Dates visited: Too many to list.

In prior years we would visit this place almost daily during the late spring, summer and autumn months. The park is generally closed in the winter and early spring, re-opening mid-May. With COVID it didn't open up until mid-June. We didn't visit as much, as we had other places to explore, but we still tried to get there at least twice a week. The dogs need to see their friends!

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Dates visited: 3/11/2021 & 4/22/2022

See Also: Enfield, East Windsor, Somers

There aren't many public hiking trails in East Windsor. I think this is probably the only real one these days. Sections of the state park are scattered amongst Enfield, East Windsor and Somers (and a small section in South Windsor that has no access). The East Windsor portion is accessed at the old Melrose Road bridge. We first visited in 2019, pre-COVID and hiked the main loop called "River Trail". We returned in 2021 and took the other trail, which is less maintained. It crosses the "braile bridge" and then splits off into some ATV trails that stretch into Enfield. It looks like the trails connect to Royce Memorial Park in Enfield, which has been closed with "No Tresspassing" signs posted. We didn't go all the way because of a lack of proper stream crossings and me not wanting to deal with muddy dogs.

Speaking of "muddy dogs," we finally returned on Earth Day in 2022 and re-hiked the River Trail. Evidently, parts of the trail had been washed away the last couple of years. There are about 10 numbered bridges on the trail, and bridge #8 was completely re-built. Bridge #9 is called the "Liberty Bridge" and is dedicated to a dog named Liberty, who was the first one to cross the bridge after it was built. The dog passed away shortly thereafter. I think a few more bridges are needed because some sections were very muddy. At one point, I decided to carry the dogs over a particularly muddy section. I had a dog under each arm, and stepped in the mud....but my shoe got stuck. There I was, standing on one leg in a mud puddle with a dog under each arm! Long story short, we escaped the mud....but got pretty dirty in the process. Also, there was a sign at the start of the trail warning hikers of a bear that was spotted the week before, so we kept very alert. At a few points, the dogs looked like they saw something in the distance and started to act funny, but I didn't see anything.

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Dates visited: 3/27/2020, 3/28/2020, 4/4/2020, 4/12/2020, 4/19/2020, 4/25/2020, 5/2/2020, 5/10/2020, 5/16/2020, 5/24/2020 & 5/31/2020

This park is mostly Little League fields with some open area. Across the street is Volunteer Park which has some Connecticut River access. We visited here a lot at the start of the lockdown. This is where we arranged play dates with Mandy and Lexi's BFF Cookie.

Date visited: 10/29/2021

Across the street from Osborn Park is Volunteer Park. This small park consists of a very short paved walking trail and a couple gazebos. It runs right along side the Connecticut River, just north of the Dexter Coffin Bridge.

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Date visited: 11/23/2021

The park consists of a boat launch, a gazebo, and a couple of benches....that's it. It's nice, and there are a lot of ducks and geese in the pond, but not much to do here. We wound up taking a walk through "downtown" Broad Brook while we were here. The building with the mural is the Broad Brook Opera House, an iconic building in town. I saw Carl Palmer (from Emerson Lake & Palmer), play there last week with his band. The "Icons Of Music" mural on the building was created by Antony Zito, and features portraits of Andy Warhol, Jerry Garcia, Bob Marley, John Lennon, Louie Armstrong, Amy Winehouse and Nina Simone. The picture in front of the old gas pump is in front of Broad Brook Garage, a vacant and dilapidated repair shop that is also a mainstay of Broad Brook.

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Date visited: 3/9/2021

This land is another section of "Scantic River State Park," and it looks like this trail used to be accesible years ago. But it is completely overgrown now, and not passable. East Windsor doesn't have much in the way of hiking trails.

Date visited: 9/3/2020

Like the Omelia Road Trail above, there was definitely a trail here at one point, but years of neglect has made it un-passable. The pups got lost in the weeds looking for the actual trail.

Date visited: 2/28/2021

This is Northern Connecticut Land Trust property, but there are no trails here or anything to walk. Pretty much just an old sign.

Date visited: 8/19/2022

I never knew this place existed, until recently when someone told me about it. It's a public park owned by the town of East Windsor. It's not listed on the East Windsor Parks & Recreation page. The park didn't have any visible name when we visited, but about a year later a sign appeared with the name "Trolley Crossing Park". There's not a whole lot here. There's about a miles worth of trails here if you count the dirt park road. The trails run along side the Scantic River, and Broad Brook (hence the name of the section of town), as the two waterways intersect here. It looks to be a popular spot for fishing. There are picnic tables and benches, as well as some trash receptacles. There was a bright blue "California" suitcase left in front of one trash can, and an old boom box left in front of another (not pictured). I was also amused by the "Warning Security Cameras in Use" signs. I didn't see any cameras or wiring for such cameras.

Date visited: 8/19/2022

This is a small park in the Windsorville section of town. There's a basketball court and a playground here, as well as a baseball field that doesn't look like it's being used anymore. There is a war monument in the back of the park, but there are no trails here or anything.

Date visited: 2/7/2023

I am full time work from home these days, and like to take the dogs for walks during my lunch break. I get tired of the same walk every day so I will sometimes look for places nearby that I haven't visited yet. Three years in and it is real tough to find a place within 20 minutes or so that we haven't visited. So I got excited when I saw this park on the East Windsor Parks and Recreation page. Unfortunately, my excitement was muted once we arrived. The park is tiny! There's a small open grassy area, a backstop for a baseball field that no longer exists, a basketball court and a playground. I got excited briefly when I spotted a trail, but again my excitement was once again unwarranted, as the trail went for about two tenths of a mile before it simply just ended. It's not uncommon for me to see broken glass or other similar debris on a park trail like this, but this time it was a bunch of busted up ceramic dinner plates. Very odd! We circled the park and took a few pictures. The playground was colorful at least. After we finished with the park, I just took the dogs for a walk around the little neighborhood that surrounds the park. At least it was a different view than our usual lunch time walk around our neighborhood.