George Waldo State Park

George Waldo State Park

Connecticut State Park /  Scenic Reserve

150 acres in Southbury, CT

Parking: Small lot at 457 Purchase Brook Rd, Southbury, CT

Trail Map      Trails: 7 Miles       Rating: ★★★☆☆

George Waldo State Park is one of Connecticut’s ‘scenic reserve‘ state parks that in the last few years has seen some development in the form of winding mountain bike single track thanks to the Fairfield County chapter of NEMBA.

Hiking / Swimming / Fishing

The main trail (and for the longest time, only trail) here is the gravel forest access road from the parking area down to Lake Lillinonah.  It is about 2/3rds of a mile gradually downhill to the water where there is one large open area (marked as the scenic view on the trail map) along the water and a few smaller options.  This makes it an easy 15-20 minute walk down to the water for fishing or swimming.

Mountain Biking

The other trails here are flowy, mostly smooth mountain bike single track with log and rock features:

• Red Blaze – ‘Where’s Waldo Trail’ – 2.65 miles
• Yellow Blaze – ‘Daffy Trail’ – 1.31 miles
• Purple Blaze (unblazed trail on the trail map above) – ‘Thing 1, Thing 2, Thing 3 Trail’ – 1.53 miles

History:

George Clark Waldo was chairman of the Connecticut State Park and Forest Commission in 1940s though I haven’t been able to find a date for when this park was established/named in honor of him.

Links:

Mountain Biking at George Waldo

CTMQ – George Waldo State Park (2012)

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Last updated: July 20th, 2020