Connecticut
Massachusetts
Rhode Island
New York
New Jersey
Other States
Latest Adventures
About Mandy & Lexi
Beach Guide
FAQ
◂︎ Mandy & Lexi's Rhode Island Adventures
Exeter
Arcadia Management Area - Breakheart Pond
Date visited: 7/27/2022
Arcadia Management Area is vast, 14,000 acres in fact. It spans parts of four towns. I've driven through on Route 165 many times, but this is the first time we stopped and did a proper hike. Reaching the trail around Breakheart Pond requires a two mile drive down a bumpy dirt road. It really feels like you're in the middle of nowhere. We walked the very wide trails around the pond. This is a great place if you are looking for complete escape into nature. About half the loop is in Exeter, while the other half is in West Greenwich. The pictures below are from the Exeter section.
Beach Pond Boat Launch
Date visited: 6/12/2020
Beach Pond is a popular recreation area in Exeter, RI and Voluntown, CT. We stopped to take pictures here after our hiking adventure at Big River Management Area.
Beach Pond Boat Launch
Date visited: 8/25/2025
The sky looked cool as we were driving by, so we stopped and snapped a couple of quick photos on our way back to Connecticut.
Arcadia Management Area - Browning Mill Pond
Dates visited: 6/12/2020 & 8/16/2022
On our first visit here, I think I just pulled over to let the dogs out to do their business. We didn't actually hike around the pond, but did take pictures in front of the sign. Over 50 months later, we returned and hiked the nearly two mile loop around the pond. The trail is actually quite nice, and is very well maintained. There are a bunch of spots that provide access to the pond, as well as some ruins of the old mill. The trail actually dips into Richmond. There are a few other pictures on that page. After we were done, I crossed the street and took the same picture in front of the sign. This time the dogs were looking, but the giant rock in front of the sign wasn't there two years ago.
More Images
Arcadia Management Area - Browning Mill Pond
Dates visited: 8/25/2025
On the heels of the Charlestown trolls that debuted in 2024, we came here to find one of the three new Thomas Danbo trolls unveiled recently in Rhode Island. This one is named "Young Boulder" and sits on a boulder on the east shore of Browning Mill Pond. From either of the parking areas on Arcadia Road, just head to the right and follow the trail that hugs the pond and you'll find him pretty quickly. We didn't the hike the entire loop around the pond, since we did that a few years ago. Instead we just hiked out to the troll, and then headed to Ryan Park in North Kingstown, the site of one of the other new trolls. The third new toll is in East Providence, but that one will have to wait for another day.
More Images
Queen's River Preserve
Date visited: 7/7/2023
My original plan was to go to the beach today, but the weather clouded over so I decided to save that trip for a sunnier day. This was my backup plan, and it's probably the exact opposite of the beach. This preserve is the site of the horrific brush fire back in April that burned about 600 acres. It was the largest brush fire in the state since 1942. It was eerie to hike the trail through such destruction. One portion would look green and lush, and just a few feet away, everything would be dead and burned. Some sections still smelled like burnt wood. Hats off to the firefighters, and Rhode Island's National Guard Black Hawk Team who worked tirelessy to get the fire under control. Despite the destruction, signs of resurgence are evident, as green plants have started pop through the charred ground. Nature is a wonderful thing!
More Images
Arcadia Management Area - Tippecansett Trail
Date visited: 1/25/2025
I think we've probably gone on more "snow hikes" this week than we did in the past two winters combined! This is another great winter adventure. I've been bored with hikes through the woods lately, but a pine forest with a coating of snow is about as good as it gets in the winter! We must have driven by this place about 100 times. It's on one of our major routes to Rhode Island, but we never hiked this spot before. Now that we have our orange vests, we were ready to give this trail a go! We hiked what the All-Trails app called the "Beach Pond South Loop". It's mostly the yellow blazed Tippecansett trail, but then the "Deep Pond Trail" and "Hemlock Ledges Trail" are used to complete a loop. The terrain was mostly easy, but challenging in parts. There are rocky areas and some inclines, but nothing we haven't tackled before. The whole hike was exactly three miles, and a lot of fun!
More Images
Cuttyhunk Brook Preserve
Date visited: 3/25/2025
We hiked the 2.5 mile yellow blazed trail here. The trail leads down a hill to a loop through the woods. This is a Nature Conservancy trail, and is very well maintained, and surprisingly dry considering it rained the day before. All-Trails had this marked as "moderate", but I felt it was a pretty easy hike. One thing to watch is the rocks, especially while going down (or up on the way back). There's no climbing or anything involved, but you have to watch your footing so you don't trip over them. The preserve features many pine trees, which add some color during the seasons without leaves on the other types of trees. Also featured are plenty of stone walls, and a burial site for Sarah, who died in 1851 (I couldn't make out the last name on the well-worn tombstone). The orange vests probably weren't necessary. There is a sign at the start of the trail that indicated they were required during hunting season, but another sign further in clarified that they are required during deer hunting season, which ended on Jan 31st. We've been to so many of these types of places over the past five years, and they are all pretty similar. This was a good hike and well worth doing if you like nice hikes in the woods, but there's nothing that really makes it stand out compared to other places like this.
More Images
Miller Firewood & Logging
Date visited: 8/11/2025
We've driven past this spot countless times on our way to adventures in Rhode Island. From the road, I'd catch glimpses of intriguing wood carvings, and on one recent trip, I even spotted a man walking his dog there out of the corner of my eye. That was enough to convince me—it was time to stop and check it out for ourselves. A quick internet search turned up plenty of reviews for the company's firewood business, but nothing about the carvings. So, we parked down the road and walked over. The gate was open, and with no “No Trespassing” signs in sight, I figured the public was welcome. After all, why put such great work on display if you don't want people to enjoy it? The carvings, all made from wood, mostly feature pop culture figures, and I thought they were fantastic. The display area itself is small, so there's not much walking to do here—but it's right in the middle of the Arcadia Management Area, so there's plenty of space nearby for more exploring with the dogs.
More Images
Arcadia Management Area - Ben Utter Trail
Date visited: 9/6/2025
We hiked the Ben Utter Trail starting at Stepstone Falls in West Greenwich, which led to the southern trail head in Exeter. The trail head is off a dirt road with a wooden bridge, where we stopped to take a couple of photos, before heading back the way we came.
