For this week's post, I wanted to discuss one of my favorite local parks on Long Island. While there are an abundance of parks that I love to regularly explore on the island, Blydenburgh County Park is even more special since it is a dog-friendly park. Here, there is a fenced-in dog park, along with various hiking trails, camping grounds, and a pretty large lake to kayak in. The entirety of this park is dog-friendly, so I love that we are not restricted to stay in only one area. This allows me to explore all kinds of hiking trails with my pup!
Getting There
This county park it located pretty central on Long Island, which makes it easy for many people to visit! It is located in Smithtown, right off of Veterans Highway. It is extremely easy to get to, and it takes me less than 10 minutes to get there from my town. If you plug Blydenburgh County Park into your GPS, you will have no trouble finding it.
When you first enter the park, you will drive past a toll booth (I will explain this aspect later on), and you will want to veer towards the right to head into the heart of the park. The road leading into the wooded area is pretty tight at times, and there are deer and other wild animals roaming around, so make sure you proceed with caution. As you continue, you will drive past various parking lots. However, if you continue straight until you reach a dead end, which leads into the woods, turn left into that parking lot for the dog park. This is where most people go (with or without a dog) since this is a great starting point. Another convenient parking lot is the docking area, which you drove past to get here. Here, you can launch a kayak, admire the lake, or begin your hike. No matter which lot you start off in, you can easily hike from one section to the other by walking alongside the lake.
My (and Caden's) Favorite Hiking Trail
Since Caden is now 10 years old, we no longer go on very long hikes through this park. Keep in mind, this park is very large for a county park, so I prefer to stick to the main hiking paths. I vividly remember my friend and I hiking this park with our dogs years ago, and we got lost for a very long time since we hiked deep into the woods. As a result, our favorite hike to do together starts off in the main dog park area. Here, there is a fenced-in dog park, as well as a starting point for the main hiking trail. We park, walk past the fenced-in dog area, and head into the slight opening in the woods on the far end of the open field (pictured below). We then veer towards the left when the path opens up. You will walk past a few little camping areas as you continue straight for a while. All you need to do is keep walking straight until you see the lake ahead of you. Caden loves sitting by the lake and watching the swans!
From here, we like to make the right (facing away from the lake) and continue into the woods, walking alongside the water. I have never kept track of how long of a distance this trail is, but if you continue walking straight, you will eventually run into the dock area. As I mentioned before, this is where another main parking lot is, as well as an area to launch your kayak. We love to sit on the docks and again, admire the lake and watch the wildlife. We then turn back, and retrace our steps to the lake, past the camping sights, then back out the woods to the parking lot. While this is the main trail we do now, there are tons of trails we used to hike! For instance, once you finish admiring the lake, you can make a left instead of the right, and there is a little bridge, which will lead to many more hiking paths.
When to go
Personally, I believe one of the downsides of this park is that they start charging an entry fee starting Memorial Day weekend. I know many parks have to charge a fee in order to pay the staff, as well as maintain the overall upkeep of the park, however, I find the Blydenburgh County Park charge to be on the pricy side. They charge $13 to enter the park each time you visit. While Suffolk County offers a Green Key Card, which can be purchased annually for $30, you still need to pay an additional fee to get into these parks. For Blydenburgh, if you have the Green Key Card, it still costs $6 each visit to enter.
Since I personally do not purchase the Green Key Card since I purchase the Empire Pass for NYS Parks every year, I stick to visiting county parks, particularly Blydenburgh, during the off-season. The off-season tends to begin shortly after Labor Day, and lasts until Memorial Day. As a result, there are many days to visit the park for free. I suggest visiting the park during this time if you are not interested in paying a fee. Blydenburgh County Park is a nice park to visit all year long, and I honestly prefer to visit when it is not brutally hot out.
Blydenburgh County Park offers a great experience for those who wish to go hiking with their dog. This spacious park offers various natural hiking trails, which results in the paths themselves not being crowded. If you are looking for a dog park, I highly recommend visiting Blydenburgh. This is definitely my dog's favorite park to visit!
Many more adventures to come,
Ashley
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