Northwood Meadows State Park

Meadow Lake, Northwood Meadows State Park

Turtles basking in the mid-spring sun

No crowds here. Northwood Meadows State Park is the essence of passive recreation. The park is easy to find on Route 4 in Northwood. The main trail from the parking area is the north end of a 5-mile network of trails linking the park with other parcels of public land. Information  including a map link is here.

This is one of the newer state parks, and its wide & flat main trail was originally developed to be suitable for wheelchair users. The walk from the parking lot to Meadow Lake, this park's little jewel, takes only about ten or fifteen minutes at an easy pace.

This is an unattended park, with no staffer at the gate to collect a fee. I was surprised there was no box for donations, but perhaps security is a concern. I saw a few blazes & little cairns but no trail signs. Print out the trail map before you go; the map box was empty today.