Hopeville Pond State Park — Attraction in Griswold

We stayed at the campground for Labor Day weekend. The park itself is nice, and the sites were big, but we were very disappointed with the management of the park. There was no enforcement of campground rules by the staff, who let an unlimited amount of campers and cars onto campsites without registrations and allowed the park to be a free for all. In a time where park capacities are a concern, we found this to be particularly problematic.

We spoke with the park staff on three separate occasions about a group with 5 cars and at least 15 people staying on a single site who were blasting music and yelling until 1 o clock in the morning for two consecutive nights. The staff said they would address the issue and never did, so it continued to happen on the second night. The following morning the staff told us they never received any complaints.

As a result, we were forced to leave a day early so we could get a decent night’s sleep at home. The park’s supervisor was kind enough to reach out the next day to find out what had happened and try to address our concerns, but unfortunately we had already lost faith in his staff’s ability or willingness to do their jobs for another night.

I’m sure this campground is a great place to stay if you’re lucky enough to have considerate neighbors, but I would warn others that if you do not, you’ll have little help...

We enjoyed our experience here. Checked in on a Friday in July and checked out on Sunday. Stayed in a standard non-electric campsite on F-street. Sites in this loop are further away from the pond and shower/washing station, but have trees/vegetation between sites offering more privacy than the sites near the pond. I also found F-street to be quieter.

Pros: Big and level campsites with a picnic table and campfire ring and lots of shade.

Friendly staff and a nice park office where you can get ice.

Access to showers, dish washing station, garbage bins. And you are at most 5 to 15 minutes away from stores.

Nice nature trails and proximity to pachaug state forest (we did the mt misery and rhododendron sanctuary trails…excellent).

Small cons:

I would say that enforcement of the 10pm quiet hours rule is a bit lax.

The beach near the shower/washing station is small and the other hopeville pond beach a bit north of it is only a little bigger. This is fine for little kids I suppose.

A shower head in the men’s bathroom was broken.

Overall, would recommend this place for novice and experience...

We went recently for a ladies camping weekend. The park is very nice, it’s a great place for families looking to have some relaxing time away from a busy life. The park is set up to be more like a community base setting. Every one is friendly and is happy to help with whatever questions you have. What I really love about this park was the hiking/biking trails. No matter what path you take for biking or hiking it leads right back into the park. Therefore you can never get lost in the woods. Another thing I did like was where the facility is located. It’s like a light house to guide you back to your street. The website said no pets but it seem as if no one is going by that rule. I don’t mind people having their pets but when you go to the facility and find a dog in the baby changing table, that clearly violates the rule. I can’t imagine being a parent and being my child to use the facility and lay the child in the same area someone had their dog laying. Other than that it’s a great place...