Bigelow Hollow State Park — Attraction in Union

Very nice place to spend the day with family. Unfortunately, one particular staff member made my experience unenjoyable and therefore will not be returning. I wasn't able to grab his name, but this individual worked on August 25th. As I first entered the park, a younger lady was holding a stop sign. She was distracted and was talking with another person. I attempted to slow down and waited to her direction. When she didn't give me a sign, I kept driving. This man approached my vehicle and rudely said, when I see a stop sign that I better stop. I didn't argue and apologized. He rudely asked me to put my stuff including my canoe further up and to go back and park where the lady with the stop sign was. After returning from canoeing, I went to grab my car. As I drove it up this man stood in front of my car and didn't let me pass. He approached my vehicle and asked what I was doing. I advised that I was packing my things. He mentioned that I wasn't doing that on his watch. Confused with what I heard, I began to explain that I was just coming to grab my stuff. I explained to him that he had seen me about an hour before this and saw me unloading my things. He just kept saying no way, not on my watch. I started to question him asking if he was really going to make me grab all my things and bring them back to my car. He said yes that's what you'll have to do, I advised that my wife was waiting with our canoe. He finally allowed me to go through and said that I should've said I had a canoe and walked away. Then, he watched as my wife and I put our canoe on the vehicle. I noticed that this individual wasn't treating other guests in this manner and really ruined my experience. I won't be returning as I think the are better locations to visit where the staff doesn't harrass...

The place itself is beautiful..but some of the visitors are complete slobs! I brought my 3 kids (2 human & 1 fur 😉) on Thursday (8/30).

The trail we hiked was nice. Didn’t notice any litter.. after hiking, we ate lunch back at the car. After lunch, we headed to the end of the road and stopped at the first spot so we could all swim before heading home.

In that spot, we found: -a pile of trash (stop and shop meal containers, plates, plastic utensils, etc) -a large black trash bag FILLED and left behind. -steak bones that my 4 legged child kept finding (I had taken a total of 6 from his mouth and put them all in the abandoned trash bag) -dirty diapers on the water edge -broken glass bottles scattered around -witnessed kid throwing their chip bags onto the ground and not one of their parents picked up. -masks submerged in the water.

Also didn’t see a single ranger the entire 8 hours we were there.

The next time we go, we’ll have to explore deeper; hopefully we can find a nice, clean spot and not worry about one of us slicing a body part open because of someone else’s...

The place itself is beautiful. Amazing swimming, kyacking, good place to watch storms. The park used to be quiet and wildlife used to come close to the water and it was just beautiful. Until the loud, obnoxious people found it. You can hear the loud music from the other side of the lake! It’s horrible. If it was different kind of music it would be one thing but it’s always ear piercing spanish music. Last time i was there, there was a bong laying in the leaves, the general swim area had trash and it reaked of weed. There were vapes and party cups floating in the water. Like SERIOUSLY! People are so ignorant! I wish there were some sort of employee attendance to watch and guard the area. Since the Spanish have moved in. Please if your reading this, DO NOT COME HERE IF YOU ARE GOING TO DUMP TRASH, SMOKE POT, TO HAVE...