Dates visited: 12/29/2020, 8/31/2022, 7/1/2024, 7/10/2024 & 7/30/2024

This was a cold and windy day at the beach. We walked the loop around the beach. We got two thirds of the way through the loop, and came to a point where we either had to pass through an inlet, or turn around and go back. Keep in mind, it was about 30 degrees and windy, so naturally we walked through the inlet. The dogs didn't seem to care. I was wearing sneakers, but fortunately had wool socks that kept my feet from freezing. The first picture below is one of my all time favorite pictures I've taken of the dogs.

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It was much warmer for our second visit, 20 months later. We came after our trip to Avondale Farm Preserve. During the summer months, dogs are only allowed after 6PM and before 8AM. We arrived just before sunset. We didn't walk the entire loop this time, we only walked about a mile up the beach. It was nice watching the sunset on the beach.

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Since it had been three and a half years since the last time we walked the full loop here, it seemed like a good time to revisit this fantastic spot. The first time it was 30 degrees in December, so I thought going in the middle of summer might be a nice change! Dogs are allowed here in the summer time after 6PM, and we got started around 6:15PM, shortly after a considerable rain storm had moved through the area. Napatree Point is a small peninsula that sticks out of the southwest end of Westerly, blocking Stonington, CT from the open waters of the Atlantic. We started on the ocean side, which is pretty must just a nice walk on the beach. It was just after high tide, and the waves were pretty strong. Once we got to the rocks at the tip of the peninsula, there wasn't a way I could find to safely get to the other side of the point. There are a few cross-over trails along the way, but they were roped off due to piping plovers nesting, so we couldn't walk the same loop that we did back in December of 2020. We had to head back along the beach the way we came, and cross over to the bay side much closer to our starting point. We made it just in time for the sunset, which was barely visible between the few clouds that had moved through. Since the waves are tame on the bay side, the dogs enjoy the water much more on this side! This was a wonderful evening hike, even if we couldn't walk the entire route as planned.

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We usually don't revisit a place so soon after our previous visit. We hiked a trail in Stonington, and afterward headed to Westerly to get a Del's Lemonade. It was a cloudy and dreary day, but I noticed some clearing off in the distance and decided to follow it, and wound up back at Watch Hill! It turned out to be such a beautiful evening. We walked around Watch Hill for a bit. As part of our adventure, we were back here at Napatree, and took a few photos.

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We were in the area after another adventure, so we stopped for some sunset pictures. The high altitude smoke in the air from California wildfires causes some vivid sunsets and sunrises. Even though we've taken sunset photos here in the past, the smoke causes these to look different, with more purple and orange coloring than usual. One thing I observed, is that there is much less beach on the bay side of the point, than there was when we took sunset photos two years ago. Beach erosion has been a real problem in Rhode Island of late.

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Dates visited: 11/10/2022 & 11/1/2024

This is actually a combination of three named beaches, Misquamicut State Beach, Westerly Town Beach and Atlantic Beach. It's hard to know where one beach starts and the other one ends, as they are all connected. There is a sign at Westerly Town Beach that notes dogs are allowed after Labor Day, but I really don't know about the other beaches. It didn't seem to matter as there was plenty of people walking their dogs. This was another unusually mild November day, not quite as mild as a few days before, but still very nice. This is an extremely popular beach in the summer. Many people from Connecticut make their way here since it's not far over the border. It has much nicer sand than most of the Connecticut beaches, which all seem to be pretty rocky. We walked over 4 miles, and probably only covered about half the beach area. Looking at the upcoming forecast, and this being November, this might have been our last day with really nice weather for the year.

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We had record temperatures inland, approaching the mid-80's, so we of course went to a beach! I didn't feel like driving to New Jersey for the 3rd straight day, so we made a return visit to Misquamicut. It wasn't as warm here, probably low to mid 70's, but very breezy. I suspect the wind kept people away. We explored some of the surrounding area before walking the beach. The waves were really ripping here. Mandy kept trying to walk in the water, but Lexi would pull her away. It was a fun adventure, despite the windy conditions.

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Dates visited: 12/29/2020, 11/18/2022, 4/13/2023 & 7/1/2024

Watch Hill is a historic touristy area in Westerly, RI. We've visisted mostly in the off-season, when most of the shops are closed. Of course, this means that it is actually possible to find a parking spot, which can be a real challenge here. This is the area you would park to access Napatree Point Conservation Area, and East Beach. We've been to those places multiple times, so we've been to this area often. In addition to the East Beach access, there's a walk way that leads down to the lighthouse, which is a very nice walk that we've done multiple times. Also, the area by the boat docks is quite scenic, and offers a nice backdrop for photos.

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Dates visited: 3/7/2021, 4/13/2023, & 9/6/2023

We visited here on some of our Watch Hill excursions. There's a "trail" in the All-Trails app which covers the walk to the lighthouse down Lighthouse Road. It's a narrow road, but it's not completely closed off to vehicles. The road passes by a number of mansions before reaching the lighthouse. There's a large grassy area in front of the lighthouse. The lighthouse itself is protected by a chain link fence and not accesible. It's a nice spot for photos for sure. Most of the pictures below are from our April 2023 visit, but there is one from our first version in March 2021.

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We came back a third time on a very hot and humid early September day. Like always, it was cooler here than the inland areas. We arrived late because the dogs were at the dog groomers getting cleaned up. The sun had already started to set by the time we walked down the road to the lighthouse. I had the idea in my head to get a picture of the sunset behind the lighthouse with the dogs in front of it, but the chain link fence around the lighthouse itself makes it impossible to get close enough to the lighthouse to do that. I did get a couple photos with both the lighthouse and the sunset in the same shot, so it wasn't a total loss!

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Date visited: 8/31/2022

This is a great trail through mostly open fields surrounded by wildflowers. Most of the trail is unshaded, but we were here late in the day and the sun was low in the sky. It's the end of August and the sun is starting to set much earlier. We walked a loop that was just over a mile. We saw a fox and a bunny. I'm guessing that the fox was hunting the bunny. There are also farm animals toward the start of the trail.

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Date visited: 7/29/2022

This is a nice set of well maintained and marked trails managed by Westerly Land Trust. The trails feature a lot of ups and downs, as well as a lot of stone walls. It is basically just a nice walk in the woods. We hiked a 2.5 mile loop around the perimeter of the property.

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Date visited: 8/4/2022

This is the site of an old Girl Scout Camp. We hiked what was supposed to be a 2 mile trail, but about a third of the trail was closed so our walk was cut short. An award winning tree is also found on the trail. The Rhode Island Tree Council recognized a Sweet Black Birch Tree as one of the largest of it's kind in Rhode Island, as part of the Helen Walker Raleigh Champion Tree Program. This trail also featured many many bugs, and my bug spray didn't seem to do any good whatsoever.

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Date visited: 6/2/2023

This one is on the site of an old Boy Scout Camp. Do Scouts even have camps anymore? The interesting part of this preserve, is the path you have to take to get there. You have to park on Old Hopkinton Rd, and walk a half mile up Boy Scout Drive to reach the preserve. You cannot park on Boy Scout Drive. I get the impression that the residents don't want you here at all. There are conflicting signs on the same sign post. One reads "Private Driveway No Tresspassing", and another sign reads "Riverwood Preserve. Visitors Welcome On Foot". It does seem like you're walking on someone's driveway to get to the preserve. It passes really close to one of the houses. When you reach the preserve, there are a series of camp shelters, with the trails behind them. We hiked the orange blaze trail that loops the perimeter of the preserve. There are other trails through the center, that we did not traverse. The trail is well maintained. It is pretty easy, with a few rocky sections. The whole route, along with the walk back and forth on Boy Scout Drive is about 3 miles.

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Dates visited: 11/18/2022, 4/13/2023, 3/12/2024 & 6/3/2024

This is a public beach in the Watch Hill section of Westerly. The "Watch Hill Lighthouse Village Loop" in the All-Trails app utilizes a short section of this beach. There's a sign that says "No Pets", but you can ignore it. There is another sign that specifies that dogs are allowed in the off-season any time, and before 8 AM and after 6 PM during the summer months (Memorial Day through Labor Day). This corresponds to what it says on the Town of Westerly's website. There's no dedicated parking for this beach. You have to park at Watch Hill and then access it through one of the right-of-way paths. We visited here a second time, and walked more of the beach. It's about two miles long and we probably walked about two thirds of the total length before turning around. This time, it was an usually warm day in April. It had made it up to 90 degrees inland, but down here it was about 15 degrees cooler (just like the summer), and was very nice.

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On our third visit here, we walked the entire beach in order to get to the beaches directly to the east of this one, since none of the public access points for those beaches have any parking. I didn't take that many photos of this section, since we had already been here a few times before. In fact, we've been to this general area in the Watch Hill Neighborhood of Westerly at least once in each of the last five years!

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We were in the area, so we came back to this great beach again. This is the first time we were here "in season". Dogs are allowed on the beach here after 6PM in the summer time, but we didn't get here until well after 7PM. Mandy and Lexi decided to run and play on this beach this time around, which is always fun to see.

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Dates visited: 11/18/2022 & 5/1/2024

This is a short access path for fishing access on the east side of the Weekapug Breachway. The end of the path also leads to Fenway Beach, a private beach for Weekapaug Fire District residents. But not really... keep in mind, that all beach front in Rhode Island, up to ten feet past the high tide line is legally considered public property. The beach is also a very popular surf location. We briefly checked this spot out in November of 2022, but didn't stay too long. We came back a year and a half later in May of 2024, and enjoyed a beautiful sunset.

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Dates visited: 11/18/2022 & 3/14/2024

Our intention was to walk the Sand Trail. It was boring, so we only walked a little over half-way, and then turned around and walked back on the beach. We probably weren't supposed to be on the beach here, it's for Weekapaug Fire District Residents only, but nobody else was using it and the dogs wanted to play. While it was sunny all day, storm clouds developed while we were here, so it was probably a good thing we didn't finish the trail, since by the time we got back to car it had started to sleet.

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This was our second trip here. This time I intended to walk the entire Sand Trail, but we wound up on the beach because Mandy didn't want to walk through the heavy sand anymore. I don't remember seeing the "No Dogs" signs last time I was here, but maybe they were there and I just didn't notice. It didn't seem to matter because there was at least a dozen other dogs there, some off-leash. We actually did reach the end of the Sand Trail, as both the trail and the Weekapaug Beach lead to Quonochontaug Beach in Charlestown. The weather was much better this time around. It was nearly 60 degrees and sunny, where as last time we had to turn around because a sleet storm was coming!

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Date visited: 11/18/2022

This is the scenic overlook off of the aptly named Spray Rock Road. There's a small parking area. You're only allowed 30 minutes to park during the summer months. We stopped to takes some photos of the dogs on the rocks. The combination of the sunset and the approaching storm clouds made for a very nice backdrop.

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Date visited: 7/3/2023

Hunting seems to be huge in this state and this is one of many management areas in Rhode Island. I think the hunting season goes for nine months of the year in Rhode Island. We visited outside of hunting season, but could still here gun fire off in the distance. Aside from hunting, this is a popular area for mountain bikes. Many of the trails here are geared toward mountain biking. As for our hike, we hiked a 2.5 mile loop trail that wasn't very interesting. I was hoping the pond I saw on the map would be better, and that maybe the dogs could cool off in it, but it was more of a swamp than a pond and pretty mucky. The trail was an okay walk in the woods, but not particularly memorable.

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Date visited: 12/25/2023

Nothing says Christmas in New England like a trip to the beach! We had a great four mile walk on Christmas Morning. It was damp, dreary, cloudy and foggy in the Hartford Connecticut area, but sunny and near 60 in Westerly. We couldn't park at the main lot since Atlantic Avenue was still flooded from the storm the week before. We parked at Dunes Park just to the west of the breachway, and walked west along the beach. Our route overlapped a bit with a section of the beach we we walked when we were at Misquamicut last year. The dogs were great sports with their Santa hats! And with the hats, we can tell these photos were taken on Christmas and not some day in July!

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Date visited: 3/12/2024

This is the section of beach, east of East Beach. There are two salt ponds, with a strip of land in between the ponds and the ocean. This may actually be an extension of East Beach, but it leaves the Watch Hill neighborhood and enters the Misquamicut section of town. We walked along the ocean side for the length of this beach, coming at it from East Beach from the west, and exiting at the public access point at the far west end of Atlantic Avenue. This section is littered with small rocks. We took a couple of brief detours to the ponds, where Mandy was able to get into the water to cool off without dealing with the heavy waves on the ocean side. Toward the east end, is ruins of an old structure, and a seawall built up on rocks with some private property on the other side. We continued east from here, walking along Atlantic Avenue briefly until we hit the next access point that leads to the Misquamicut Fire District Beaches.

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Date visited: 3/12/2024

This was the last stop on our Westerly Beach adventure this day. After walking from East Beach and the Maschaug Pond Beaches, we hit this beach, direct to the west of Misquamicut State Park. This area is a "private beach", for the residents of the Misquamicut Fire District and their guests, but not really, as all of the shoreline in Rhode Island, up to ten feet passed the high tide line is considered public property. This isn't a large area, and leads directly to the state park. After our brief walk here, we took a break and stopped for some water, before heading back to the Watch Hill area the way we came, walking over 5 1/2 miles in the process.

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Dates visited: 4/12/2024 & 10/6/2024

It's hard to believe with all the trips we made to Rhode Island over the last few years, that we haven't been to this park yet. This is a beautiful park, in the historic downtown section of Westerly. This area is just over the Pawcatuck River bridge, that connects Westerly to the Pawcatuck section of Stonington, CT. The park is privately owned by the Memorial and Library Association of Westerly. It looks really wonderful in the spring time, with all sorts of trees and flowers blooming. In addition to the pictures in the park, some pictures below are from the area immediately surrounding the park. We lucked out with the weather. It had poured all day, even during our drive here, but by the time reached the park, there wasn't a cloud in the sky. This was a fun walk on what turned out to be a beautiful spring evening.

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We returned to this park about six months after our first visit. It was "Sunday Fun Day" in downtown Westerly, but there wasn't much for us to do there, so we walked around this park while waiting for my wife, who was checking out one of the shops.

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Date visited: 4/12/2024

This is a small beach, wedged in between Napatree Point Conservation Area and the Watch Hill Lighthouse. I'm pretty sure this is a "private" beach for Watch Hill Association members. There is an entrance near the carousel that is completely closed off and gated in the off-season. We reached the beach via a short trail from Napatree. The waves were absolutely ripping, as it had stormed most of the day and was still very windy at the shore. We came here after our Wilcox Park adventure, and arrived just in time to enjoy a beautiful sunset. On our walk back, the dogs decided it was playtime. They seem to enjoy the beach so much!

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Date visited: 6/12/2024

This is a nature preserve and hiking area located in the Bradford section of Westerly. There's a short paved loop that circles a lacrosse field. The main trails are accessed from the far side of the paved loop. We followed a two mile loop, heading clockwise up a steady incline through mostly woods, and some more open areas. Mountain Laurel's are plentiful along the trail, and this is the perfect time of year to see them in bloom. Once past the open field area, the incline down is steeper and shorter than the way up. The trails are also used for mountain biking, and there are connecting trails that lead to Woody Hill Management Area. The trail was well marked and maintained. It's not a super memorable hike. Other than the Mountain Laurels, there's nothing very remarkable here, but it's a nice walk in the woods.

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Date visited: 6/12/2024

We came here after our Bradford Preserve adventure. It's hard for me to visit Westerly and not at least make a short trip to a beach! We've actually been here before. We passed through this beach on our Westerly Town Beach Christmas Day Adventure. This time we went for a short walk, not venturing much past the Dunes Park section of beach. There's a state run fishing area with a small parking area on either side of the breachway. We parked at the one on the west side of the breachway, and accessed the beach via a short trail that runs along side the breachway. Dogs are allowed on Westerly Town Beaches in the summer time after 6PM, but it was nearly 7:30 when we arrived. We were only here for a little less than a half hour, but it's always nice to take a stroll on a beach!

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Date visited: 7/30/2024

This looks like a nice place, with the stone walls and the cairns, and the salt pond, but this was a rough two mile hike. The trail is in the shape of a three prong fork, with the three prongs going out to the salt pond. The problem was that the kind of trails here need to be mowed, and they haven't been mowed in a while. Most of the trails were overgrown. The first part of the trail, sort of the handle of the fork if you will, is easy enough to traverse, despite the long grass, but each of three prongs caused challenges. The first one was the most overgrown, but the also the driest, with only a little bit of mud. We were able to get the closest to Winnapaug Pond here. The second and third trails were easy at the start, but got muddier and more overgrown the closer to the pond we got. I wound up carrying the dogs over long stretches on the 2nd trail, and we simply turned around when we reached the mud on the 3rd trail. I also had to pull a few ticks off both myself and the dogs when we got back to the car. The long grass is a breeding ground for ticks. While there was only a few ticks on us this time, I wouldn't advise coming here earlier in the season, when tick season is at it's peak. This seems like it could be a wonderful spot, but it needs a bit more maintenance.

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Date visited: 9/4/2024

This is a building with public restrooms and tourist information located off Route 1. This unique statue called "Atlantis Rising" appeared between the building and road at some point this year, and thought I'd stop to check it out. No real adventure here, just a photo in front of the statue!

Date visited: 10/6/2024

This was "Westerly Sunday Fun Day", one of three Sunday's in the fall where High Street is closed to traffic, and becomes a pedestrian walkway with vendors and different activities. It sounded like a "fun day", but the whole thing was a lot smaller than I thought it would be. There really wasn't much here for us to do. We covered the entire area in about 10 minutes, and wound up walking over to Wilcox Park while my wife went into a couple shops.

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Date visited: 11/1/2024

Minabaug Trail is a paved bike trail along the north side of Atlantic Avenue, across the streat from Misquamicut State Beach. We actually didn't walk that much of the trail. The trail itself isn't very interesting. It runs along side the roadway, but it also provides access to Winnapaug Pond. We also explored the area around the western end of the trail, near the Atlantic Avenue and Winnapug Road intersection, where there are some cool tourist attractions. We walked for a bit over a mile, before heading to the beach.

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