Veteran’s Memorial Park

Brrrthany
Veteran’s Memorial Park, Bethany
January 2026

Sometimes hiking in snow can be done in a light jacket or even a t-shirt. And sometimes you’d be lucky to hit 10 degrees… not to mention the brisk wind out of the northwest. This was one of those cold days.

But I was in Bethany and I had about 90 minutes to kill so I hit the trails at the town’s Veteran’s Memorial Park. Many towns have similarly named parks, but not many are as expansive and trailed as Bethany’s 149 acres is.

I drove my car over the crunching ice and snow to the large parking lot and was immediately confronted with a dilemma:

I decided to chance it and got on with my hike. Of course, I assume this sign makes sense on a 90-degree summer’s day when people enjoy swimming and lying out on the beach.

That wasn’t happening today:

Acquired in 1997 to expand public recreation and protect one of the last properties in town with a lake, “Bethany West” officially opened to the public in 1999 and was later rededicated as Bethany Veterans Memorial Park. Formerly the site of the Beacon Outing Club, the property was once a popular place for ice skating and skiing, featuring ski slopes, a small lift, and a clubhouse now known as Lakeview Lodge. Today the park has become a community hub for seasonal events, sports, and lakeside recreation.

The lake here is called Hockanum Lake which is mildly interesting to me, as the Hockanum River is many miles east of here. In the Algonquian language, Hockanum (derived from the Native American word Hocquaun) means “hook-shaped” or “crooked river”. The name describes the natural winding path and sharp bends of the Hockanum River in towns like Ellington, Vernon, and Manchester. This Hockanum pond is not hook-shaped at all and, well, it’s not a river.

The truly odd thing is that this lake appears as Simpson Lake on the available park maps. Oh well, Hockanum Lake it is.

There is a trail that circles the lake, but I only did half of it, since a third of it is on the driveway I drove in on.

So that was an out and back to the far side of the frozen expanse. I next followed a trail from the far end (away from where I parked) of the lake, over some blowdowns, right out to… someone’s backyard. Well this was going great. Another out and back, but at least the for the “backs” I could follow my footprints in the snow.

I made my way back down along the lakeside and since there were no tracks heading south towards the woods, I just went for it. Some guy walking his dog just stared at me in wonder… but I knew what I was doing. I found the trailhead at the corner of the field and started making my way east, through the two miles or so of woodland trails here. The main loop around is blazed yellow and there is a red cut-off trail, as well as purple and blue shorter cut-offs.

I began the yellow loop clockwise and was happy that this trail had been used by other walkers over the last few days. (The trail originates at the parking lot.) The woods here are typical Connecticut; eastern hardwoods, pine stands here and there, stone walls, rocky streams, and so forth. I’m curious what this path is like in the spring, because according to the map I was walking right through a wetland.

This route also took me up a hill. It’s a fairly decent hill that reaches 750 feet and kinda sorta has seasonal views north.

after the park’s highpoint, the red and blue trails diverge from the main loop. I bumbled down both but ultimately made my way back to the yellow loop. Neither of these inner trails were broken out, so I had to do the hard work.

Which really wasn’t all that hard. Hiking on a sunny day in snowy woods is far more enjoyable than many people think. It’s quiet. It’s peaceful. Just dress properly for the conditions and go for it. You don’t even need snowshoes for anything less than maybe 8 or 10 inches – just some Kahtoola microspikes, high quality socks and trail runners.

I followed the yellow trail to the furthest point east and then began hoofing it back to my car. This section of maybe a mile is fairly straight and aside from some ups and downs, follows a sort of height of land above the lake before curling around to the parking lot.

In recent years, a connector trail has been cleared from the lot south that continues into the Simpson Preserve. Remember at the beginning of this page I said that this property, “was once a popular place for ice skating and skiing, featuring ski slopes, a small lift, …” and you were probably like, “huh?” Well, the evidence of that is here, at the top of a steep climb in the Simpson Preserve where parts of the old ski lift still exist.

But that’s for another page – as are the Bethany Land Trust properties that can be reached from that preserve. And I haven’t even yet mentioned CFPA’s Whittemore Trail that ascends to the Naugatuck Trail and Beacon Cap loops. Such great hiking to be had, all from this parking lot, at which you can’t legally park, at Veteran’s Memorial Park in Bethany!

Regardless of the parking situation, I’m comfortable telling you that you can come here at times like I did and enjoy the woods. The trail system here is very well cleared and blazed and while there are no spectacular views, it still offers a very pleasant walk in the woods.

CTMQ’s Bethany Town Trails
Map