Valhalla Park

No entrance fee. Lots of parking available, we were there around 3pm during the weekend. I saw at least one covered picnic area, I’m not sure if you have to reserve it or not. Huge playground (there were several families there the day I stopped in).
They are dog friendly as long as dogs are leashed and you pick up after them. We walked down one of the paved trails into the woods (it lead out to a cemetery area and a road) was probably less than a mile by my estimate. Passed several walkers/​joggers/​bikers. Trails were clean and seemed well-​maintained.
There were sports fields visible also and I would definitely want to go back to explore more.

The trails are very nice & quiet, which is a welcome change if you’re fed up with the crowds at the river trail. Location is great too if you live in Holt. Personally, I like the unpaved trails since you encounter fewer people and it’s great for my dog that loves running through the woods.
I’m not a fan of the beach though. The lake itself is a nice little feature, but the beach is very crowded in summer. Also there always seem to be a lot of shady looking people just kind of milling around. Maybe I’m too paranoid, but it kind of makes me uncomfortable. Also, I’ve found a few times that families by the beach and playground have a habit of bringing dogs and not watching them. On two occasions, with two separate families, the parents had allowed small children to watch their dogs which subsequently got free and chased and got aggressive with me & my dog who was walking on leash. Luckily they were fairly small dogs that couldn’t do much damage but it was still a negative experience.
I guess the negatives aren’t quite enough to prevent me from visiting Vallhalla, but I wouldn’t really recommend the beach to anyone and I really dread walking by it.

Great place for a short hike. Looks like they are building a bathroom/​concessions. We hiked the path thru the woods & are looking forward to coming back and fishing.

This is an awesome park that it seems few know about. Not only does it have a swimming lake, play structures and picnic areas, there is a trail system through a beech-​maple woods that is teeming with wildlife. There are dozens of 100+ year old maple and American beech trees and the floor of the woods is pink with flowers in the spring.

I love this park! There is no entrance fee, which is great since many of the county parks do have a fee. They have very nice, newly built play equipment for kids, but it is separated between young children (toddlers) and older kids (up to 12).
There is a man-​made lake with a sandy beach. It’s nice to be able to stop here in the summer for a quick dip without fighting huge crowds.
There are some baseball diamonds as well as picnic shelters. My favorite part though is the trail system. They have a well maintained system through the woods and around the lake, and it’s never really busy so if you like to take peaceful, quiet hikes this is your place!

Great little park! It has some trails and a lake, but we mostly go for the play structures. There are two — one for kids ages 2 – 5 and one for kids 5 – 12. Both are very nice and well-​maintained. It’s a good size — you can keep an eye on more than one kid without needing to clone yourself.