June 17, 2015

Bolinsky: Fun Summer Destinations

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With summertime upon us, there are a variety of state parks and landscapes for you to explore. There are more than 100 parks and forests in the state, including 15 public campgrounds, each with unique features for residents and visitors alike. Below, I have listed some examples. Further details on these and all the other parks can be found at ct.gov/deep.

Paugussett State Forest, Newtown. The park offers a multitude of activities: boating, fishing, hiking, letterboxing and mountain biking.

Rocky Glen State Park, Newtown. The park is a great park for hiking.

Sleeping Giant State Park, Hamden. The park offers an impressive network of hiking trails, ranging from expert to nearly child-proof.

Dinosaur State Park, Rocky Hill. Here you’ll find the fossilized footprints of dinosaurs that crisscrossed the Connecticut River Valley 200 million years ago. Kids can make plaster-of-Paris casts of actual dinosaur footprints to take home.

Gillette Castle State Park, East Haddam. The centerpiece of this magnificent location high above the Connecticut River is a most unusual house built by 19th-century actor William Gillette.

Kent Falls State Park, Kent. One of the best hikes in Connecticut runs along this 250-foot waterfall, plunging a quarter-mile down through a thick forest.

Harkness Memorial State Park, Waterford. Visitors here will find gardens and sweeping lawns on 230 acres, with lots of frontage right on Long Island Sound.

Talcott Mountain State Park, Simsbury. As you take in the view from Heublein Tower, be sure to take in the tower itself, which was one of the most unusual and spectacular summer houses in Connecticut in its day. Views from the 165-foot tower stretch from Mt. Tom in Massachusetts to Sleeping Giant in the south.

Hammonasset Beach State Park, Madison. At over 2 miles in length, this is Connecticut’s longest beach, and its most-attended state park. There are campsites, a nature center, a network of trails and swimming in Long Island Sound.

I hope you will take advantage of some of these great attractions our state has to offer.

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