The best family-friendly hikes and walks in West Rock Ridge State Park

Lake Wintergreen is a beautiful freshwater lake that is part of West Rock Ridge State Park. There is a beach, a nature trail that loops around the entire lake, and additional trails that connect to the Regicides Trail. You can canoe, kayak, and fish and there is a composting toilet at the main Lake Wintergreen parking area.

Lake Wintergreen is a beautiful freshwater lake that is part of West Rock Ridge State Park. There is a beach, a nature trail that loops around the entire lake, and additional trails that connect to the Regicides Trail. You can canoe, kayak, and fish and there is a composting toilet at the main Lake Wintergreen parking area.

From this spot up on the ridge line on Regicides Trail, you get great views overlooking Konolds Pond and the surrounding area. This is a great place to snap some photos and sip some water before continuing on your hike.

This stone circle is one of many spots that hints at the colonial-era history of these woods and the town New Haven. Like the stone walls that crisscross much of the woods of New England, this stone circle was probably built by farmers, who remove and pile up stones they would find in their fields into rock walls.

Edward Whalley and William Goffe were two of the 59 British judges who sentenced King Charles I to death in 1649. When King Charles II, the son of Charles I, was eventually restored to the throne, he issued an order that each judge should be hanged, drawn, and quartered. Whalley and Goffe and another judge, John Dixwell, all fled across the Atlantic to North America. They initially hid in people's homes in Boston and New Haven, but even that was too dangerous, so Whalley and Goffe fled to the woods of what is now West Rock Ridge State Park. In the woods, they hid in this large rock for an unknown amount of time in the spring of 1661, aided by local townspeople who brought them food. A scary encounter with a panther forced the judges to flee their hiding spot in the woods. They eventually settled in Hadley, Massachusetts, where they escaped arrest and execution. In honor of these fugitives, this "cave" was named “Judges Cave” and the trail to it, “Regicides Trail.” There is a small plaque on the west side of the rock dedicated to this history.

Stonewalls are abundant in New England. As colonial farmers cleared their fields, they kept coming across rocks. They took these rocks, which would impede their plows, and piled them at the edges of their fields. Today, even as the area has become reforested, there are still hundreds of miles of stone walls like this one.

West Rock Ridge State Park is located on 6-mile long ridge. Because of the elevation of the park, there are impressive views of New Haven and the Harbor, Long Island Sound, East Rock Park, and the Sleeping Giant. The park is equipped with picnic areas and restrooms.

Viewpoint in the south end of West Rock Ridge State Park. It gives an excellent view of New Haven and the Long Island Sound. The road to get up to the overlook is paved and there is parking nearby.