# What's the worst park/forest? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 2, 2022, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-park-forest/972585 "2022-10-02T17:01:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2022, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-park-forest/972585/1 "2022-10-02T17:01:28Z")
The worst park, to me, in _theory_ could be one that contains _only_ sports fields and nothing else. And while I’m sure I’ve been to some of those, I can’t remember any specific ones. There is a city park a couple miles from me that contains _mostly_ sports fields, and it seems especially poorly accoutremented to me when I pass it on one of my long distance runs, because it doesn’t have drinking fountains and its bathrooms are usually locked. If you don’t have that, I wouldn’t even go there if I _did_ engage in group sports. However, even though the side facing the main street is only a block long, I nonetheless walk through it when I pass it by since it is well shaded and more pleasant than walking by the noisy traffic. So I can’t say it’s the _worst_ park I remember. Instead, the honor of worst park or forest goes to Holopaw State Forest on 192 between Melbourne and Kissimmee in Florida. Yes, I know that _forests_ are multiple use by default and are managed for resource extraction as well as recreation and conservation. And, _technically_, you could visit Holopaw State Forest as a member of the public if you wanted to, but there isn’t really anything to _do_ there. It’s just a flat stand of trees. A small stand of trees. Every couple decades or so they sell the rights to chop down half of it, but it is so small that it can’t even be that lucrative for the timber companies. Here’s the front of it. If you scroll to the right and left you can see the edges. https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=%213m2%212sen%214v0%216m8%211m7%211sqNtsC135zFy9zs3AdmFo6Q%212m2%211d28.1375809%212d-81.0371204%213f19.21%214f9.161%215f0.75 Here’s the left. Note that the healthier-looking mixed woods to the left is not part of the forest but rather private property. The thin stand of pines is where the forest ends. https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=%213m2%212sen%214v0%216m8%211m7%211sBNMYFIraTOKSC4hR5OwndQ%212m2%211d28.1387624%212d-81.0422287%213f34.8%214f9.062%215f0.75 Here’s the right. That’s it. That’s the whole state forest. https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=%213m2%212sen%214v0%216m8%211m7%211slxdZ2zUrkyuQHaRtmu34Yg%212m2%211d28.136566%212d-81.0327456%213f341.62%214f9.308%215f0.75 ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2022, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-park-forest/972585/2 "2022-10-02T17:17:20Z")
Coastal Florida too where developers grease the right palms to drain a mangrove or marshland and build McMansions calling the development Mangrove Preserve or some other euphemism for bulldozed building lots. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2022, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-park-forest/972585/3 "2022-10-02T17:18:35Z")
How about the “suicide forest” in Japan? That’s gotta rank up there for bad forest experiences. > **[Aokigahara](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aokigahara)** > > Aokigahara (青木ヶ原, 'Blue Tree Meadow'), also known as the Sea of Trees (樹海, Jukai), is a forest on the northwestern flank of Mount Fuji on the island of Honshu in Japan, thriving on 30 square kilometres (12 sq mi) of hardened lava laid down by the last major eruption of Mount Fuji in 864 CE. The western edge of Aokigahara, where there are several caves that fill with ice in winter, is a popular destination for tourists and school trips. Parts of Aokigahara are very dense, and the porous lava ro... ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2022, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-park-forest/972585/4 "2022-10-02T17:26:44Z")
As for forests, I’d say Mirkwood. Full of giant spiders that want to eat you, necromancers, and wargs. Drinking the water there, or even getting it on you would put you into a deep sleep for days. Even the elves there were pretty damn inhospitable. Of course, in both Fangorn and the Old Forest, trees might eat you there. But I think your odds were worse in Mirkwood. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2022, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-park-forest/972585/5 "2022-10-02T18:08:39Z")
Mirkwood is definitely a contender, but in the Fourth Age, I’d go with the Red Forest, surrounding Chernobyl: > **[Red Forest](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Forest)** > > The Red Forest (Ukrainian: Рудий ліс, Rudyi Lis, lit. 'ginger-colour forest') is the ten-square-kilometre (4 sq mi) area surrounding the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant within the Exclusion Zone, located in Polesia. The name "Red Forest" comes from the ginger-brown colour of the pine trees after they died following the absorption of high levels of ionizing radiation as a consequence of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster on 26 April 1986. In the post-disaster cleanup operations, the Red Forest was bu Th... ---
**Author:** ![Galactus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galactus/32/3581_2.png) [@Galactus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Galactus)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2022, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-park-forest/972585/6 "2022-10-02T18:48:58Z")
The Fire Swamp in between Florin and Guilder is pretty terrible. Infested with ROUSes, I hear. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2022, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-park-forest/972585/7 "2022-10-02T19:18:36Z")
For quite some time Donald J Trump State Park in NY was nothing but an abandoned housing development with falling apart buildings, debris scattered about and overgrown paths that used to be roads with no assessable parking or anything really park like in any way. Quite recently there is now a small parking area and some picnic benches near it, and I think even a small children’s play area, so a bit better then it was but still pretty bad. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2022, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-park-forest/972585/8 "2022-10-02T22:17:27Z")
Well, this is a pretty shitty forest. [![](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/f4/e1/9e/f4e19e3cddcefc7fe5609f3b2c9d9f19.jpg) ](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/f4/e1/9e/f4e19e3cddcefc7fe5609f3b2c9d9f19.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2022, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-park-forest/972585/9 "2022-10-03T02:25:18Z")
> **[Mill Ends Park](https://www.portland.gov/parks/mill-ends-park)** > > The smallest park in the world! ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2022, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-park-forest/972585/10 "2022-10-03T02:29:18Z")
> [@Galactus](#): > > Infested with ROUSes, I hear. I don’t believe they exist. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2022, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-park-forest/972585/11 "2022-10-03T10:59:15Z")
That is indeed smaller than the smallest possible example I had seen, which was not a named park but is a place in a traffic island I found while checking out Google Street Views of the English countryside. It has a monument, a bench, and some flowers. All it needs is a name and a pathway and I would totally call it a real park. Who knows, it could have these now or no longer exist since this was taken in 2009: https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=%213m2%212sen%214v0%216m8%211m7%211s-tykopkNCwn4O6Cn64POig%212m2%211d50.8623478%212d-3.135254%213f324.16%214f7.916%215f0.6 ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2022, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-park-forest/972585/12 "2022-10-03T14:07:18Z")
[![](https://static2.museoreinasofia.es/sites/default/files/styles/ficha_actividad_exposicion/public/actividades/taller_pllaygrounds.jpg?itok=mbPpxEYT) ](https://static2.museoreinasofia.es/sites/default/files/styles/ficha_actividad_exposicion/public/actividades/taller_pllaygrounds.jpg?itok=mbPpxEYT) ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2022, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-park-forest/972585/13 "2022-10-03T14:15:39Z")
> [@solost](#): > > How about the “suicide forest” in Japan? That’s gotta rank up there for bad forest experiences. Some cities in Japan have local ordinances that a certain percentage of the city land must be utilized as parkland. Often what they do, just to follow the letter of the law, is have dozens of tiny footprints of land (8 meters by 12 meters or similar) right next to a railway or major highway. Compliance satisfied. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2022, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-park-forest/972585/14 "2022-10-03T14:26:19Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > The worst park, to me, in _theory_ could be one that contains _only_ sports fields and nothing else. I wanted to say that an area only containing sports fields is not really a “park”. My thinking was based on this definition: “a large public green area in a town, used for recreation.” There is, however, also this definition: “an area devoted to a specified purpose.” So, your scenario of a park containing “only sports field” does fit the definition. Verdict: I agree, since most of the public isn’t playing any of those specific sports, a park like that has no attraction. ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2022, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-park-forest/972585/15 "2022-10-03T14:26:32Z")
Yeah, that’s a bad park. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2022, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-park-forest/972585/16 "2022-10-10T04:30:17Z")
eh, nm…