I found this park while checking the alltrails app looking for something close with at least two miles of trials. Copp family park is just a mile plus up the Gold Star Highway in Groton off of rt 95. There were several reviews on the app about dogs being off leash and some of the trails being very wet, both true statements.
There were a number of dogs that were let off leash right from the parking lot. They did seem to stick to the wider, gravel trails like the green and the yellow. Once we were out on the purple trail, the trail described as having the most elevation gains, the dogs as well as their owners were out of sight.
Another aspect was how much of the trails were impassable due to water. Whoever had mapped out the trails had seemingly done so at a time when the vernal ponds were dried up. The trails seemed to go straight through some of the deepest depressions in certain parts, and no boardwalks, improvised or otherwise to make up for the waterlogged earth. Instead, other paths had developed in an effort to circumnavigate the seasonal obstacles.
Even with the off-leash dog community having adopted the wider trails for themselves, and the further trails being a bit underdeveloped, the Copp family park is a very beautiful trail. All the lichen covered rocks, and the laurel trees enveloping parts of the trail make it uniquely New England. Although I did not get there it looks like the yellow trail loops along a pond and the Groton reservoir. A good goal for the next trip.
