Erving State Forest

Bee Lynn

Truly a hidden gem!

Lisa DeWitt

Travellers, this is a lovely little state forest located in Erving. There are is a campground area, a day area with picnic tables and some barbecues, and then there is laurel lake, which is small and lovely. The beach is big and has a large swim area that is very nice. The walk down to the beach is charming, and there is plenty of room for a large crowd. The lifeguards were vigilant to the point of almost harassing a group of young folks. They need to chill. They made the afternoon tense yelling at swimmers. The scenery is lovely and worth the visit. Check it out. We recommend. TLDR - nice lake beach

Reiner Wilhelms-Tricarico

I biked to Laurel Lake today June 20, 2022, from Greenfield and back, and had only half an hour left to swim before they closed down the facilities by 6:30 pm. It's a really lovely lake, very clean and clear. Surprisingly few people were there. It's of course easier to get there by car, but then I guess you have to pay at least for parking. Or you can camp for only $17 a day. The only problem with biking there from Greenfield is that you may have to use at least a few miles of Rt 2, and that really sucks, and it feels quite unsafe, since near Erving it has not even a break down line. An alternative path south of the Millers River (on the other side as Rt 2) that I found on Google maps (Mormon Hollow Rd and Stone Cut Off Rd) didn't get me all the way to Erving. Stone Cut Off Rd (what a name!) was no good for my touring bike, and finally the path ended signed as private property; and the signs looked kind of threatening.

Notquiteultralight

Sadly, I feel like over the past couple years, the overall experience at mass state park campgrounds has steadily declined. The Mass state park system has taken a weird turn where they don’t raise the prices from a ridiculously low price of 17$ to something like 25$ for state residents. This would allow them to hire more staff at the campgrounds providing more oversight and less riff raff in the parks. I feel like dcr has some beautiful treasures for parks and grounds and it appears they just kinda don’t care about them anymore. I will never stay at mass state park again after what my daughter and I experienced last fall and summer. Too many waaaay better choices for an extra hours worth of driving. If you’re a family and you think you want to camp at one of these places, please consider this first.