Hubbard Park
Hubbard Park – Meriden, CT
Hubbard Park is a very popular hike in Connecticut. If I’m not mistaken it’s actually the second most popular, just below Sleeping Giant. Being so popular is beneficial as there are a lot of trails and it’s a really well-kept park. If you come in off of West Main Street and drive all the way up to point “A” on the map it brings you to the trailhead. The pond will be on your right side as you drive in, just a note, the pond usually has a lot of people feed the geese and children running all around so drive slow. If you take the white trail up it crosses the bridge right over I-691. The tower and road are open from May 1st through October 31st from 10:00 a.m. to 4:45 p.m.
Hubbard Park is also a popular place for other activities as it does have a swimming pool, playground area, reservoir, theater, and historical buildings. It’s definitely a park you’re going to want to check out if you’re in the area.
West Peak – Elevation: 1,024′
The way I like to hike when I go to Hubbard Park is I park at the area labeled “A” on the map. I follow the white trail until I hit the first Blue Trail (Metacomet Trail) marker to go up West Pak first. There are usually fewer people at the west peak because it doesn’t have the tower but it offers amazing views! It is easy to miss the trail that goes to the west peak so keep your eye out for the marker. The west peak trail curves back a bit and then gets pretty steep with some nice rock scrambles in it.
After I summit West Peak I often go back down the blue trail, the exact way I came and the head up to East Peak.
East Peak / Castle Craig – Elevation: 976′
The East peak trail is also pretty steep coming from the white trail and basically has you climbing a rocky incline for almost half a mile before putting you back on a regular dirt path.
I sometimes like to do the west peak first, then take the road (marked in black trail marks on the map) to the backside of East Park to spend some time at Castle Craig and come back down the blue trail that meets back up with white and back to the parking lot. It’s about 6 miles in total. Or if you want to continue on the road it does loop all the way around toward the Merimee Reservoir (Park Drive Road) and eventually back into the main park. Just turn right after walking under I-691 to get back to the parking lot.
This is a good hike for pups, it does get steep and sections are pretty rocky but it isn’t too difficult and the road does allow for a bailout option if the trail is too hard for you or your pup.
The road is open in the season so be mindful if you hike with your pup off-leash as it does get a lot of cars and motorcycles on it.
South Peak
South Peak is probably the least hiked trail at Hubbard Park. To get to the summit I usually walk down Park Drive (the black dotted trail to the right of Merimere Reservior. You go all the way down to the gates where the road turns left and there’s a barrier on the right. You’ll see a blue blaze on the gated barrier and just walk through the barrier onto the blue trail. About a half-mile in you’ll see the turn for the red blazes which lead you to South Peak summit. It’s about 2 miles on the red trail to the views. You do get some nice views and it’s a nice place to sit and eat a snack. It doesn’t lead to any other trail so to get back you have to go back out the way you came.
Hiking with your pup at Hubbard Park
Overall, Hubbard Park is a great place to bring you pup hiking. It offers a wide variety of trails of all different difficulty levels and distances. It also offers swim spots along the reservoir for your pup to cool down in and well-marked trails. I highly recommend hiking with your pup at Hubbard as there is a trail for all experience levels at the park and each one is unique in its own way.
