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◂︎ Mandy & Lexi's Rhode Island Adventures
Charlestown
Charlestown Town Beach
Dates visited: 11/7/2022, 5/24/2023, 9/5/2023 & 9/13/2024
Here is another dog friendly beach. Dogs are allowed here between Labor Day and Memorial Day any time, and after 5PM during the summer. It was an unusually warm November afternoon, around 72 degrees when we arrived. The waves were much stronger here than most of the other beaches we visited. We walked the length of the beach and back. The far end of the beach is actually Charlestown Breachway State Park. The sun was directly behind the breachway, so it was difficult to get a good picture on the breachway. East Beach is on the other side of the breachway. We headed there next.
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We returned briefly after our Richard Trails adventure in May. Storm clouds were headed our way, and it was chilly (It was warmer when we were here in November). We just took a few pictures and left before the downpour.
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Our third visit here was also brief. It was the day after Labor Day, so the dogs were allowed. We parked at the Charlestown Town Beach lot but headed east, quickly crossing into South Kingstown. Heading east from the main beach entrance, there's not much left to Charlestown as the town line is very close. On our way, an older gentelmen yelled out "No Dogs On The Beach!" I explained that they are allowed after Labor Day, and then he said "Okay, Karen". I'm not sure he understood the "Karen" moniker here. Wouldn't he be the "Karen" in this situation?
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This was a fun trip. It was actually a family beach day, spent mostly sitting on the beach and going into the water. Mandy & Lexi did not like the big waves! Lexi likes to dig holes in the sand, and she dug one right under my wife's beach chair! I did walk the length of the beach with the dogs, from the main area near the entrance to the Charlestown Breachway. We also walked for a bit in the other direction, heading into the South Kingstown section of beach as well. It was nice way to spend a warm mid-September afternoon.
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East Beach
Dates visited: 11/7/2022, 10/26/2023 & 7/16/2024
Despite being about 30 feet away from this beach while we were at Charlestown Beach and Charlestown Breachway, we had to drive about 25 minutes to reach East Beach by car. This is a state beach, and despite the website saying no dogs are allowed, there are signs at the beach that specify that no animals are allowed between April 1st and September 30. This is a very long beach, We walked about a mile and half toward the breachway, but we weren't even close, there was still about two miles or so to go. We had to turn around because daylight savings time is over, and it gets dark at 4:30. Of course, that meant we were able to get some great beach sunset photos.
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After a few trips that featured fall foliage, we went back to the beach. This was the first of three forecasted days that will be at or near record warmth. It was the mid 70's on this day, a perfect day for the beach! This is our second visit to this particular beach (though we may have crossed over a couple times from nearby Blue Shutters Beach). We were actually here on a warm November day last year. In fact, we passed a couple on the beach who recognized us from last year! Despite the warm weather, there were not many people here. It was a Thursday afternoon, and school is in session. Most of the people we saw were fishing. Last time, we headed east, but only went a little over a mile before turning around. This time, we went east as far as we could, all the way to Charlestown Breachway. It was 3.25 miles one way, and of course we had to walk back as well. This is a beautiful beach, but even though most of our walk was on sections of the beach that we hadn't visited before, it all looks pretty much the same. After walking the entire length of this beach, I think we've covered most of the shoreline of Charlestown with all our trips. This beach is a barrier beach, separating the ocean from Ninigret Pond. Once we reached the parking area on our way back, we went on the other side of the barrier to the pond. The water is much calmer here than the ocean side of the beach, and the dogs wasted no time walking right into the salt water pond! This was a great trip on a great day. One word of warning: Be aware that the dirt road that leads to this beach is in very rough shape. I do not remember it being that bumpy last year. Fortunately, it's not too long, but you better have good suspension on your car!
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Here is a rare summer time appearance for Mandy & Lexi at this beach. We actually parked at Blue Shutters Beach, and headed east, almost immediately crossing over to the state beach. We arrived two hours after high tide, but the wavers were still ripping. Lexi didn't want anything to do with the waves and kept pulling us further away from them! There were low level clouds and haze, but it was only in the mid 70's here, much cooler than the 90+ degree temperatures inland. This was a nice escape from the heat, but still quite humid. We walked about a mile and half before turning around and heading back.
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Blue Shutters Beach
Dates visited: 2/10/2023, 7/26/2023, 5/4/2024, 5/29/2024 & 7/8/2024
What a difference a week makes. We had a record low of -9 exactly a week ago, but today the region had record highs in the mid 60's. That meant taking the whole day off from work and going to the beach! It was a little bit cooler, and very windy on the beach, but that didn't make this walk any less great. This is a town beach, located just west of East Beach State Park. In fact, the beaches connect and I'm sure a couple pictures below overlap with the state beach. It's nearly impossible to tell where one beach ends and the other begins. I really have no idea the length of Blue Shutters Beach, or why it is called "Blue Shutters Beach" for that matter. I saw no blue shutters anywhere. We walked west on the beach until there was too many rocks for us to safely navigate. We probably crossed over into some private beaches, but there wasn't any signs or anything telling us to keep out. We walked three miles total here, and despite it being February, Mandy still insisted on wading through the edge of the ocean!
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This is a wonderful beach, and is probably my favorite in Rhode Island. I learned that dogs are actually allowed on Charlestown Town Beaches after 5 PM between Memorial and Labor Day, so we had to visit this one in the summer! The beach technically "closes" at 5PM, but in actuality, that's just when they stop charging for parking. We came down after work on a really warm and humid day in July, but it was cooler and breezy here on the beach. We walked much of the same route that we walked in February. I actually think the pictures from February are nicer. There was a bit of haze here today, and the waves weren't as impressive as our first trip. Still, it is wonderful to be able to take the dogs to such a nice beach in the summer!
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Here's yet another visit to this wonderful beach. We again headed west, but this time we climbed over the rocks to get further than our previous trips. Once on the other side of the rocks, we reached a sandy area that I believe is part of West Beach, though it is not labeled on any of my maps. See the West Beach section for pictures of that part of the adventure.
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It seems like this beach will be a place we visit regularly when we are in the area. It might be the most beautiful beach in Rhode Island after all. It's especially great that dogs can visit in the summer time after 5PM. Going forward, I'll just add any interesting photos we take to this section below, as there is not much more I can say about this wonderful beach.
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Came down to this beach once again to escape the brutal heat and humidity inland. It was bright and sunny the whole trip, but as soon as we arrived, an eerie fog rolled in from off-shore. It created a phenomenon known as a "fogbow". We also encountered the most sophisticated sand castle I've ever seen.
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Ninigret National Wildlife Refuge
Date visited: 7/1/2022
I passed this place on my previous trip to Rhode Island, and decided to look it up to see if I could bring the dogs. I went to the website, and saw that dogs were allowed, but evidently I misread the site, and the site I read wasn't the official website. They are only allowed on the Visitor Center trails which is in a different section of the park. We did encounter a couple other dogs here, but it's probably not a good idea to bring your dogs to this section of the park. At any rate, it was a very nice short hike. The heat and humidity were brutal in the Hartford area, but it was pleasant here. The main feature here is the salt water pond. There were a few places on the trail where the dogs were able to get into Ninigret Pond to cool off. We passed the observatory on our way out, so we stopped briefly to take a picture there as well.
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Patricia Sprague Forest Preserve
Date visited: 6/30/2022
This is mainly a wooded area, with a few open fields. We walked a mile and a half loop trail that circles the property. I noticed many dead trees, and many more that have been cut down. The hike was pleasant and easy, but there is nothing too memorable about this preserve.
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Burlingame Management Area
Date visited: 8/5/2022
There are two places named "Burlingame" that are connected by trails, but this is the management area, not the state park. The state park has a public beach, and is on the other side of Watchaug Pond. We hiked an easy 2.5 mile loop that goes out to the pond. The first part was on a wide, former dirt road now blocked off from traffic. The rest of the loop is on a standard trail. The pond is actually quite nice. The water looks crystal clear. I thought the dogs would jump at the chance to go in the pond, but they weren't that into it. It was hot and humid, but the dogs just got a haircut and evidently weren't hot enough to utilize the pond. The rest of the trail was pretty basic. The flying gnats were brutal. I swear my bug spray was attacting them, instead of repelling them. It made for a pretty miserable hike.
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Richard Trails
Date visited: 5/24/2023
We came here after work because of rain in the Hartford area. The sun was still out when we arrived, but it was hazy due to the wildfire smoke from Canada that had been in the upper atmosphere all week. This is a nice set of well maintained trails. There are two connected loops, an easy blue blazed loop, and a red blazed loop that features a few short hills. It's a short hike. The two loops combined are just over a mile.
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South Farm Preserve
Date visited: 6/29/2023
This trail is half mowed path through large fields, and half woods. We hiked a "Figure 8" loop that is about one and a half miles. The trail is almost completely flat, and was a nice easy walk on a beautiful afternoon.
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Quonochontaug Breachway
Date visited: 8/9/2023
This is a fishing area and boat launch at Quonochontaug Breachway and Pond. Google Maps shows a hiking area here, but I don't think it's there anymore. There is a section near the pond that is closed for salt marsh restoration, and I think a trail used to be there. Even though there wasn't a cloud in the sky, it was super hazy from Canadian wildfire smoke. That and the lack of any real trail made this a disappointing trip. There were a few spots where the dogs could get in the water, so they enjoyed it regardless. The parking area is about a third of a mile down a dirt road from West Beach Road. We wound up walking about a mile down the dirt road and onto West Beach Road, before turning around and heading back. I was hoping that maybe West Beach would be accesible, but no luck there either. It seems to be completely private. I shouldn't complain, the awesome Blue Shutters Beach is right around the corner, and dogs are allowed in the summer after five there. It's not like there's no ocean access at all! At any rate, the dogs seemed to enjoy the trip, so I guess that is what counts!
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Charlestown Moraine Preserve
Date visited: 9/10/2023
We came here to escape the torrential downpours and thunderstorms across most of Connecticut and northern Rhode Island. The sun was actually out most of the time on this two mile hike. The trail is a "figure 8" loop. The trail was well maintained and marked. It is not really a total escape to nature, as it's close to Route 1 and you can hear the traffic throughout. There's nothing very memorable about the trail, no fancy bridges or benches or anything. It's just a nice walk in the woods.
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Ninigret Park
Dates visited: 12/31/2023 & 5/4/2024
One final trip to Rhode Island to end the year. We attended the annual Charlestown New Years Eve Bonfire at Ninigret Park. We originally planned to visit a beach first, but the forecasted sun never came out, so we just went to the park and walked the 2.5 mile paved bike trail instead. The event started around 3PM, and they lit the fire at 5PM. The event was fun, but wasn't well organized. As you can see, the dogs were ready for the costume contest, but it wasn't clear how to enter, when the contest was, or who even wound up winning. Besides the bonfire, there was also a band and food trucks. There was only two food trucks, and a ton of people so the lines were very long. I think we waited about an hour to get chicken sandwiches. There was also only two port-a-potties. I'm not sure they planned on so many people. The fire was very high when it started (we were still in line), but we took some pictures and got real close as the fire burned down and the people started to file out. It was pretty much over by 7PM. It was a fun and different way to celebrate New Years Eve at a dog friendly event.
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We returned to this park for the trolls! Just the day before our visit, Danish artist Thomas Danbo unveiled the two giant troll sculptures, which now live at this park. The first one, the male troll is pretty easy to find, but the female troll is hidden better. It requires a walk in the woods. There are clues as to which path you need to take. (The pictures below are GPS tagged, so you can actually use the GPS coordinates on the photos to see exactly where they were taken). These are the first of five planned trolls, with the other three being located in different sections of Rhode Island. This was only the second day of the troll display, but kids were climbing on the male troll. I had to wait for them to get down in order to take my photos. Besides the trolls, we walked part of the main paved bike path that we also walked last time we were here for the New Years Eve bonfire. It was a much nicer day this time around!
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Quonochontaug Beach
Date visited: 3/14/2024
This is the beach at the end of the Sand Trail that starts in the Weekapaug section of Westerly, and ends at this beach in Charlestown. This is a beautiful beach, also known simply as "Quonnie Beach". It's borders the west side of the Quonochontaug Breachway. The weather was great. It was a perfect day for a walk on the beach.
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West Beach
Dates visited: 5/4/2024 & 11/18/2024
We arrived at this sandy beach after traversing a real rocky section at the west end of Blue Shutters Beach. There does not seem to be any public access point for this beach. There is another rocky section to the west, and I believe more beach on the other side of that, but we did not go any further than this area.
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We came back to this beach, and this time we were determined to walk the entire beach. We once again connected from Blue Shutters Beach, and passed through the first rocky area reaching a sandy section. This time, we passed through a second set of rocks as well, reaching a sandy area that extends all the way to the Quonochontaug Breachway. It was about an hour and a half before low tide, and the waves were weaker than I ever remember seeing them in this area. This made for ideal conditions to make it all the way to the west end of West Beach. There might have been one access path that led to a road, but most of the paths off the beach were marked with private property signs. It does seem like the only way for non-residents to access the beach is to climb over the rocks coming from Blue Shutters Beach, which is exactly what we did! With this adventure, we've now walked the entire Charlestown shoreline. In fact, we've pretty much walked the entire 33 mile stretch from Napatree Point in Westerly to Whale Rock Preserve in Narragansett, except for two gaps that are about three quarters of a mile each, and some other short gaps that are less than half a mile. We really do love the Rhode Island shoreline!
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Burlingame State Park
Date visited: 5/29/2024
Initially, the GPS took me to the campground, and I don't think I can just park there, so I re-routed to the "picnic area". It's a nice spot, right on Watchaug Pond. (We visited the other side of the pond a couple of years ago). I didn't see any trails or anything at the picnic area, and dogs are not allowed in the "beach" area, so we headed down the dirt road near the parking area where we came across a trail that led to the pond west of the main beach. There's a vary narrow strip of beach between the heavy woods and the pond here, but we couldn't really walk any of it, because a family was all setup there and it was too difficult to get by. There must be a better section of the park to visit, but instead of looking for it while we were losing daylight, since it was a gorgeous evening I decided to just take the dogs to a real beach instead.
