So if you've ever seen the Wes Anderson movie "Moonrise Kingdom" - and you've hiked this trail to…read moreLong Pond - you'll recognize the scenery around the pond from the top of a massive glacial boulder. Regardless of its Hollywood connections (and my hats off to the camera crew and actors for getting up there!), this is quite the hiking area, though not for the faint-hearted. It does involve a bit of clambering up and down boulders, so be sure to bring a stout set of hiking boots or shoes ... and I'd recommend long pants to deal with the rocks and branches as you're more than likely to be finding yourself scooching down them on your butt at some points. (Yours truly wore only cross-trainers and boy did I regret it: I could not get any traction to summit that huge glacial formation and had to settle vicariously for the distant oohs and ahhs of wonderment from my wife and daughter). We started at the North Road trailhead for the main Narragansett Trail which is marked by yellow blazes but be aware (or beware?) that the turn-off to this spectacular view of the pond - while marked by a big red arrow on a rock - is an unmarked trail, so be sure to take mental pictures of the turns and forks so you don't get lost on the way back. But it sure is worth making this deviation! The main trial can be quite the hike and the opposite direction will take you into Connecticut if you so wish. There is supposed to be another unmarked trail opposite the one going to Long Pond which will take you to Ell Pond, but we weren't able to find the entrance to that trail from the main one - we're guessing probably because it's less traveled and maintained. In addition to Long pond, we were impressed by the large amount of rhododendrons in the forest - we promised ourselves to visit in the spring when they'd be blossoming as that must be a sight to see. This Narragansett Trail area is definitely worth repeat visits! Please note that there are no privys or running water at the trailhead - and parking areas are sparse.

The Long Pond-Ell Pond Nature Area is a spectacular location to stretch your legs and take in some…read morefantastic views of rural Rhode Island. As an avid hiker in the White Mountains of New Hampshire... it was wonderful to find beauty in one's own backyard. It was a crisp Saturday afternoon that I found myself driving down a dirt road in Hopkinton to the Long Pond trailhead. The drive down North Road (aka Old Rockville Road) itself was even enjoyable. The narrow dirt road meandered through branches, heavy with yellowed leaves until the obvious intersection of a couple of cars with several pull offs. There is room for 2 cars at this trailhead, with a pull off for another 2 just before the small parking area. The trail is well-marked with yellow blazes on the trees. Be mindful of who is participating in this hike... it isn't quite simply a leisurely walk in the woods. There are many rock scrambles, some elevation gain, and quite a bit of maneuvering to go to and fro. As you head down the trail from the parking area I mentioned, you reach a crossroads of sorts. If you turn left you hike a short ways until you reach a very large rock formation. At the top is wonderful outlook onto Long Pond. It is a great place to lunch. If you turn right you head toward views of Ell Pond (I didn't go this way on my trip). If you head "straight" which is actually kind of towards the right as well you descend into a forested valley and towards other adventures in the area. The hike to this crossroads is quite manageable and a quick trip. The beauty of this area is that you can make your hike as long or as short as you'd like. It is not a loop so you can decide to turn back at any point and be quite aware of how far and long it will take you. Great in any season I am sure... Fall was perfect. Wish I had gone when there was a bit more foliage to look at but stunning none-the-less. Quiet, serene, a joy to visit. I will most certainly visit this area again and traverse more of its trails. Be sure to wear your blaze orange during hunting season, September to February generally. I'm not sure how much hunting is allowed in this area but I'd rather be safe than sorry!

Do you find yourself having to go to Foxwoods for some reason? Do you feel like you need to balance…read morethings out/cleanse yourself with nature before and/or after? Then I recommend a jaunt on Lantern Hill! We found a loop trail on AllTrails (blue blazes) which is about 1.5 miles and took 45 minutes. It was a bit rocky in a number of sections, so I recommend hiking shoes with good traction. Elevation got our hearts pumping. Nice hilltop views of a pond and yes, the casino. We also saw 5-10 vultures in a certain area. I wonder if they gamble.

The blue trail was very challenging, Rocky, required solid skillful footing. Beautiful views that…read moreonly got better the closer you got to the top! I was greeted by three hawks at the top! Very clear day you could see for miles!! Loved this hike!

The Audubon's Lathrop Wildlife Refuge hosts approximately 85 acres of protected land near the…read moreshores of Winnapaug Pond in Westerly, RI. Great for birdwatching (and searching for other wildlife), photography, and a little fresh air; this location is good for someone looking to get outside but not invest a lot of time/distance to soak in the sights. At only about 0.5 miles of trail, this property is a great add-on to other activities in the area. I didn't venture too far from the main path once reaching the pond as the shores were quite soft underfoot. I personally combined this trek with a 3.5 mile hike in the Dr. John Champlin Glacier Park just across Shore Road. There is a small parking lot for the refuge which was largely inaccessible on my visit as it had just snowed and the steep incline featured sections of ice. Having walked here, this was of no issue. Flat terrain leading to a wide-sweeping view of the pond and some of the buildings located at Misquamicut Beach across the way. Very calm and peaceful. Westerly State Airport is located a stone's throw from here. The noise of the planes was mostly unobtrusive and an interesting alternative to birdwatching as they slowed to turn to land. No dogs allowed to maintain the wildlife habitat efforts.

The Westerly Grills Preserve is a diverse parcel of land that has many hiking trails, sights, and…read moresounds across its 550 acres. Open from 5AM until a 1/2 hour prior to sunset, you can explore scenic overlooks, a historic cemetery, pedestrian bridges, big rocks, railroad tracks, old dirt roads, and a 1600s farmhouse foundation. Excited to check out all these mapped points of interest, I was ultimately a bit disappointed with the difficulty it took to locate them all. I started my hike armed with a GPS and trail map depicting the orange, blue, white, yellow, and red trails mixed in with old dirt roads. On more than one occasion though, I ran into unexpected diversions from the mapped trails; seemingly blazed but would ultimately lead to overgrown pathways. I am an experienced hiker but was befuddled by some of the intersections I arrived to. Though the trails were quite wide in areas, there were a number of blowdowns (presumably from the fall Nor'easter we experienced in the past couple weeks). Traversing the trails by foot, I was able to crawl over and through most of them without going too far off trail. The preserve is open for horseback riding though so I imagine these fallen trees may pose a problem if that is your mode of transportation. Important to note that some areas of the trail near to the Pawcatuck River can flood in times of high water so be mindful during rainy seasons. All-in-all, once I located the aforementioned sights, I was pleased with the beauty of it all. The overlook on "Big Hill" was a nice respite while I snacked on granola seated on the granite outcropping. A look over the open areas that housed the Larkin Homestead Foundation was a peaceful view. Another break at the pedestrian bridge (formerly the Polly Coon Bridge) was intensely picaresque with its rope swing, foliage, and gently streaming waters of the Pawcatuck. The historic cemetery portrayed the age of the land and the views of Kedincker Island afforded many yellows, oranges, and reds. A nice autumn jaunt if you have time to stroll around. Pay attention to your map and keep a close eye on the trail options. Hint: The blue blazes for the blue trail are different than the blue reflectors/placards that seemed to adorn some of the dirt roads. Take a peek at the nearby railroad tracks, I had more than one occasion to view the NY to Boston Acela fly by. You'll hear the horns a'honking throughout your time in the preserve. Plenty of parking at the trailhead, room for horse trailers. Hunting allowed here so wear your blaze orange in season.

Barn Island offers a 3 mi (5k) loop through a beautiful tidal marsh. I have been coming here since…read more1984 and never miss the chance to enjoy the walk. It is not aggressive or tedious but you should be ready for deer flies and mosquitoes.

I'm not a hiker but I love a trail that provides a nice scenic walk and Barn Island does just that…read more We walked on the red trail which you pick up from Palmer Neck Rd where there is parking for about 15 cars . Follow signs for the boat launch not your GPS , as that will bring you to another trailhead in a residential area whee there is no parking . The path is wide with some imbedded rocks/ stones and is predominantly flat. It runs through woods and marshes. This was a November day so there wasn't a bug in sight but when I looked into information, many hikers on a popular trail site noted the bugs. Although we didn't experience this, I took off a star knowing I'd never walk this at dusk or early morning and probably never in the summer knowing this ( CT and this area in particular had a EEE scare/ warnings this summer). The views across the marshes to the ocean and Little Narraganset Bay are beautiful. You can see across to Napatree Point and even see Watch Hill Light in the distance. The tidal marshes themselves are picturesque with swaying tall grasses and pools of water. The woods have many large lichen covered rocks along the perimeter and stone walls farther in. The path does have some areas that are muddy. We passed about 20 people some with dogs, a few with cameras and binoculars. Other than a few ducks we saw no wildlife. It was a nice flat picturesque walk over a portion of the 1000 + acre preserve. I'd definitely recommend it especially after a hard frost kills the bugs and we will definitely return!

Water rocks and…read more houses The Dr John Champlin Glacier Park is a parcel of land that is owned by the Westerly Land Trust and is open to the public. It's not particularly large, a bit less than 150 acres, but you can stretch out a hike of about 4 or 5 miles if you use all the paths. Nothing strenuous or difficult, all the paths and trails are wide and easy. The Glacier Park is an interesting place if you happen to enjoy geology. As the name implies the area was formed by the glaciers and in fact the entire park is a recessional moraine. Lots of boulders, kettle ponds and other obviously signs of glaciation are present and lots of cool stone walls meander throughout the park. At one time the area held a stone quarry and huge chunks of worked granite can be seen laying around. At the highest point there is an observation platform where you can see a few miles out to the ocean. An impressive and nice view, especially in the winter. One of the biggest problems with hiking here are the houses. The area has been heavily developed recently and houses are visible in the distance during almost the entire hike. They're very nice houses but I would prefer more trees and stones and less signs of humans. Glacier Park isn't a hike for people that like to cover miles and want the solitude of the woods, plenty of other places for that near by. This hike is great for older people, kids or perhaps people with disabilities that keep them from climbing or doing the more difficult hikes. It's also a great place for anyone interested in glaciers or geology. Definitely a place to slow down and look, listen and think.

Nice trails sandwiched in Westerly. Make sure you bring the insect repellentread more

Note: Black-Farm Management Area is in Hopkinton, not Tiverton! So just be aware that you need to…read morelook for it on the west side of the Bay, not the east side, until Yelp corrects this. That being said, what a wonderful set of trails, woodland, fields, streams, and ponds, this place is! There is a main trail, yellow-blazed, but also many unmarked side trails that are well worth exploring. You'll come across the requisite old stone walls, erratic boulders, towering trees, babbling brooks, tranquil ponds, as well as the "Rail Trail" (aka Narragansett Trail) which follows a section of disused rail line to a large lake-like portion of the Wood River. Quite spectacular! There's also an historic cemetery (RI no. 40) and - somewhere we have been told - the remains of an ice house, no doubt a relic of bygone industry waylaid by modern refrigeration. We'll be back - I want to find that ice house!

Pines needles kettle ponds…read more and strange buildings At only 250 or so acres Black Farm isn't one of the largest wildlife management areas around and the entire hike can be done in less than an hour unless you decide to linger or get lost on the many side paths. Black Farm was really a working farm at one time but that time is now only a hazy memory. Even though it isn't very large the area has a remarkable amount of interesting things to observe. The most obvious of the geological features is a called Plain Pond. This is really a kettle pond, a shallow depression left over from the retreating glaciers. Kettle ponds don't have any brooks or streams running in or out of them so they are entirely depended on ground water or precipitation, so the water level is frequently changing. The Midwest has some huge kettle ponds but most of the ones around New England are fairly small. Of course a vast diversity of wildlife makes the kettle pond and surrounding marsh their homes. Another interesting feature that' can be found in Black Farm are the strange stone ruins that are scattered about. Most are now covered by trees and brush so you have to look carefully to find them but one in particular is very obvious and quite unusual. It has several large rectangular stones but the whole structure seems to be in the shape of a circle. Various old, rusty metal objects are still hanging around and it's difficult to tell what this thing originally was used for. Lots of small streams intersect the area and they can get surprisingly feisty during periods of rain. A few small bridges were built to assist people getting across the water but they seem to get washed away during just about every storm. People just fix them up with whatever is at hand. An old, long abandoned rail bed marks the end of the management area and even though their are lots of ups and downs, muddy areas and tons of loose stones and roots it definitely isn't a very strenuous hike. The biggest danger is twisting and ankle looking at all the cool things rather than the trail. Of course like every single wooded area in Rhode Island there is a spooky old cemetery lurking deep in the woods. This one has some cool civil war graves in it. Most of the tress are evergreens but a fair share of oaks and maples are also present. The pine needles from the tress make a nice, almost cushioned walkway that absorbs both impact and sound. A very cool feeling while walking. This certainly isn't a place for a vigorous workout or a long hike. Black Farm is a cool place to enjoy some of the local wildlife, geological features, human artifacts and reminders that this whole area was once a lot different than what it is today.

Great place love good woods private deep in the wood in some spots safe place nice staferead more

Dams stones and…read moreguns The Burlingame Wildlife Management Area is often confused with the Burlingame Campground and the Burlingame State Park. The Wildlife Management Area is north of the state park and is a complete different place The Management Area has about 1,400 acres of wetland, open fields, ponds, streams and deciduous and evergreen trees. All kinds of critters live here including foxes, raccoons, rabbits, coyotes, wild turkey, grouse, deer, beaver and lots an lots of bugs. The area has some scruffy old dirt roads going through it and some small paths but nothing is well marked and you kind of have to make your own way through the woods at times. Lots of cool old foundations and the remains of at least three old dams. The land was obviously well used in the past centuries and probably had some mills and farms on it. One thing to be very aware of is that although hunting is never allowed in Burlington State Park and campground it is allow in here during certainly months of the years so bright orange is absolute necessity. Burlingame Wildlife Management Area is a nice place to see some lovely trees and ferns, cool critters and the remains of old stuff build by humans that have now faded into the past.