer ground but then you have to get back on the tar again. You might see a couple of beautiful swans, geese and ducks. But don't feed them bread. A bag of defrosted mixed vegetables is okay. There are a few benches along the way. There are no potty facilities so go before you go. I'm wondering if taking my kayak would be worthwhile because it's such a small lake. It really should be called a pond. It is rather cute and I wish it had a bench close to the parking lot so I can bring my guitar and not disturb the neighbors. It is also a neighborhood and the people living there keep it nice.

Right when I started walking towards the park, I was greeted with action: a mink was chasing a rat…read moreand eventually did have it for lunch. This led me to pay close attention to what other animals were around. I came across a couple birds, one more mink, and a lot of Canada geese, some of which were chilling on a house's lawn. They were fearless and started coming towards me but stopped about 6 feet away. The loop around the body of water is about half a mile so it makes for a perfect casual stroll; a lot of people were walking their dog, talking on the phone, or on a run. Two sides of this park has houses, and it seems like people respect the neighbor's privacy and peace since it was quiet. There's a dock to fish, along with other spots. There's a little library where you can take/drop off books. They have lots of benches along the way and the entire path is paved. There is a parking lot across the park; it seems like it belongs to a school so in the summer it's convenient to park there but it might be a different story during the school year.

A short hike brings you to a beautiful waterfall surrounded by large boulders perfect for…read moresunbathing. The area is posted "no swimming", but there were people in the water. It is also posted "no picnicking". The Willimantic River is not known for it's purity, so bathe at your own risk. Although the hike is short and easy, it is rocky and tree roots are staggered throughout. If you're careful you could probably get away with flip flops. There is also a

Beautiful!!! This little spot is amazing. The water is so beautiful. Definitely be mindful of the…read moreweather.