East Lyme

Rocky Neck State Park

Dates visited: 12/10/2020 & 11/1/2021

The dogs love the beach! This is another great State Park Beach. We actually parked at the trail head and hiked the trails to the beach. It was a gorgeous day for December, as temps made it into 50's. The sand here is nicer than the other Connecticut beaches. They all seem to be pretty rocky, but this place has smooth sand. We will be missing the beach, as none of these places allow dogs in-season.

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McCook Point Park

Date visited: 4/4/2023

This is a pretty nice town park. Dogs are allowed on the beaches from the day after Labor Day until the Saturday before Memorial Day. That's more time than most Connecticut beaches. A stone dust walking trail circles most of the park. There's the main beach, a hill that features a grassy park area with a playground, and then a secondary beach on the other side of the hill. One of the beaches is called "Hole In The Wall Beach". Both beaches are small, but the sand is fine and not as rocky as other Connecticut beaches. There's also a stage for events, and a picnic area. The Niantic Boardwalk trail can be accessed from here. It leads to another beach, however despite the dogs being allowed on the beaches in the off-season, they are forbidden from the boardwalk at all times...which just seems odd to me. We still were able to walk for over two miles even without the boardwalk. I generally pick sunnier days for our beach trips, but it was so warm that I figured we'd check this one out anyway. The dramatic clouds made for some interesting photos. It was a very enjoyable after work trip.

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Date visited: 10/6/2025

We came down to this park for a second time after work, about two and a half years after our first visit. We checked out the main beach near the parking area, and walked the trail over McCook Point that leads to the other beach, named Hole In The Wall Beach. It was right before sunset, but the sun doesn't set over the water here. We did however, have a good view of the "Full Harvest Moon". We also were able to walk along the shoreline over to Crescent Beach, which we did not do on our first visit. I did notice the sign at the main beach has different rules for dogs than the town's website. The website says dogs are prohibited from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day, but I the sign had different dates.. May 1st through September 15th. Luckily we were here well past those days. We walked about two miles total here, on a very pleasant and warm October evening.

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Cini Park & Niantic Beach

Date visited: 5/1/2024

This is the park and beach on the other side of the Niantic Boardwalk from McCook Point Park. As I mentioned on our write-up for that park, dogs are allowed on the beach during the off-season (day after Labor Day to day before Memorial Day weekend), but they are not allowed on the boardwalk at all. The Amtrak line is directly on the other side of the boardwalk, with the beach area sandwiched between the boardwalk and the shore. Cini park is a small park area on the other side of the train tracks.

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Oswegatchie Hills Nature Preserve

Date visited: 6/6/2021

We came here on a really hot day, and I didn't get going as early as I wanted. The temperature was about eight degrees less down here than it was in the Hartford area, but it was still pretty hot (85 degrees). There are four or so different paths in the All-Trails app to choose from. We started out doing a three mile hike, but after about a half mile, I decided to take one of the shorter routes because I could tell Mandy wasn't dealing with the heat very well. It was a challenging trail as well, with about a 300 foot climb. We survived though!

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Ravenswood Trail

Date visited: 8/20/2024

This is a pretty basic walk in the woods. We hiked about a mile and a half loop trail. Some of the land is town land, and some of the land appears to be part of Rocky Neck State Park, but not connected to the rest of the state park. It's an okay trail, but nothing about it really stands out.

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Crescent Beach

Date visited: 10/6/2025

This is a small beach at the corner of Bayview and Ocean Avenues. We walked here along the shoreline from McCook Point Park. The beach features soft sand and a rocky area. It offered a good view of the Full Harvest Moon as it rose above the horizon.