Date visited: 6/12/2022

This is a wonderful, scenic park located in Worcester, MA. The trail is pretty short, only about a mile and a half round trip. Most of it is on elevated boardwalk with views of Middle River and the nature in the area around the river. There are kiosks that feature information about the history of the area, as well as the plant and animal life present. One strange thing is that there are warning signs related to the fact that the boardwalk can cause static electric shocks. I did actually feel a small shock at one point when I touched the railing. Shocks aside, this was a great quick and scenic walk.

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Date visited: 6/12/2022

We parked here to access Blackstone Gateway Park. After we returned to the park, we explored the area outside the visitor center. There is a nice walkway across Rt. 146, and more informational kiosks about the history of the area. The Blackstone River Greenway can be accessed here.

Dates visited: 6/12/2022 & 12/26/2023

See Also: Worcester, MA, Millbury, MA, Uxbridge, MA, Millville, MA, Blackstone, MA, Woonsocket, RI, North Smithfield, RI, Cumberland, RI, Lincoln, RI, Providence, RI

This is the northern most part of the Blackstone River Greenway, sometimes known as the Blackstone River Bikeway. The bikeway is planned to go from Worcester to Providence, but about half of it is not yet built. We actually walked the northen most section, from the Heritage Center, to SAMS club in June of 2022. This section was littered with trash, and wasn't very nice. We returned a year and a half later and walked from the Millbury town line to where we left off near SAMS club. It appears the trail has been cleaned up quite a bit since then. We actually passed a park ranger on a golf cart actively cleaning the trail. It's still not a very scenic section, but it got us out of the fog in Connecticut and provided a dry trail for a nice walk.

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Date visited: 9/22/2026

This place caught my eye driving by it a few years ago. We hadn't visited before because of Massachusetts' policy of ridiculous parking fees for out-of-state vehicles at their state parks. According to DCR's website, parking is $30 year-round here (It's $8 for Massachusetts registered vehicles). I spent the morning figuring out a parking alternative and wound up parking right on the street in front of the park. That wasn't even necessary, as it turns out, because there were no parking meters, kiosks, or any sort of signage indicating a parking fee. I don't know if this is a temporary situation or not, but it's a good time to take advantage of it. The park itself is nice. There's a paved walking trail around the park, as well as a beach area. The sandy beach is actually elevated above the pond, and there is a thin strip of sand in front of the pond down a short stairway. There are "No Dogs Allowed on the Beach" signs, but there is also a sign that says dogs are not allowed between April 1st and September 15th, so I assume they are allowed the rest of the time. Quinsigamond State Park is actually separated into two different, unconnected sections: this one and the Regatta Point section, about a mile north up Lake Avenue. After walking through this park, we headed to the other section. Some photos are included from that portion of the walk as well, which included some pictures around an ice cream shop that is already closed for the season, a house with Halloween decorations up, and some photos from the pedestrian walkway on the Kenneth F. Burns Memorial Bridge. We wound up walking five miles total between the two parks on a sunny and breezy afternoon.

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Date visited: 9/22/2026

This was the second part of our Quinsigamond State Park adventure. We first visited the Lake Park section before heading a mile up Lake Avenue to this section. Unlike that section, this part of the park was charging the ridiculous parking fee for out-of-state vehicles. Luckily, we walked here and didn't have to pay the ridiculous fee. This is a smaller section, but it has a nicer beach area, with the same dog rules as the other park - No Dogs signs, but other signs indicating they are only prohibited between April 1st and September 15th. There's a boat dock and a spot to launch small boats as well, but it seems ridiculous that Massachusetts would actually charge $30 for parking here, especially in the off-season. We walked through the park before heading back the way we came. If you were only going to visit one of these, I would definitely skip this one. It's smaller, and there's no reason to pay the outrageous parking fee when the Lake Park section is nearby and much more worthwhile.

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Date visited: 9/24/2026

We decided to check out the East-West Trail in Worcester, following the route on AllTrails starting at Coes Park. The trail passes through several different parks and green spaces as it makes its way across the city. From Coes Park, we walked through Columbus Park, Knights of Columbus Park, and the Clark University softball fields before eventually reaching the Hadwen Arboretum. The best part of the walk was definitely the beginning around Coes Park and Coes Pond. There are some nice boardwalk sections along the pond that made for the most interesting part of the trail. After leaving Coes Park, most of the trail was through wooded areas, with a few sections along roads connecting the different parks. The trail gave us a chance to see several different parts of Worcester in one walk, and there was more woods and greenery than I expected from a trail that crosses the city. Instead of doing an "out and back" we made it a loop, walking city streets over to The Clark University Main Campus and University Park, before making out way back to Coes Park, walking about 3.5 miles in total.

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Date visited: 9/24/2026

After walking part of the East-West Trail, we headed over to Clark University to walk around the campus. Clark is a fairly compact urban college, with the campus spread out around Main Street and the surrounding neighborhood. There are a number of older academic buildings mixed in with newer ones, along with some interesting architecture and open spaces. Overall, it was a nice place to add to our Worcester walk and gave us another college campus to check out with the dogs. After finishing our walk through the campus, we headed across the street to University Park.

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Date visited: 9/24/2026

This was our last stop on our adventure that started with the East-West Trail and included walking through the Clark University campus. From the campus, we headed across Main Street to University Park. The park is centered around Crystal Pond and has walking paths around the pond, along with a playground, sports courts, and other recreational areas. It's a relatively small city park, but the pond gives it some scenery and makes it a nice place to walk through. The pond was filled with ducks and geese, which definitely distracted Lexi when we were taking photos. From here, it was about a half mile back to our starting point at Coes Park, and wrapping up the day's adventures.

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