Date visited: 10/15/2022

This was a fun and different trip! I found a dog friendly Corn Maze in Portsmouth, RI. Admission was $10 for adults, but the dogs were free! This year the maze runs from September 2nd through November 6th, on Fridays, weekends, and Labor and Columbus Days. We managed to get deep within the maze, and then I let Lexi find our way out which was fun! Lexi led us out via a totally different path! She's so smart, and has a great sense of direction! The farm also hosts a pumpkin patch, as well as hay rides for the kids. It was pretty busy, and the dogs impressed everyone with how well they posed for pictures.

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Date visited: 7/22/2022

This was a very cool short hike. We walked the "blue trail", which circles Melville Lower Pond. There was a connecting trail on my map that looked like it might provide access to the bay, but no dice! It went out to the train tracks and there was no way to get to the bay through the heavy brush. But, the rest of the trail was fun, especially the part with the stone platforms through the spillway. The dogs got on one of the platforms for the picture, but preferred just splashing through to actually cross the water.

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Date visited: 9/26/2022

This is a great little Aquidneck Land Trust Property that straddles the border of the Middletown and Portsmouth. There is a community garden and some farm buildings at the beginning, with a series of short trails behind them. We walked a 1+ mile loop trail around the property. The trail part of the property is a mixture of open fields and woods, similar to the Sakonnet Greenway, but on a much smaller scale. You can visit the Middletown page to see the pictures from the Middletown section. As we were returning to the car, two vans full of students from the University of Rhode Island were arriving for some kind of function. The students were enamored with Mandy and Lexi, and the dogs loved all of the attention! One of the students actually recognized the dogs from the photos I submit on the All-Trails app.

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Date visited: 11/5/2022

This is a very small beach in the Northeast corner of Portsmouth. You can basically see the entire beach in the first photo. We only stayed here for about 5 minutes. Be aware, there's a sign that reads "No Dogs Allowed on the Beach", and a couple feet away is another sign "As a pet owner you are responsible for your dog at all times. Please pick up after your dog". There are definitely mixed messages here!

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Date visited: 11/5/2022

Down the road just a bit from Teddy's Beach is this beach. I was not looking to go here, but saw it as I passed by so we stopped. It's not a well advertised beach. There is no signage at all, except for a sign about not leaving rubbish, and the 4 hour parking signs on the street. It would seem that dogs are allowed here year round, as there was no indication otherwise. I only figured out the name of the beach by zooming in on Google Maps, though I guess it also known as "Grimmells Beach". This isn't the greatest beach we've visited, but there was sand and water, and the dogs liked it! At one point, they both started to roll around in the sand at the same. They must have smelled something they wanted to roll around in! The beach narrows at one point near the cement wall, before opening back up at the south end of the beach. We walked the narrow strip, but the tide rose and we weren't going to make it back the same way without trudging through the water. Luckily there was a way back up to the sidewalk. We walked quite a bit here, on both the beach and the sidewalk that runs along side the beach. It was a nice way to spend an unusually warm November afternoon.

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Dates visited: 8/6/2023 & 9/20/2023

We hiked a portion of this trail in Middletown last year. Today we tackled the other end of the trail in Portsmouth. Like the Middletown section, this portion is a mixture of open fields and wooded areas. This trail starts at "The Glen", near Newport Polo. The trail passes a pen of horses, before proceeding through The Pennfield School property and Sandy Point Avenue. Once across Sandy Point Avenue the trail goes through a meadow. This is where we passed the field filled with cows. The cows stared at us, and Mandy barked at them. We continued across Bramans Lane, where the trail meets up with Little Creek Preserve. We visited the preserve, before turning around and heading back. This was a fun walk, especially with the horses and cows! We walked nearly five miles today, but there is one more section of the trail we have yet to visit.

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We returned and hiked the middle section of the trail that connects the two sections in Middletown and Portsmouth that we previously hiked. This entire section borders the Newport National Golf Club. Some sections of the trail are actually shared with the golf carts. Much of this section is not shaded, so this wouldn't be a great trail on a real hot day, but it was perfect for the day we visited. Parts of this section of the trail are in both towns. The pictures below are from the Portsmouth section. You can see the Middletown pictures on that page.

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Date visited: 8/6/2023

This is an Aquidneck Land Trust property that intersects the Sakonnet Greenway. We reached it via the Greenway and walked the short "Little Creek Preserve Loop". It's a mowed, grass surface trail through a meadow. It is home to many squirrels, bunnies, birds and butterflies.

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Date visited: 6/7/2024

This is the area at the Cory's Lane, just past Green Animals Topiary Garden. This is primarily a place to launch small, non-motorized boats, however there is access to the rocky shoreline for short hikes as well. There are only two parking spots, but it looks like you can park on the street across from the Topiary Garden. I didn't see any "No Parking" signs. The "trail" starts on the other side of the train tracks. There are loose stones, and also very slippery moss covered rocks as well. It's easier to walk further inland. We walked along the trail until reaching what looked like a marina, before turning around. There is an access path that leads up to Melvile Park, that I could not locate from the other end when we visited that park two years ago. We walked about one and a half miles here.

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Date visited: 6/7/2024

This park was the site of "The Battle Of Rhode Island" that took place as part of the Revolutionary War in 1778. Now, there are signs from the street indicating a scenic overlook here. The problem is, there is not much of an overlook here. Yes, you're up a hill, but the foliage is too thick to get any real nice views. There are some open grassy areas at this park, so I let the dogs run a bit. They are supposed to remain leashed here, but nobody else was visiting the park at the time.

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Date visited: 6/8/2024

We were actually headed to a place in Massachusetts on this day, but the weather forecast changed mid-route and we re-routed here to avoid heavy rain. You can see in one of the pictures the clouds in the distance in one direction. This spot is primarily a fishing area, but it's used for more than just fishing. When we arrived here, on a warm Saturday afternoon, people were fishing, barbecuing, rafting, sun-bathing and even swimming here (despite signs in both English and Spanish stating that swimming is not allowed). This is a cove located at the northern tip of Aquidneck Island, facing out toward Tiverton. The waters are really calm here, and it's a perfect spot for the dogs to cool off. There's also a small wooded area, and about a mile's worth of trails here around the cove and the woods. This is a very nice spot for a short adventure with your dogs on a hot day.

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Date visited: 8/24/2024

This park features three or four different, distinct sections that make it feel like multiple places. The main part of the park is pretty typical of any town park, with picnic areas and athletic fields, but also includes a horse ring and horse stables! There's also a picnic grove in one section, and another section with mowed trails around a large field. The main highlight for me is the trail that leads out to a small beach along the bay. Since none of the park's trails showed up on any of my GPS enabled maps, I had a difficult time finding the trail at first. I wound up following another one that led to Glen Manor House, a high-end event venue. Behind the venue is a path that leads out to a fishing pier. There were about 20 teenagers hanging out on and near the pier. One of them thought I was in charge of the place, and asked me if it was okay that they were there. I didn't even know if it was okay if I was there! The kids swam there from nearby Sandy Point Beach. A bunch of them stopped what they were doing to pet the dogs. Mandy & Lexi love the attention! You can see them swimming in the background of one of the picture of the dogs by the pier. I did eventually find the trail I was looking for. The trail head is located in the southeast corner of the park, but it's not marked. This leads out to a slightly larger beach area than the one near the pier, but during low tide you can walk the entire shoreline.

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Date visited: 8/31/2024

This place is also known as "Mount Hope Park". I believe it is located near the site of the old ferry landing for the trip between Portsmouth and Bristol. This dog-friendly public park includes a small beach area, and offers great views of the Mount Hope Bridge.

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Date visited: 8/31/2024

This is a scenic spot, just off Route 114. There's no trail or anything here, just a small area with a bench where you can enjoy the view.

Date visited: 10/25/2024

A couple days after mentioning that I thought we hit every dog beach in Rhode Island, I find another one! This one is way up the bay, along Portsmouth's west coast, just south of the Mount Hope Bridge and Bristol Ferry Town Common. This seems more like a full fledged park than a waterfront access area. There's a parking area that holds about 18 cars, and a path that leads out to the beach. Dogs are allowed year round, and there is even a doggie waste station near the parking area. The beach is composed of small pebbles and shells, so not the kind of beach you'd walk on barefoot. There is about a mile or so of beach you can walk. Heading north, there is a trail through the salt marsh that runs parallel with the beach. Access ends just south of the bridge. Heading the other direction, there is a also a trail that runs along side the beach that leads to Newport Beach Club. Since we are up the bay, the waves are very calm. This would be a great place to bring the dogs to cool off in the summer time. That being said, Mandy and Lexi both insisted on going in the water, despite it only being about 60 degrees out. It felt warmer with the bright sun. This is a really nice, "secret" beach and a great spot to bring the dogs.

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Date visited: 11/25/2024

According to the sign, leashed dogs are allowed here. It also says a permit from the town is required, but I'm guessing that's only during the beach season. We were the only ones here on this day. The actual beach is up the bay, and not that interesting, so we walked along the rocky shoreline heading south for about a mile, before turning around and coming back. The shoreline was real narrow in places, and the tide must have risen slightly because on the way back there was a section where we had to walk through the water to get by. Despite that, this was a fun adventure on a chilly day in late November.

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