West Rock Ridge State Park

Beautiful day to drive through and see the Overlook what is the information/​relations that the three judges have to Westville area

I really enjoy this park. It isn’t very crowded, the trails are fun, and the scenery is nice. You’ll never forget that you’re in the middle of a city, but it’s expansive enough that you can still get a really great hiking or riding experience. I live in West Haven and I tend to switch between West Rock and Sleeping Giant when I go hiking or biking during the week.
There are a couple issues. The trails, while well marked, are layed out in a very confusing manner. There are a few points where the trails converge and separate in odd ways that make me feel like I’m trapped at the nexus of the universe (seinfeld reference). It makes the maps hard to understand as well. Also, there are some points where trails cross roads and there is no clear indication that the trail continues across the street. These are minor gripes and they definitely won’t spoil your fun here.
Overall this is a great place to check out. I highly recommend it!

If you’re planning on coming here, craft an exit strategy beforehand. Trust me.
I’m all for a long walk, hike or run — but when I came here with my boyfriend last weekend on a beautiful spring day, a 5 mile hike turned into 12 miles. We thought the trails looped around, but it really just never ended. We started on the red trail, which somehow turned into the blue trail. But in the end, it was just confusing, endless and not enjoyable.
Also, it’s worth noting that the map at the part of the park where we entered did not include a «You Are Here» point of reference. That would have been helpful before we started. If you go, don’t stray too far!
2 stars for the average views we saw along the red/​blue/​whatever it was trail.

While you can enter at the main entrance, the best way to hike here is to park at they Lake Wintergreen entrance. There is a great, fairly easy trail that loops around the lake, about 2 miles. Or you can hike up to the ridge for great views. The trails are well blazed and I’ve never gotten lost here. I’ve never done it myself, but I see people fishing and picnicking here all the time. Just beware, the parking is limited so on gorgeous weekend days you might have to wait for someone to leave.
True, this is not a backcountry hiking experience, but it’s a pretty awesome place to hike or commune with nature, especially considering how close it is to new haven. Just remember– don’t use the main entrance if you want a nature experience. The main entrance is pretty trashy.

I wish more people would enjoy this park as much as I do. It has such rich history which is not explained anywhere unless you research it. This is the second largest park in CT and you can tell because it spans 4 towns. You definitely get your hikes worth any trail you chose.
Yes the parking lot looks abandoned because it is abandoned. The park was at its peak with visitors in the 70’s and 80’s and sadly had to «Shut down» because the towns didn’t have enough money for all the surrounding state parks. So they picked Sleeping Giant as the one that they would keep open and be well maintained. Thus other parks suffered. Whenever I walk on the paved road going through the park, I always envision what it looked like and its sad to think that such a forest can be disregarded. You can still see trails that used to have railings and views but now are overgrown. For what it is, is great and appreciative. Falcons have returned to the park in 2010 and have stayed. I also always bump into a gaggle of turkeys. Not to mention deer and other local wildlife in habit these grounds.
Unfortunately you can hear rt 15 but as you walk past it and towards Bethany, you can definitely feel like your one with nature. The views are gorgeous and as for Jennifer L who said East Rock views are better definitely never saw the views when the fog has been cleared. You can see a 180 view of Hamden and New Haven all the way to the Sound. You can see The Giant and East Rock as well. I always thought East Rock had gorgeous views but since I visited West Rock, Ive haven’t been to East Rock since. West Rock also has an array of trail system which can be navigated easily if you download the map online. It goes from Easy (Wintergreen Lake) to Difficult on the Blue Trail (Quinnipiac Trail).
The only upkeep that takes place here is the DEP testing the waters and a bunch of volunteers to help clean up the trails. So enjoy everything this place has to offer.

This is a confusing park as the other reviewers have noted. The main entrance looks abandoned, the only parking lot chained shut. There’s a nice road to some nice viewing spots like Judge’s Cave, which is a pretty cool collection of rocks. But it’s unclear how to get on to trails or where they go. I tried to find the lake entrance, but was unable to figure out where it was or where to park. I’d like to go with a friend next time because I was lost.

This review is mostly about the hiking trails.
West Rock Ridge State Park is an urban state park, while hiking you can hear cars and music from nearby buildings, and you also bump into many gated phone towers and water storage towers. As a city girl I don’t really mind seeing this once in a while, but I do go hiking for a nature-​like experience. This park has more cell phone towers, gates, and water storage towers than a state park should.
The trail blazes are really well marked but they are confusing and sometimes awful. In one area while on the red trail heading north from the bottom of the park, the trail all of a sudden stopped and ended at a street. Sometimes, trails in more urban parks will stop at a street but continue on the other side of the street, but here the trail just ended. The map however said it should of went on for miles around the edge of the park. We ended up having to walk on the side of a road back to the main entrance of the park. We didn’t want to go backwards as that would be longer and more of a pain in the ass. In one area there were markings that looked like some kids purposefully tried to mess up the trail blazes in an area. …There was one stone that said «blue trail this way fuckers.» The park’s map is very old and faded and you can not see the colors of the trails well. Sometimes the map had the first letter of the color next to the trail, which helped us to identify what trail it was, but only half of the trails had a letter. Wtf?
We met another hiker who was equally confused with this park’s trail who was also lost. She also said that she was hiking on a trail which all of a sudden ended at a street with no continuation. While driving home, we saw a guy walking up that same street who looked confused and disgruntled. …Looks like it definitely wasn’t just us.
We did however see lots of hawks and a deer. There is a nice cliff view near the bottom of the park. The red and white trail is paved with gravel and is good for mountain biking, I may return to check that out and plan to never go on any other trails.

I can’t believe this park wasn’t even on Unilocal?
Their tagline from the website: Take in the views of New Haven Harbor and Long Island Sound from the top of West Rock.
When my boyfriend and I went, it was incredibly foggy and misty, so we weren’t able to see much. We did not go hiking and stayed on the park road, which leads to Judge’s Cave and the South Overlook. We did not take in any views from the overlook due to the inclement weather, but there is something really nice though about being in a park before it clears up, when no other cars are around. We walked in/​around Judge’s Cave, whose neat history you can find here:
If you’re looking for views, no matter the weather, I’d still recommend the East Rock Park. I can’t speak for the hiking trails here though so maybe they were far superior!