Merrick State Park — Attraction in Town of Milton

Merrick State Park exhibits promising features but falls short of its full potential. Although the North Campground boasts meticulously maintained and aesthetically pleasing campsites, the park's staffing inadequacies create a perplexing dissonance. Throughout our stay, the presence of a lone maintenance personnel making intermittent rounds was the extent of our interaction with the staff, leaving us unable to locate the elusive camp host or access the supposedly available ice, stored within a securely locked cooler at the entrance. Considering the prevailing challenges faced by numerous employers in terms of staffing, we extend a degree of understanding to Merrick State Park in this regard.

Another notable concern lies in the subpar quality of the provided trail map. Both the cartographic representation and trail markings suffer from inadequacies, impeding the navigational experience for visitors.

A significant drawback that became apparent upon arrival was the park's unfortunate proximity to both railroad tracks and a motor speedway. While the steady rumble of passing trains may offer a soothing auditory backdrop for some, the cacophony generated by the racetrack proves unbearable. The thunderous roar of engines effortlessly penetrates even the confines of trailers, exacerbated by races held as late as 10-11pm. Prior knowledge of these auditory disturbances would have been valuable when selecting a campsite. Perhaps the park could consider including an alert regarding these aspects on their website, which, regrettably, appears outdated at the time of writing this review in late June, as the most recent alert is dated 4/20/2023. Maintaining current and informative online content should be prioritized by Merrick State Park.

In conclusion, while Merrick State Park does not rank among the most disappointing state parks, it is evident that improvements are needed. Addressing the staffing concerns, enhancing the accuracy of trail maps, and providing up-to-date information on their website would contribute to an enhanced visitor experience. With these necessary enhancements, Merrick State Park has the potential to fulfill its promise as a remarkable...

Lots of negatives outweigh the positives with this park, sad to say. I've camped at several state parks and this one by far, was the worst.

Positives first:

The sites are pretty big. I was on the south side and it was pretty being by the water.

I'm a big kayaker, so having a site by the water was great! And all the areas to paddle were beautiful!

That's all I can give for positives, so, on to the negatives:

The train! There's a train very close that runs back and forth, all day and all night, blaring the horn, so don't expect to get much sleep.

There wasn't a ranger enforcing park rules, so between the people with the karaoke machine and the others blaring music after 11pm, didn't get much for sleep, even if I could sleep through the train. Kids constantly screaming too, which I know should be on the parents, but when there isn't a ranger around or a site host, people were just free to do whatever. There were also several barking dogs at night.

The constant boaters flying down the river at the very early morning and late night hours was very noisy. Not to mention it was a little nerve wracking kayaking the waters with them zipping all over the place.

The bathrooms were gross, not kept up at all. They do keep a sign that says they aren't maintained daily, and that's fine, but seriously, doesn't look like they're maintained at all or have been for months. Two of the stalls were so spider infested that there was only one stall I could brave going into. And I'm not talking daddy long legs, I'm talking BIG spiders!

Needless to say, don't expect to sleep much here. And bring your own toilet if you don't want to hang with the sliders. Definitely will...

This state park is a nice enough park with South and North campgrounds and boat launches and land in between. It's relatively small. It's nice to ride your bike here, but again, small. The north campground has the electric sites. The sites are not super private but it was pretty quite as far as the campers go. Big downside... these north side electric sites are super close to the train track. I mean, super close. I would try for the higher numbered sites to get a little farther away but it's still going to be loud. We were on site 8ER and the camper vibrated with every train. They are frequent. Also a downside.. there is a lumber mill right by the train tracks. They were closed Saturday and were supposed to be closed Sunday but they started up Sunday evening and it was super loud with this repetitive banging noise. If you're looking for a quite campground this is not for you. The fishing off the piers was pretty bad because speed boats would go through fast and often. I kayaked and getting across the water to the other side was interesting. I had to wait for the boats and then the wakes. The faster boats really didn't care at all. I did enjoy the location and scenery. There is a very nice walking trail where I walked my dog with an entrance directly across from site 8 where we were parked at which was convenient. I will not go back to this park. I much preferred Perrot State Park which is not that far...