Sandy Ridge Reservation
Sandy Ridge Reservation is a beautifully maintained natural park featuring two main trails with flat, crushed gravel paths ideal for dog walking and hiking. It offers excellent bird watching opportunities and serene views of wetlands and marshes. The park includes amenities such as large parking, clean restrooms, picnic tables, a playground, and a nature center available for events. Dogs have a designated walking area separate from the wildlife preserve to ensure protection of the wetlands. The park emphasizes accessibility with wheelchair-friendly entrances, parking, restrooms, and seating. It is well-loved for its peaceful atmosphere, wildlife sightings, and family-friendly facilities.
Reviews
This park was wonderful. I came with my daughter and son-in-law to go bird watching. It was a beautiful walk starting with the bridge at the beginning near the parking lot, through the woods where we spotted a pileated woodpecker, and out into the area of the lake and the nice gravel walkway that encircled it. We saw robins, herons, egrets, ducks, turtles, frogs, red-winged blackbirds, swallows, chipmunks, and even a family of racoons on our walk around the lake. It is a beautifully-kept park and well worth the trip. I highly recommend it! Enjoy the photos!
May 2025 trip to Sandy Ridge. Beautiful day spent with my daughter pre Mother’s Day. We saw.a huge white mass in the middle of the lake and it was moving. Couldn’t figure out what t was from a distance. As we got closer we zoomed in with our cameras and saw it was a white swan. Next to a turtle on a rock keeping it company. Sorry that photo is on my camera, not my phone. Only have the neat one attached of the green swamp in the Woods before before the oath opens to the lake area. Anyway there is always something different to see. Last trip we saw a muskrat mom and baby in the smaller lake swimming around and diving for plants to eat. Definitely recommend this park.
What a beautiful park for walking! It’s clean and well kept. Trail was lightly graveled and wide. We walked a short distance through the woods and it was peaceful and pleasant. The rest of our walk was around the pond and it’s open and beautiful. The day we walked was overcast, so no sun on us. But I’m thinking on a sunny day, you might want a hat or an umbrella to give you a little shade. There’s plenty of benches along the way incase you need to rest a bit, or maybe you will want to sit and watch the beautiful birds for a while. There’s so many beautiful birds to see! We also saw squirrels and chipmunks. (No dogs allowed on this trail)
There’s a restroom right at the beginning of the trail-in the building. It’s very clean and well kept.
Overall, we loved this place and will visit again.
The park is really beautiful! It has two different sides to it. One side is for walking dogs… one for just people. I’ve done both! There is a picnic area… a small play ground area… nice rest rooms. Over all I’d rate it a 9 out of 10 only because I’m not sure why the dogs can not walk on the people side where wooded area is….other than that I absolutely love this area!!
Stunning wetland and wildlife preserve. great bird watching Marsh and Wetlands trail… don’t quit early because very soon the walk begins where it ends….into a special spot of quiet smiling beauty…love this walk! Keep in mind that the wetlands are not for bikes, fishing, or dogs. It’s a designated wildlife preserve with protections in place. There is a designated area for dogs, which is also a nice walk. There is a center to visit and available to rent. It’s definitely a must-see place during the migration season. In the front There are places to sit.
Sandy Ridge Reservation is a gem tucked away near a housing complex. The parking lot is very large to accommodate plenty of vehicles. There is a building, almost like a nature center, that can be rented out for events. Reservation offers two major trails. All trails are crushed gravel and flat. The first is the Marsh Meadows Loop. This is basically a dog walking loop, although you can walk and run this mile loop. Plenty of birds to be spotted in this meadow. The second trail is called the Marsh Loop Trail. You take the connecting Wet Woods Trail until it opens up into a fantastic marsh area. The Marsh Loop is around 1 mi. There are plenty for birds, Canada Geese, White Egrets and Blue Herons. There are two raised platforms on the loop where you can see across the marsh. There are a few things to be careful of when walking this loop. First, There are a lot of bird droppings so be careful. Not enough that you can’t get through but keep a lookout. The second is that the Canada Geese can be aggressive. If you mind your business and try not to get too close you’ll be okay but if they’re in the middle of the loop it’s kind of tough to get past them. I got a couple run up on me. It looked like he was trying to protect his mate.
The restrooms are very clean as is the area. There are also dog “clean up stations” throughout.