Blue Spruce Park — Attraction in Rayne Township

A SOLID FIVE STARS, for one singular reason: the Cinderella experience. I'm a lifelong world traveler, naturalist and bird-lover. Never have I experienced a natural (non-commercial, un-themed, wild) park that encourages visitors to hand-feed the wild birds--not city park pigeons--but chickadees, titmice, yellow warblers, nuthatches, and occasional juncos, blue jays and cardinals. Even the chipmunks join the fun sometimes! With a little birdseed (and some peanuts), distance from others, and a lot of patience while holding still and keeping quiet, visitors can actually expect results! The experience is amplified in the wintertime, especially when there's snow on the ground and natural bird food is scarce.

In addition to experiencing wild birds flying to perch on your hands for a meal, Blue Spruce offers impressive picnic pavilions for barbecues and birthday parties, a decent fishing lake, some easy trails and a couple great playgrounds. While walking the trails along a clear-water creek, gently lift the large rocks at the creek's edge to occasionally reveal a crawdad or salamander. Awesome park. 10 minutes from downtown...

Pros: It is beautiful. Free. Hiking, covered tables, grills, and a medium venue for rental for parties looking out at the lake. Cons: Water quality might be a concern as there was a dead turtle and dead fish on the shoreline. Didn't seem to stop people from fishing with their kids. Signs for new people on entrance and exit would be nice addition. More Pros: Small and medium wildlife was observed. They allow hunting with limits. Posted on boards across the park are strict rules on the do's and the don'ts. All in all probably one of the better parks I have seen in Western Pennsylvania. Parking is accessible to the covered...

Blue Spice Park is a calm and relaxing place to spend an afternoon. They have demonstration gardens, pavilions, a playground, and stocked lake. It is possible walk around the entire lake, but the end with the dam might be a little difficult for some to traverse.

What I liked the most about this park was all the accessible amenities- from parking to restrooms to a spot for fishing- all were conveniently located and well-marked.

The signage to the park could be better especially considering the cell service is spotty...