Glen Farm to Sakonnet River – Short and sweet.
Start at the remnants of an old water mill with places of meticulous stone work, but mostly a delightful ruin. Follow the undulating and root-filled trail undulating along a winding and ancient creek lined with a crumbling stone wall. The wall is a astonishing in structure a victim of weather and time. Decades of suffering has made it a work of art that only God’s work could conceive.
This is fairy land with moss and lichen galore. Roots and gnarled branches reach out to the traveler with eeriness. Carcasses of huge fallen trees give evidence of age and weather.
Meanwhile the creek meanders down toward the Sakonnet and the gateway to the Atlantic.
You’ll round a corner to see the river in the distance beyond a canopy of trees welcoming you to a magic shoreline and a view of Little Compton across the way.
Take a short walk along the quasi beach, and you soon see the magnificent mansion of the Glen—a renowned farm/estate of the early 1900s.
Elephant Rock – Into the Unknown in Search of Sea-glass
Sea-glass abounds on Aquidneck Island. But it’s not always easy to find and it’s not everywhere you might expect it to be.
The coast along Easton’s Point between First and Second Beach is particularly lucrative…although difficult to access. Only certain sections have sea-glass, but the ones that do are truly profitable.
I’ve heard that “Elephant Rock” is the holy grail of sea-glass in this area.
However, coastline access is not easy to find.
My recent (and first) exploration was exciting, challenging and somewhat scary.
I parked at First Beach. From, and ran across the beach to Tuckerman Avenue which runs parallel to the Easton Point coastline.
As I run, I’m looking for some sort of trail down to the water. Unfortunately Tuckerman is lined with private homes and the exclusive Clambake Club…all prevent you from crossing their property.
However, I found an obscure and tiny public trail that allows fishermen access to the shore.
I hike a short distance to the waterfront and begin walking south along the rocky shore. However, no sign of sea-glass.
The rock formations are amazing and unlike most of those on other parts of the Island. They make for fun and precarious climbing. The beauty and intricacies of the various shapes and twists along the tidal pools are breathtaking.
But still no beaches with small rocks, an indicator of possible sea-glass.
As I pass the stretch in front of the Clambake Club, I catch a glimpse of the exclusive compound with its commanding view.
After hiking around the southern end I see Elephant Rock in the distance. It’s quite a distance from the shore, but there are some people fishing from it.
I also notice a series of rocky beaches nearby. Low tide adds to their dimensions.
After a long rock climbing trek, I’m rewarded with a bonanza of sea-glass and a magnificent view of the Atlantic Ocean.
I’m absorbed in the moment and my surroundings. But it’s slowly getting dark and time and tide are moving…I gotta start moving.
I’m hoping to find a trail up to Purgatory Chasm rather than walking all the way back to the fishing path. So I keep going forward.
Purgatory is right around the corner now and I hear the waves crashing on the rocks. The tide is coming in and there is only a small patch of moss-covered rocks to negotiate. I know moss-covered rocks are incredibly slippery and must be respected. I stay very low reaching for hand-holds on the overhead rocks.
Finally the there are no horizontal rocks, only verticals and crashing surf. So I gotta head back. Knowing it’ll be practically dark by the time I get around the coastline, I decide to cut through private property.
Going back and looking for a way up, I find a thorny rock cliff with footholds and head up to the edge of a lush lawn around a huge shingle-style mansion. But I still don’t want to cross the yard, so I seek and find a thorny path that heads north towards Purgatory Chasm. Thorns eagerly slice and dice my lags as I negotiate the “path.”
Unfortunately there is one more house in the way. This one is lower than my so-called path. So I have to shimmy down a rock cliff lined with tiny hand and foot holds. Finally I let go and fall a few feet. Luckily no one is home, and I quickly turn into a jogger and run down the driveway.
I work my way over to Purgatory Road (via Ashurst) near St George’s and run back to First Beach and my car
So I scored an incredible bounty of sea-glass, great views and spectacular geology but paid the price.
I’ll keep going to Elephant Rock. But I’ll plan to walk back the same way I came and then run back along Tuckerman to First Beach. Longer but that’s okay.
It was tense for a while, but all worth it. Being careful is a key element to this excursion.
Aquidneck Greenway – A Magical Mystery Tour
From Glen to Glen, Beside the cows, through the mystical forest, around the golf course…where I see the ocean, through cornfields, along creeks and swamps.
The Many Trails of Cliff Walk
A trail runners paradise, Cliff Walk id loaded with variations on the theme of ocean, surf, mansions flowers, etc.
ailt.org/2011/09/trail-maps
Trails in Little Compton
It’s December.
As we move closer to the Winter Solstice, and our various “festivals of light,” many of us hope to see our local landscapes dressed in white. A dusting of snow can certainly transform a drab scene into a page from a fairy tale or holiday card, but chances are, with the weather we’ve been having so far (I’ve still got zinnias blooming in my garden!), we may have to wait a bit longer before taking out our skis or snow shoes.
Nevertheless, pre-snow winter is a great time to take a hike. Although initially we might feel sad to see the leaves fall, if we look a little more attentively, we may begin to appreciate the beauty of seeing the “bones” of the trees, and of our winter landscapes before they are blanketed in white. There is something about the low winter sunlight this time of year that induces a contemplative mood. It is perhaps the best time of year to catch a great sunset — since the sun sets so early, and the skies tend to be smog-free. And since the weather is on the cooler side, we don’t feel too sorry to come inside soon, perhaps to a great meal with friends, or to curl up with a novel by the fireside.
So here are two short hikes, both in Little Compton, Rhode Island — at one you can enjoy the spare beauty of bare trees along a pristine brook; at the other, a beautiful sand beach along with trails through the dunes and views of farmland and a pond.
Wilbour Woods, on Little Compton’s Swamp Road (near its juncture with Route 77, on the northeastern side of the road, marked by a wooden sign) offers history, mystery, lovely scenery and a 1.2-mile walking trail loop. After a substantial snowfall, this park is inaccessible for cars (as its drive does not get plowed), but during the rest of the year, it is freely accessible and offers parking on the grass at the end of the drive that leads into the site (another reason to go before it snows!).
The park is situated on the site of the winter camp of one of the most famous Sakonnet Indian sachems, Queen Awashonks, who was the leader of this tribe during the 1670s. The site is curiously dotted with a variety of stone items: large Stonehenge-looking upright pillars along the drive into the park, stone fireplace-grills for picnickers, stone bridges and in some places stepping stones for crossing Dundery Brook, which winds through the park, and mysterious stone slabs which now serve as picnic tables — but which one imagines might once have been used as altars during another age. There is a large stone memorializing Ashawonks, and here and there throughout the park there are wooden signs with quotations on them from figures such as Roger Williams.
This is an easy walk for hikers of all ages, and the brook, its bridges, a small waterfall and the park’s unique stone features give it a charmingly mysterious feeling that make it worthwhile to go out in the cold — and perfect for an outdoor family activity during winter vacation time.
Just two and a half miles northeast of Wilbour Woods (continue on Swamp/Brownell Road, with a quick right turn at South Shore Road, left onto John Sisson Road, and then right at Long Highway) is the Nature Conservancy’s Goosewing Beach Preserve. This property is just past the parking lot for South Shore Beach. In the winter you can park in this lot for free, but make sure to wear sturdy, water-resistant shoes, because in order to get to the Goosewing Preserve, you will have to cross over a small stream that flows between the two beaches.
While strolling on a beach is not much fun on a cold, windy day, if the air is still it is wonderfully therapeutic. We all suffer from insufficient sunshine in the winter, so beach-walking is great in that it gives us a double-dose of light — both from the sun itself, and from its reflection off the water. There are no trees to cast their shadows over us, and Goosewing Beach is an unusual site for the Ocean State: a fairly long sand beach without an abundance of rocks! Now some of us, like my husband, are beach walkers (when we used to live on Long Island, he loved to go to Fire Island and walk for miles and miles). And others of us prefer the surprises and variety of walking a bit back from the beach through the dunes or marsh side areas, where one discovers a diversity of plant and animal life, where the scenery changes in a more discernible way than on a flat, sandy beach. So this beach, which is so pristine and uncrowded in the wintertime, is perfect for my family. My husband takes his long beach walk, and my son and I take the trails up behind the beach, with ocean beach on one side of us, and the inland waters of Quicksand Pond on the other side of us.
According to one article I found online, Quicksand Pond “has been called one of the most significant migratory waterfowl concentration sites of New England.” All around the site you will see signs warning you not to disturb the nesting areas of the endangered piping plovers, but in the winter you do not need to worry about this (and therefore, you can also bring Fido along, which you should NOT do in the summertime). At this time of year, you will mostly see swans, Canada geese, and various ducks on the pond. One thing I love about walking on these dune trails is swath of beach-rose brambles, bearing their red rosehips. When returning towards the parking lot (heading west), you also have a bucolic view of the adjacent farm with its fields and stone walls.
As the beach here faces south, it is an ideal place to enjoy either sunrise or sunset. If you are a birder, don’t forget your binoculars and camera. But at this time of year, it is great to just come in the middle of one of our short winter days to soak up a double-dose of sunshine, to revel in the sparkle of sunlight off the waves, and in the opportunity for solitude on the beach. Who knows? Winter may even begin to be your favorite New England season!
Helpful links
The Incomplete Guide to Newport 