Fresh water paddling

It’s not always easy to find a place to launch a canoe or kayak hereabouts, especially when you’re looking for a quiet lake or pond. Ridgefield has two lakes with free, public, state-owned boat launches. Both the mile-long Lake Mamanasco and the smaller Pierrepont Pond ban gasoline engines. The Mamanasco launch is at the south end of the lake and at the northeast end is the town’s Richardson Park, a former estate where you can land on the wooded shore and hike up a hill to a picnic and play area. Pierrepont Pond, called Lake Naraneka on some maps, is in Pierrepont State Park, with several parking spaces next to the launch. Redding’s Huntington State Park also offers canoeing and kayaking; Lake Hopewell has about a mile of shoreline to explore.

Squantz Pond State Park and Squantz Cove in New Fairfield offer boat launches, to the pond and to Lake Candlewood, respectively. In season, the lake has many motorboats.

Details

Lake Mamanasco is off Route 116, via Mamanasco Road opposite Ridgefield High School. Pierrepont State Park is off Route 116 via Barlow Mountain Road. Huntington State Park in Redding is reached from Sunset Hill Road, off Route 58. Squantz Pond State Park and Squantz Cove are both off Route 39 in New Fairfield. The Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection Web site, ct.gov/dep, has an interactive boat launch locator.

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