Ashland State Park

Great place to get some exercise in, meet a bunch of pups, and relax in the outdoors.
To avoid paying a parking fee, you can park at the soccer fields at the beginning of the road and walk about a half mile into the park. This might not be particularly feasible with a group of children or while carrying heavy beach items, but totally doable if you’re just going to walk the trails. There’s a beach, some picnic tables, and grill setups.
The trails are great and well-​maintained. The path all the way around the water is deceptively long, so we often turn around and head back the way that we came after 3 – 4 miles. Many dogs are off leash on the trails, but owners are generally good about keeping their pups close. Overall, this place is a gem!

I love this park! It’s a great walk around the reservoir. If you pick up after your dog, your dog is well behaved, and it’s not crowded, I personally see no issues with letting your dog off-​leash here once you leave the parking lot and beach area. Bring a leash along so you can leash her in the parking lot and beach area for those suffering from Cynophobia on the trail. The people who work there will say something to you if they see your dog off-​leash. The main thing is to clean up after your dog. Nobody wants to step in a pile of your dog’s mess.

I absolutely love coming here with my dogs! I often come with my friends who also bring their pups. I like right outside of Boston so the ride is kind of long, but worth it. We usually make a day trip out of it, bringing snacks and drinks. I usually float around in the water while the dogs hang out, swim and say hi to those who pass by. I’ve never had a problem here, everyone is super nice too!

Great spot to hike, trail run, swim, relax. The park is very clean. Trails are well marked & maintained. Bathrooms are clean. Lake is refreshing. I would definitely return. Probably with my dog. Who I would leash & pick up after. I did encounter some of those people mentioned that let their dogs off leash & allowed them to approach runners on trails in the woods. Not cool! Leash your dogs!

Ashland state park is a great place, nice and quiet. The only issue is the people who let their dogs run loose and then don’t pick up after them. I was under the impression that dog owners were responsible people. I have come to the realization that most are not. It is very sad that most have children with them and are teaching them to ignore the numerous signs and then plead ignorance when told. The most of them seem to be nice people but seem to loose site of their manners. Overall the park is well run and very clesn with a great staff who tske pride in the park. It’s sad that a few bad apples try to spoil it for the people who believe in following the rules.

I love taking my dog to ashland state park! I live in Hopkinton and probably live equidistant between Hopkinton state park and ashland state park and typically favor ashland for whatever reason.
When I first started coming here I would walk my dog on the leash in the paved areas/​when I would see other people (especially kids) or when there were many people in one area (I don’t like to assume that everyone will want to socialize with my overly friendly but very submissive dog). Some people who have been going here for a while said «if you keep your dog on a leash, people will assume it is not friendly and your dog won’t be invited to socialize with other dogs or people» so I started taking her off leash as soon as we got there and since her recall is pretty good (especially with the treats I tend to bring to the park). As I read reviews on this site clearly many people feel like the dogs should stay on leash (I hear ya loud and clear everyone! My dog will now stay on leash in areas where other people will be and I’m sure she won’t care)
I love this park. I don’t know all the trails yet but have liked walking the ones I have done. I love the beach and its true on off hours there will be a lot of dogs there particularly swimming and on the beach which is fun social time for them. The people who visit ashland state park have all been super friendly to me as well. Everyone will strike up conversation and being that I am new to the area I have had a couple different people tell me about good things in the area, history of ashland/​Hopkinton and I welcome all of these conversations.
The only thing I didn’t love about this park is that I generally work normal business hours. One day I took a day off and took my dog to the park mid day and when I reached the beach there were 2 dog walkers that had tons of dogs with them. I love for my dog to have social time but I thought this was too much. Each dog walker probably had close to 8 dogs with them (varying sizes) and being that I didn’t know the dogs, I called my dog and put her on the leash immediately. This seemed like too many unleashed dogs to me (they may have been all friendly dogs and everything maybe would have been fine if my dog did start mixing with them but I wasn’t ready to chance it.)
Anyways, I’m sure ill come to this park as long as I live in Hopkinton.

Summer 2013 — beach was dredged and filled with new sand. Water was so clean! I am not a lake swimmer but ventured in because it was so clean on the bottom as well as the beach in general. We are so grateful for this hidden gem!

This would be a great park if dog owners would keep their dogs leashed. Before all you supposed dog lovers get all defensive hear this. I have a dog, i love all animals and I walk this park almost everyday with my dog on a leash. In the past ten years my dog has been attacked three times by off leash dogs. One time with wounds to the neck. This is not counting the times that my poor leashed dog has had other dogs run up to us and then growl at my dog. These dog owners always give me sheepish looks like «i’m kinda sorry but not really». You would think that might make them reconsider letting their dogs off leash but probably not. No dog is 100% reliable off leash and some dogs are worse than others. Why do you people think your dog can’t enjoy a leashed walk?
My dog gets excited when I put my sneakers on anticipating his daily walk. He’s not thinking about being on a leash. Not to mention families with little kids who can’t enjoy the park because a dog is knocking over and scaring their toddler. The great outdoors should be enjoyed by everyone, would you want your dog to have a little kid run up to it and pull its ears?

I’ve been here a bunch of times since moving to the MetroWest area because I love being able to walk around the lake. It can be a decent hike, depending on which parts you visit, so it’s nice that you can have that option here. It has some really pretty wooded sections as well that I really enjoy. I prefer Callahan Park just because of how massive it is and how varied the terrain is, but this is a great park to have in Ashland.

We take our dog here every day after work, and usually in the mornings on weekends. We love going there because it is unstaffed since it is technically closed, so we let her off leash during the whole walk. There is a beach where most of the dog owners congregate and the dogs can go swimming with our without their people. I go running there every other day around the different trails, and it is great.

I rediscovered this childhood favorite of mine this year… this is a fantastic place with many beautiful trails to walk, and also a great location for photos. During the past several months I have spent as many weekend hours as possible here with my dog. During the off-​season at least, well-​behaved dogs are typically off-​leash and having a great time. I haven’t visited in the summer since I was a child, and look forward to the upcoming months.

Ashland State Park is a 470 acre park with a large pond with a sandy beach and plenty of picnic tables. There’s a a lot of paths for walking and biking. The only downside to cooling off on a nice day (during the week) is the amount summer camp kids. I think all the children of Ashland are herded off to the park to go swimming. A few life guards were also on duty too. The park also charges $ 5 per vehicle as a parking fee admission.