Wadsworth Falls State Park (Middletown, CT)

Date Visited: May 7, 2016

Location: 701 Wadsworth St, Middletown, CT or Cherry Hill Rd, Middlefield, CT

Cost:   When I went to visit, it was free.  I think they begin charging a fee starting Memorial Day weekend.  There is no fee entrance fee during the weekdays.  It costs CT residents $9 and it costs non Connecticut residents $15 to get in to the park during the weekend.  You also may be able to access the park for free at the Cherry Hill Rd entrance.

Hours: Open everyday from sunrise until night time.

Parking:  There are about 30 parking spots at the main entrance at Wadsworth St and another 20 or so at the Cherry Hill Rd entrance in Middlefield (pictured below)

We entered at the main entrance on Wadsworth St.  There is a sandy beach area (there is a lifeguard on duty during the summer season).  Since it was an overcast and chilly day, there weren’t any people swimming but there were a lot of birds congregating near the water.

The highlight of the park, of course, are the falls.  The two waterfalls at Wadsworth Falls are creatively named “Little Falls” and “Big Falls.”

Once you get on the main trail, you will eventually see the sign for the falls (after about a 3/4 to one mile hike).  From this sign, it is about a half mile hike to the Little Falls and a mile hike to Big Falls  if you enter from the entrance on Wadsworth St.  There are also lots of trails that branched off the main trail and would be fun to explore if you have the time.

You can avoid the longer hike by parking on Cherry Hill Rd.  Big Falls is accessible from a short walk down a well defined path from the lot on Cherry Hill Rd.  But, the parking lot at Cherry Hill Rd is smaller than the lot on Wadsworth St.

Little Falls is actually a pretty big fall, even if it isn’t the biggest one at the park.  But, the height of this waterfall may actually surpass the height of Big Falls.  The last few shots in the slideshow are from our trek back to the main parking lot.  The falls seemed much less rapid on our way back and you can see the ledges of the falls better.

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There are a few different ways to get to Big Falls, the main attraction.  The safest, but longest way, is to follow the trail until you reach the edge of the park which filters onto Cherry Hill Rd.  The park is a short walk on a sidewalk to the right.  Or, you can cross the railroad tracks and follow trail along the tracks for quicker access.  There really isn’t a defined trail but there is space to walk a safe distance from the tracks.  The railroad is still in operation but we didn’t see any trains while we were there.

There are two places I photographed the waterfalls from but there are probably even more places to view the waterfalls.  The first place is a little tricky to get to and potentially dangerous.  There is a path that goes off the trail across the tracks and up to ta cliff that offers some decent views of the waterfall.  I did take some photographs from there but I would bypass it and go to the parking area of the entrance on Cherry Hill Rd to get a safer, closer and less obstructed view of the waterfalls.  The first two photos are from the cliff area the rest are views from the entrance to the park.

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From the main entrance on Wadsworth St it is about 1.5 mile hike to the falls and it is a 3.4 mile trail loop to walk the entire park.  There were bicyclists, walkers and other photographers along the trail.  Because of the inclines and, in some areas, rocky terrain, it would be a challenging place to go for a run.  I would describe the trails as being easy to slightly moderate because of the inclines and rocky trails.

There are also pretty trees, bridges, plants, brooks and streams along the trails.

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There was a lot of bird activity at Wadsworth Falls such as this male red-winged blackbird.

There are a variety of bird life at Wadsworth including bats.  This is a bat house.  It was built and maintained as part of an Eagle Scout project to help restore the bat population.  It was good to see that it’s not only the cute animals that are being helped.

Toads and other amphibious life is also abundant at Wadsworth State Park.  It was still pretty cold out so these toads seemed out of sorts.  We gently picked them up and tried to find a warmer place for them under some leaves.

Leashed dogs are allowed at Wadsworth State Park.  It is a great place for dogs to play and roam around.   Caesaris (pronounced Kay-sar-is), a friendly 1 year old female Labrador and Australian Sheep Dog, enjoyed the unseasonably cool weather with his mom.

Below are some videos I took of the falls.  The power, crispness and sound is much more evident in the videos.