This was an absolutely GREAT place to visit for a hike! The 11 miles of trails are really well…read moremarked with maps regularly placed along the trail with little "YOU ARE HERE" bubbles. Great Bear is relatively flat with some ups and downs and a number of one-person wide foot bridges. The River's Landing Loop and the Whiskey Island trail go by the Oswego River, which is beeeeautiful. Near the parking area there is a wheelchair friendly loop called The Apply Trail. The park is multi-use- open to hikers, dog walkers, mountain bikers, horse riders, snowshoes, cross country skiers, swimmers, and fishers. There didn't seem to be any specific activity allotted trails when I was there I would recommend keeping your eyes peeled and ears listening, especially for mountain bikers in the warmer months. There are maybe one or two picnic tables near the map kiosk and benches throughout. It's not necessarily a "picnic area" kind of park. On that note: I didn't see any bathrooms or porta potties. Maybe I missed them? Just something to keep in mind. I'll update this review if I find them on a return trip or someone reading may happily correct me. A small unpaved parking area can be found at the intersection of Hawthorne Rd, Rt 57, and Great Bear Road.

This could be a great place to run and bike and walk and let your dogs frolic and do the same…read more There's plenty of room for multiple parties to let their dogs roam free and to wander around while giving others some space. You're always going to bump into entitled people who want everything to be their own way so watch out for them. (you know, the people who think they are self-appointed junior police cadets of everyone else's business, etc. because they don't have any personal happiness). But the main concern here is boatloads of ticks. My canine companions were swarmed with them. At first I didn't notice because of their coat color, and then I realized in the car that the one I could see from the driver seat had a ton of hitchhikers walking all over their face and body. Of course then in the car I found some crawling on the seats etc. Kind of makes you wish you didn't live in upstate New York. Harrowing amounts of ticks. Beware.

On the eastern shore of Lake Ontario is this nice State Park. It has had a few iterations, early…read moreon it was more of a resort area. Then there were some summer training camps for various sports. In the 1960s the town encouraged the state to make a state park, and they did. And built up the facilities for tourists of course. I didn't see any camping, so not that kind of park. But on the water, nice walking trails, picnic areas and there's a pretty active boat launch.

Was out for celebration 250 events including a craft fair. Love coming to Sylvan Beach was is a…read morequaint lakeside tourist town which tends to be more of a season based local. This is a lakeside beach community located on the Eastern shore of Lake Oneida. They have an amusement park and always seem to have lots of outdoor events. Walkable downtown area and a number of great restaurants.

I litterally watched a parking meter officer ticket three cars, the owners of which had no idea…read morethere was a parking fee because they didn't see the small sign at the end of the parking lot (a fourth person just happened to see the sign at the last minute). In at least two of the cases, the officer could have easily told the drivers there was a fee but instead waited for them to turn the corner and then went and ticketed the cars. My guess is that this is the way the town survives financially. On a positive note, the outdoor seating and wait staff at the Lakehouse were very good.

The main parking lot access point for the lake on Route 3 is a great place to eat a takeout meal…read more.. There's a big gazebo with picnic tables and a view of the lake. Lots of folks stop here throughout the day for meal breaks. It's peaceful and convenient. A fish fry restaurant, Mr. Mike's, shares the parking lot, and Shannon's Hot Dogs food truck is usually here for lunch on weekdays, in case you haven't brought any food with you. There is also a campground, North Bay, farther down the shoreline behind the bowling alley. The lake itself is not really useable. It's not safe for swimming due to the severe algae bloom in the water. But you can still walk out on the pier and stare at the lake. So that's nice too!

Exorbitant price tag to visit this part of the river. Granted the money supposedly goes into…read moreconservation and maintenance but at nearly $100/day I find this unreasonable. The facility is nice, the path down to the river is great and the staff were mostly friendly, but the special regulations and a fisherman's inability to take certain species off property when just off property NYS regulations allow otherwise seems pretty ridiculous considering the price. I will say the fishing holes are marked well and the brochure map they provide is nice. The river itself is great! I know they deepened certain holes to encourage fish to linger on property longer, but this comes at a price as well. I encountered so many other fisherman, the water itself felt pressured and fish responded to the tourism. You can still have an amazing day here and everyone should visit at least once. What they have here is really special. My only real gripe is the price, which makes it unreasonable for me to return, when a quarter mile upstream is free public water.

The DSR is the premier spot to go fishing for Salmon or Lake Run trout on the Salmon River. I have…read morevisited this place for the past 5 years. Pros: -Beautiful stretch of river -Limits on the number of people on the property -Clean and Respectful Culture -Respectful Staff -First stop for Lake Run Trout and Salmon -Close to Pulaski -Lodging and other services available Cons: -A bit pricey -Cannot keep trout nor Atlantic Salmon I cannot say enough for the culture developed by the DSR. Other than a few traditional spots up the Salmon River; this is the first stop for me on Salmon River fishing trips.

I am updating this to four stars now that I have found the non-wooded course start. Much better,…read morestill well mown and kept up. The wooded course seems to be the only one advertised on the town's website but they both do exist.

It's spring in Syracuse! And that means, despite the 45 degree weather, I'm looking for any excuse…read moreto get outside and soak up some sunshine. My buddy and I found a good excuse in the Clay Central Park disc golf course. It offered a variety of enjoyable play, with only minor navigation and mud issues. The course meanders over nearly the entire perimeter of the park and offers a variety of holes. We played over long fairways, and through tight, forested trails. The tees are well maintained concrete starting strips, with clear course signage. It's early in the season, so many parts of the course were muddy and wet. Also, there wasn't clear signage from the hole/basket to the next tee. We got ourselves lost a few times (and played one hole out of order once). Overall, I had a lot of fun trying disc golf for the first time! And this course was a great way to do it.

Great family outing! The course is just difficult enough to keep it interesting for everyone. The…read morestaff is very friendly, and prices are reasonable! (A second round of putt putt is only $2.50 if you need a rematch!) Can't wait to go back and try their new corn hole course!

This is such a great place. My family and I arrived to play a few rounds of miniature golf, we did…read morenot realize that there were quite a few other outdoor activities to choose from. The mini golf course was fun, interactive and aesthetically pleasing. My girls really enjoyed themselves. Especially the ice cold slushies they enjoyed after the game. We will definitely return before the season is over to take advantage of their other outdoor activities. Great place for a fun family day

You have a beautiful park and our family has enjoyed every visit , but today we made the mistake of…read morepurchasing food. First of all it was the most disgusting food I have ever had the misfortune of trying to eat , which went from 1 bite to trash!!!! Secondly you should be ashamed charging amount money for this garbage, "shame on you " who is she selling her house? Hope you take this as chance to do better

We had a bus trip to visit in the morning during the week so it was not that busy. This was my…read morefirst time here but I'd heard good things about it. We walked through the gift shop to board a little train ride. The train ride was kinda lame in that you just went in a circle around a pond and didn't see anything other than some llamas. We were then free to roam around the grounds. I especially liked feeding the giraffes the carrots! I felt like the bigger animals should have had bigger spaces to roam around (it seemed cramped and big cats were pacing back and forth in an agitated mood). The bear cubs were very playful and cute rolling around with each other. It was fun to experience this but I think the Syracuse zoo is better with more space for the animals and more variety.