Well kept but ultimately uninspiring. I visited this park yesterday due to being in the mood for a hike, hoping for some nice photography at the same time. Was a high of about 85 that day but I got there at 8:30am, and walked straight through the park starting at the high school, and making it all the way to the other end main entrance, then went on to do the entire green trail that took me to the power lines and then to the pond and the end fence where there was a gorgeous lake on the other side. Now, aside from JUST a basic hiking park, there is very little much else, which I’ll put in number order: 1. Only trees and dirt trails. Nothing inspiring, really at all. I took NO pictures with my camera because there was really nothing nice to take pictures of. 2. Lake and pond were inaccessible and/or ugly. The pond at the end of the green trail was plain and lame looking. Nothing nice at all. The gorgeous lake is actually NOT part of the park property. There was a fence separating the park from a main road, a beautiful house on the water(I envy the person who lives there), and then the lake. Here I thought I’d be able to sit by the lake. 3. Too many bugs. Sure it was summer, but I spent most of the time swatting bees and flies away from my face. 4. Don’t go off the trails, at ALL! By that I mean, only stay on the trail, not just to avoid ticks, but to avoid any weird bugs at all. After my trip when I came home, I found in the shower that I must have somehow stepped in some kind of group of tiny spiders. I found a bunch of little spots on my ankles and thought they were ticks, but instead were a bunch of dead little spiders that SOMEHOW go through my shoes, and my high socks. Some were still alive crawling up my legs. I tossed all the clothes I was wearing to be on the safe side. I had to take them off with tweezers bc they had a hard time washing off in the shower. Overall, gross. I strongly advise to not stop and take pee breaks with your feet in any brush. Overall, I will probably never go back to this park again. Just NOTHING nice to see and after going through the entire park, the walk back was boring and I just wanted to get the hell out of there. If you just want a very basic hike, this is good, but really, not much else at all. On the plus side, it is well kept and probably way nice during the snowy season.
Christie O.
Place rating: 4 Ridge, NY
Huge undeveloped park on William Floyd Parkway. The yellow path is a lovely winding trail of over 3 miles that runs from the Shoreham Wading River High School to the power lines parking area on Rt 25(where the hotdog truck is usually parked). I recommend you drop one car at each end so you can experience the whole thing, unless seven miles or more is your typical hike. Otherwise the rest of the trails are kinda sandy, ugly, straight and mostly run along fences. Despite this, I do love this park, and I’m glad it’s such a well-kept secret.
