I have a couple of state parks near me in the middle of this suburban mess. The larger one is Hempstead Lake State Park off Peninsula Blvd near Rockville Centre and Hempstead. It has a few lakes and ponds and some nice nature. The larger lake has a nice trail circling it and you can even make your way around the lake at the shoreline mostly – you need to change to the trail at the north end.
There is McDonald’s Pond which is a smaller pond and then another larger pond that ends on Lakeview Road.
There’s a lake on the north side of the Southern State Pkwy that sees very little activity but it is near an equestrian center so people ride their horses there. It also has some interesting oddities such as the piece of road shown in the pic above. Interestingly, before the Southern State cut through this area, the Parkway actually was the Lakeview Road to Penninsula Blvd section that goes around the lake area so this piece of road may have been involved in that set of roads – not sure.
Those are some of the pictures of the area. It really is nice there even in the middle of suburbia. A lot of people go here and they walk their dogs and fish and have picnics. I’ve fished here but have never caught anything. I’ve also run a 5k here – back when I was a runner. That was a nice race and probably my fastest mile but it was after work so I was tired and I did not pace myself so after that first fast mile, I hit a wall and the last half of the race was tough.
I highly recommend checking this park out. Watch for ticks though – I’ve picked up a few there.
I Wander Where I'll Go 