Buckingham Lake/Pond (depending on what site you check) is in the middle of a quiet suburban area…read morein Albany. There's a path around it to stretch your legs and/or those of your canine companions - circle it twice and you've walked 1 mile. The playground area makes this a popular neighborhood destination. The fountains were active today (it's a warm day in February with some ice cover), but the ducks were.

Very pretty walk in the middle of stately housing. Even when walking through a mist it's ok since…read moreit's mostly shaded. Half mile around.

Best park for kids! Consistently busy with a couple of kids so there are almost always friends to…read moreplay with! Park is fully fenced in and has SHADE throughout the day in different parts. Parking is great. Ultimately it's our favorite in the area.

An update: now that we are parents of a toddler, I can now appreciate their facilities and play…read moreareas for kids. Especially noteworthy is the fully enclosed (fenced) area with slides, rope climbing equipment, swings, play houses, balancing boards and beams, and dirt diggers. There are plenty of benches for parents to sit and watch their kids (and watch the entrance gates too), and it is very close to ample parking.

We started coming here during the pandemic as a way to get out of the house. Their two dog park…read moreareas, which are fenced in, are reasonably large and clean and share a common "owner area" in the middle where we can watch our pets run around. The old Troy and Schenectady Railroad, now a rail-trail, was also pleasant to walk along through the woods. Admittedly, I enjoyed it more for its former railroad history than as an actual paved trail but there enough things to do and see including a large tunnel that went under Route 9 and a dusty cement plant. The water park area is fantastic with lots of spraying pipes and hoses and such in the kiddie spray area. There are several pools too for different swim levels and one had diving boards. Changing rooms with free lockers are provided, and there is a concession stand on one end that sells hamburgers, hot dogs, nachos, and the like. There is one downside though: they ID everyone that comes in. Colonie residents pay $7 each, and non-residents pay $12 each. That is for the day. It isn't a lot of money, and I believe you can purchase season passes to save money. But, on the day we came I didn't think to bring my license and they absolutely wouldn't let me in without some form of ID or proof of address. They asked if I had old mail in my car (nope), a way to check a bill on my [flip] phone (nope), insurance registration (nope), etc. We paid the $5 non-resident premium and moved on. I won't make that mistake again, and as a Colonie resident I sort of appreciate why they are doing it, but it was annoying.

I really love the High Diving board and I wish my girlfriend could go swimming with me!read more

Beautiful falls! Who knew? We parked on the cutout on the street and it was an easy walk to the…read moreoverlook. If you are challenged to go up stairs, I recommend you do not take the stairs down for a closer view. The overlook view is comparable!

I came because it says dogs allowed on your site here. I show up and everywhere there are signs…read morestating no dogs allowed. And they're everywhere. I have a service dog, I drove out of my way to get here. And I arrive only to be told by signs I'm not allowed with my dog. You should update your site. Especially with the price of gas currently. I now drive an he travel time out of my way to come here. I went to speak with your park guard, he was friendly, but said that things changed quite a while back when a kid was bitten. Regardless if that happened that's on the parents of the child who was bitten and the owner of the dog to deal with. It shouldn't ban all dogs from the park. At least not service animals like my own. I mentioned I have a service dog and nothing changed. Very disappointing

The rose gardens here are stunning, and I wasn't even visiting during peak blooming season! The…read moregrounds are kept up very nicely. The best part is that it's free and hardly any people.

I was here for an event and boy was it busy. Baseball games all over the place and kids running…read morearound. Very large park with tons of parking. Signage isn't great so you definitely need to know where you're going.

Wintergreen Park is a really neat spot to explore with some fascinating rock features. "Boiling…read morePot" is the natural swimming pool that's great for a quick dip. (Be careful, because it's not as deep as you'd think) A common frustration that I have (that I'm sure many others have as well) with beautiful spots like these is the accumulation of trash left behind by park visitors. I was really bummed to see so much junk that could have easily been carried out by the same humans who carried it in. It's really not that hard. L.N.T. y'all - LEAVE NO TRACE!

Firstly, I love nature, so any well-intentioned effort to preserve nature gets extra love from me…read more Lisha Kill Natural Area is one of the best and most beautiful of the many beautiful parks and reserves in the area. And it also more than lives up to the "natural" in its name because there's vast unspoiled natural elements for many to enjoy and appreciate, including streams, unpaved trails, and hills. Speaking of unpaved, this park is largely not wheelchair accessible, and there's no public restroom that I'm aware of, either in the parking lot or within the park. Regardless of which trail you eventually pick, the first about 0.5 mile has steep hills before you cross a bridge over a small creek to climb up to a decision point. The trails are clearly marked with colours on tree trunks, so staying on marked trails has so far been easy. The parking lot has never been full, so parking has never been an issue. Enjoy!

Right down the street from us, the only old growth forest remaining in the CRUST (Capital Region of…read moreUpSTate New York), Lisha Kill is a semi-public park owned and maintained by the Nature Conservancy and open to the public ten months a year. (It's generally closed in February and March to avoid trail damage). It's a great day hike that can last just an hour or a whole afternoon, dog- and relatively kid-friendly. I avoided reviewing it, I have to confess, to keep it obscure, but now some other Yelper has listed it, I'll have to chime in. NO MOUNTAIN BIKING, no horses, OK? Snowshoeing is OK in winter months when it's open, x-country skiing not a good idea. There are few stands of old growth forest in New York outside of the Adirondacks. This area was originally slated for a connector highway in the 1950's, which would have crossed the Mohawk at Vischer Ferry, but early local conservationists rallied and prevented the project (of dubious usefulness) from coming to fruition. Some of the Eastern white pines and hemlocks in the preserve are over 200 years old; as the name 'old growth' implies, the area of the preserve has never been developed, despite being enveloped by intensive farm, and later suburban, development. The parking is behind the former Niskayuna Grange, previously the Niskayuna/Rosendale school until the early 20th century. This building is owned by the town of Niskayuna, and would be a great little visitor center for the preserve, only there's no money to do it. We're working on it. The building has some interest though as a surviving early school structure. Also note, as you pull in, the garage to your left (privately owned); this is the original Fire House for Fire District Number 3! There are two main loops and one small one, all well-marked. There's a steep downhill at the beginning (which, you got it, is an uphill at the end) that can be treacherous during wet weather. The first left you take is a gradual trail on a plateau, which you can use to dart down to the Lisha Kill (creek) at the end, or make a full loop back on the creek-level trail. Go to Nature.org and look for Lisha Kill to find a trail map. There is also an audio interactive feature available for your smart phone via QR codes at little mini kiosks through the trails, for a self-guided tour of the natural history of the park. The creek runs nicely most of the year, and is at the wading level, although it's pretty rocky for most of its run. Dogs will love this park (please be responsible, etc.), particularly your water-loving hounds. If you care to hike further afield, by crossing Rosendale Rd. at the far end of the Lisha Kill trail system, you can connect up to the "Mohawk State Park" (Niskayuna Town Trails) trail system that leads along the Mohawk river and Lock 7. Or, you can cross over and walk up to Iroquois Middle School, and walk through woods on the other side of the playfields to River Rd. Park, and connect up to the Mohawk State Park trails system on the other side of River Rd. Altogether the parks here form a sort of secret greenspace of over 1000 acres, interrupted only by the houses along Rosendale Rd. If you smoke, or leave litter, in this park I will personally come and find you and rip your soul from your sorry meatbag corpse. Is that clear?

If you're visiting Albany and looking for a place to take a stroll or job, this is like a mini-pine…read morebarrens (similar to what you might see in New Jersey). I would stay to the trails (Madison loop) to minimize the risk of catching ticks. In July 2024, it was pleasant in the early morning hours for a refreshing walk. However, there is not much shade on the walking trails, so it will be blazing hot mid-day. Street parking was relatively easy near the perimeter of the pine bush preserve.

I spent two days in Albany and I visited the Albany Pine Bush Preserve before leaving town. The…read morePreserve is unique and I highly recommend checking it out. You can park in the complimentary spacious lot and then walk over to the welcome center. While it was closed due to Covid, one of the trails (the shortest one) starts there. The shortest trail has information along the way informing you about what a preserve is, conversation efforts, the animals, and the plants that are in the park. Pine brush is different than what you typically see at a park so this was a first for me. It was cool to see how it develops (hint: fire) and learn why this type of habitat is important. There are also longer trails so you can get a workout and see more of the preserve.