A small park that's good for kids on a hot sunny day as it has a lot of shade to keep it cool. The…read morepark has swings, slides and features other cool play equipment for the kids. In addition the park also has a basketball court and tennis court with enough room for adults to walk around. There is ample seating, parking and picnic tables for a mini picnic. Been coming here for 5 years now and will continue to do so till my son grows out of it.

Nice park when it's hot out with the tall pines. We call it…read morethe shady park. Well maintained. .

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

One of the best fireworks conducted on the first weekend after 4th of July. The festivities were…read morecanceled over the last 2 years due to the pandemic. This year the festivities are back and with a bang. The place was crowded but not overly crowded. The park had food trucks, music, entertainment and games for kids. This use to be one of the best fireworks. The fireworks are still good and one of the best in the area. The view is closes compared to other fireworks I have been to. This is the only time of the year I visit this park.

This local park has tennis courts, basketball courts, a really nice playground with some seating…read morefor adults, swings, slides and a ton of grassy areas for play time. The playground is mulched so make sure your kids are wearing appropriate footwear. My son usually plays on the swing and I take him there to use the basketball court. Its been a while buy I'll start back again in the summer. I have some bitter sweet and an adventurous experience and memory from this place. You can take a trail that connects to the local neighborhood and during winter I have seen kids sledding. There is ample parking space.

Great park with a several choices for swinging on swings, climbing ladders and sliding on a variety…read moreof slides. It even has an old-fashioned merry-go-round. Pickle ball courts adjacent for an older crowd. Fun.

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?

Wouldn't recommend this trail. It feels swampy and my small dog was getting smacked in the face…read morewith various things. It's very narrow. Lots of noise from nearby traffic. Did not feel serene at all. We actually stopped walking on this trail and decided to drive 20 minutes to Peebles Island State Park which was spectacular.

We recently had a good-weather weekend this September, and decided to check out some nature…read morepreserves. We found the Dwaas Kill Nature Preserve in Clifton Park and thought it looked like a nice place to explore. We found parking right along the road, and there were a decent number of spaces left. Just a note, when it was time to leave, you have to back out into the road. There was someone before us who carefully backed up and was almost hit by someone speeding around the curve. It was a little nerve-wracking to back out into the same place, as people come flying around the bend. Just a word of caution. Right off the bat, we realized we had missed a trail. There is supposed to be a fishing trail to the left, but had walked right by it. When we returned back to the beginning of the trail later, we saw the fishing trail had grown in. We were able to follow the orange trail, which had some markers. The beginning of the orange trail was pleasant, with attractive wildflowers. After a couple minutes of walking on the trail, we reached a sandy area. I see on the trail map that there is a sandy pit area. It seems like there is a lot of dirt bike activity over hear, and the sand and trails are torn up. We also noticed lots of trash, like beer bottles and other junk. We made our way back to the car, following paths that meandered through the woods. We noticed the signs on the way out that prohibit motorized vehicles. It is nice that there is land set aside in a preserve, but sad to see that people aren't respecting natural areas like this. It seems like the area has been misused a lot, and the fishing trail has been neglected. Hopefully in the future there will be improvements made to the nature preserve. We did not spend a lot of time here, as the trails are short and we decided not to hike the entire preserve after seeing all the trash and damaged areas.

I came to check out this new town park, and I will say I am glad CP citizens voted to create this…read morepark at this location instead of letting Shop Rite build a store here. Seeing how Shop Rite is now closing all of its stores in the Capital District north of Hudson, that decision looks to have been even better, since they would almost certainly be closing the one here too. Then we would be stuck with a big empty building and parking lot here, instead of a scenic pleasant park. It is still relatively new and there could be improvements. The accompanying nature center is under construction, and the paths to and from the parking lots could use a little landscaping, maybe some flowerbeds. Some historical monuments or outdoor sculptures would also be nice, provided they are not of the humongous abstract industrial metal type that consume the entire surrounding landscape with bleakness and desolation (like in Ossining, NY). A pavilion or rotunda might also be a good enhancement. It will be interesting to see what more the town might do with this park, but it is definitely a quality-of-life improvement for the townspeople.