Hinckley Reservoir Day Use Area — Attraction in Town of Russia

Unbelievable Gem of a park. Like many of the long-forgotten NYS Parks that have remained underfunded and understaffed, visitors can immediately tell this park used to be a prime tourist destination once-upon a time. A walk around the park revealed that it once had a multitude of well-maintained campsites complete with running water to each site and a bathhouse within walking distance. All campsites appear to be ready to re-open if money would be provided for proper maintenance. Maybe cabins could be built on the dozens of once used camping lots... why not?

This park is still very well maintained. Very clean facilities with all lawn areas / shrubs / trees well kept. Very interesting park to walk around. Incredible forest growth, very old trees providing plenty of shade while walking around the park. There appears to be two very nice hiking trails to explore. One on the South-end of the park that winds through the long-forgotten campsites of yesteryear. Another trail to the West of the swim area leads down to a secluded beach area. Park has excellent well-maintained pavilions with very large BBQ pits and plenty of seating. Admittedly the #1 problem with these pavilions appears to be the number of mosquitoes within the vicinity. Would it be too expensive / cost prohibitive to add mosquito netting around the perimeter of the pavilions?? Seems an easy fix to attract more visitors to use and pay for the use of facilities. Even a small pavilion with some netting over a few of the picnic tables would go a long way toward attracting visitors.

This is a beautiful park in a beautiful and historic neighborhood. This was a delight to check out while I was visiting the town of Remsen across the lake. Well-worth the trip and I will...

March 3,2022 My dog, Odin and I hiked the Hinckley Lake bike trail system nearby today. (weve been hiking these trails all winter long so far) Today, we walked the “FAST” trail from Elm Flats Rd to Roberts Rd….there was 8 inches of new soft snow to plod through but it wasn’t bad walking as long as you took your tyme. Someone had trailblazed the trail with a snowmobile a couple weeks ago and that helped Profusely!! (MANY THANKS TO THAT PERSON !!) we made it a round trip by walking the Roberts and Bear Creek Roads back to Elm Flats Rd.. (all those roads are heavily to moderately snowmobiled…)that made for easier walking! This is all part of the Hinckley Lake BikeTrails system….. a very nice and extensive bike system!!! If and when you find this bike trail network…you'll become addicted! MANY THANKS TO ALL WHO CARE FOR AND MADE THIS BIKE TRAIL SYSTEM REALITY!!...

The trails appear to be nonexistent. The changing rooms are not handicapped accessible and are separate from the restrooms. There is no privacy inside the changing area, you can literally look across from you and see the other person changing. No shower, not even to rinse off before or after entering the water. The marked out swimming area is smaller than other State Parks and there was only one lifeguard. And unlike other State Parks, their cashier system is connected to a company in Dallas, Texas - not locally. They charge $10, where Glimmerglass, Delta Lake, and Verona Beach all only charge $7.00. Lastly, no animals allowed - unless you have paper work to show that your animal is a service animal. Don't expect me to return here, I have more fun at Delta Lake or Verona Beach and either of those locations will cost me about the same in gas and less at the...