2015 might be the year we discovered Lake Taghkanic park, http://nysparks.com/parks/38/details.aspx . What a wonderful park, and only 10 minutes from the campground. The biggest attraction of this park for us would have to be the the swimming beach at the west end. The kids swim for hours in the cold but clear water here. There are schools of fish that swim through the bathing area and the kids try to catch them with nets. The beach is very safe, lifeguards everywhere. They specifically walk through the water at times to make sure every child is near a parent.
We pack chairs, beach toys and all the snacks and drinks we might need for the day but there’s also a concession at the west end if you forget anything. They even serve beer!
The park is bring in/take out meaning there aren’t any trash cans. You must take out what you bring in. They also don’t allow alcoholic beverages to be brought in but you can buy them as I mentioned above. The park is very clean and kid friendly and would recommend it to anyone. We also like the playground at the west end and usually play there at the end of the day when we’re sufficiently waterlogged.
As you can see the park also has many trails as well as boat rentals and camping available. As the kids get older, I’d like to check out more of the park particularly the hiking.
Speaking of hiking, Linda and I also took the girls to Bash Bish Falls, the tallest waterfall in Massachusetts. Yes, I hadn’t realized MA was only a 40 minute drive from our campground.
I had read a review on Ellas Trails.com about the different trails available and chose to take the longer, flatter one which was claimed to be stroller friendly (more on that in a bit) which started in NY and led into MA. I thought it might be cool to hike from NY into an entire new state with our toddlers. There is a much steeper but shorter hike leading to the falls with parking in MA.
The hike is quite beautiful and you follow a creek up to the falls but can be challenging with the stroller. We have a rugged stroller with big air filled tires and I found myself many times having to pull it up rock ledges backwards as the wheels in the front that steer seemed to get easily locked up when attempting to push the stroller over the rocks. Many times this left the stroller being tugged up the trail at a very narrow angle to the ground with a steep drop off just feet away. Linda was mostly unable to help as she was tending to the very lives of our girls. Stroller friendly: I’d have to say if it was, it’s on the very limits of being so.
Above is one of the easier parts of the trail but you can see the drop off. At some times the trail is fifty to sixty feet above the creek so you want to mind your little ones to ensure they don’t get to close to the trail edge. Nonetheless I would recommend this to families as it is beautiful. The water fall is nice but I believe the best part of the day was the journey to the falls. Pack sandwiches and water and take your time. On the way back we stopped for lunch and waded in the creek. There were “no swimming” signs and some brave souls were actually jumping off rocks into the water about but the water was too cold for me to even contemplate going in past my knees.
I definitely want to get back here this summer and capture the hike on video. I’m sure we’ll visit Lake Taghkanic State park quite a few times as well.
Stay tuned for Fall activities and BNW Halloween! Thanks for stopping by.
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