Merino Park has been a mystery to me for so long. I always see the park off of Route 6 but never…read moreknew how to get there. But I am so glad I figured it out! The park is very, very clean and has a playground, basketball court and track. There is also a lot of grassy area for play. But the real gem is the bike/walking path that goes over the highway and connects to Riverside Park in Olneyville. Maybe everyone knows about this but I feel like I just found my own secret garden! The path is clean and surrounded by trees, goes over a river and ends with a waterfall/herrin run. I love this place! Since I've had the baby, I have just been getting back into a fit routine by walking this daily.

Newly re-opened trail. Small parking lot after traveling down a narrow dirt road. Elevated…read morewalkways, nice scenery, and peace and quiet. They did a good job fixing this up and getting it re-opened.

With approximately 2 miles of trails to traverse and diverse landscapes to take in, the Yawgoo Pond…read moreTrail in South Kingstown is worthy of a visit. From the parking area on Barbers Pond Road, hikers begin their adventure on the Loop Trail. Near to the shores of the Yawgoo, one can connect to the Founders Loop Trail. Both afford sweeping views of the pond and its lapping waters. I enjoyed this land immensely. It features a kettle hole bog, brook with bridge crossing, historic graveyard, incredibly tall white pine trees, and of course, Yawgoo Pond. The trail is very well maintained and easy to follow. South Kingstown Land Trust signs with clearly defined arrows mark the way along with colored blazes to keep you on track. In 2014, Troop 1 Kingston Eagle Scouts built a bridge that makes crossing the Mud Brook a breeze. The "stately" white pines were by far my favorite feature of the hike. Go experience the sounds of nature enveloping you as you quietly pad across beds of pine needles in the shade of these massive trees. You won't regret it.

The smallest of the…read moresmall At less than one acre this is the smallest state park in the Connecticut. It is an island in the southeast part of Gardner Lake and of course it can only be reach by boat. The actually island is uninhabited and heavily wooded. Even in a kayak it difficult to find a place to land because of the rocks and trees. Once on the island it is hard to move around because it is so heavily covered with trees. A cool place to stop and take a break while yaking around Gardner Lake and the scenery is very lovely, but island isn't much else. The lake is actually quite nice and a fun place to paddle if you want something mellow without the challenge of the ocean. There is a convenient parking area and launch site at the northeast side of the lake.

Newly opened trail in East Greenwich. Still not 100% cleared and ready, but I did a little…read moreexploration anyway. Right off Tillinghast Rd, this is a great addition to East Greenwich. A couple of hills, but nothing too steep, and they are manageable. Paved parking lot, but the entrance is unpaved. Two trails have recently been cleared, so it's not overgrown yet, and some nice views. When it officially opens, it will be even better.

Super fun course. Nice and hilly with some dog legs and interesting greens. Had a great time.read more

Course used to be in great shape and was a small hidden gem for youth and elderly to play. At some…read morepoint it lost that and it's taken a turn. Bad shape but yeah it's cheap. You get what you pay for.

Mark is a very knowledgeable and friendly instructor. He made the course interactive and easy to…read moreunderstand. I would highly recommended Mark's services to anyone interested in the boater safety course.

Mark was amazing. Mark is extremely knowledgeable, easy to understand, entertaining and provided…read moretop notch service from the start of the project to the final event. He came to our home and by the end of our session my husband, my daughter and I had our safe boating license. Mark was equipped with a printer and provided our actual license before he left our home. We highly recommend Mark Vining. We feel confident that our knowledge will keep us and those around us safe.

A small little area overlooking a damn celebrating the history of the town and how chocolate helped…read morebuild it. A couple spaces for street parking and you can walk down to the water. In the not-so-nice area of the Pawtucket/Central Falls line, so I wouldn't linger, as they even had to put cameras in to monitor the area, but otherwise its a nice little spot.

A lifelong Rhode Island-er I finally made my first pilgrimage to Jerimoth Hill. And...in the…read moretotality of things, I would rate it akin to Rhode Island's version of Plymouth Rock. In that, it's not that it's bad, but you hear so much about it, and then you get to it, and it's like 'that's it?' Located a short walk from the road, 2-5 minutes, depending on how fast you walk, it is literally just a small rock protruding from the ground. The path is clear and well-maintained, and parking is just off the road. It's a good thing to start kids out on, to see if they might like hiking and/or walking in the woods, and for people who might be challenged by walking long(er) distances but adventurous or seasoned hikers will leave disappointed. But, again, it's not much. No challenge, no view, no fanfare. For a quick little excursion its probably worth the trip, and again even a fun way to introduce the little ones to hiking and/or the woods. But don't expect views, don't expect a challenge, and overall a bit of disappointment. My fault for not researching it more beforehand, but I expected a little bit of a view, similar to the tower in of RT1 in South County, alas there is none.

There's definitely not too much to this one. I came by yesterday afternoon with my top-tier chum…read morewho literally went to the school of hospitality to knock off my 18th state high point on the way to Boston. Like most of the high points I've encountered, this one is also pretty much in the middle of absolute nowhere; this was my chum's first visit to Rhode Island, and it's safe to say it's not the area the state's tourism bureau promotes to prospective visitors; it's very rural and located in the extreme NW corner of the state. It was actually pretty easy/convenient to get to; we took 395 up from CT and then a quick five to 10-minute drive on 101 eastbound from Killingly, where we located a small sandy parking area on the lefthand side across the street from the trailhead. (We initially got distracted and thought the high point was on the parking area side of the street, but once you see five angry "No Trespassing" signs, it's pretty easy to notice and then fix your mistake.) Conditions could have been worse (it was dry save for a few random flurries), but it was VERY windy. I don't think it had anything to do with the comparatively high altitude - it's literally about 800 feet above sea level - but it added an element you typically associate with a "real" high point on top of a mountain with views and whatnot. The trail itself is a flat dirt path, so as long as it's not coated in snow there's really no reason you'd have issues traversing it. This isn't exactly a lipstick on a pig situation but there's not a lot needed here in terms of trail maintenance/markers. There's a pretty prominent sign next to the trailhead confirming the nearby location of the high point, and then consistent markers on the trees heading to the actual high point - they literally say Jerimoth Hill on them, so if you don't find this, it's really on you. A few of the little markers looked pretty beat up so my only constructive feedback is to possibly upgrade them before they become completely useless. I will say though that they could use an extra sign or indicator at the high point, which is a rock - it looked to us like there had been a recent rock cairn there to denote the spot but that it had since fallen down. The location is right by a few other informal trails (denoted with colored ribbons on trees) so we did a quick check on those to make sure we didn't have to keep going. But the easiest way to confirm you're in the right spot is to look for a prominent rock and an accompanying ammo box attached to a nearby tree to log your high point visit. Probably the least memorable high point I've done to date (Delaware is up there as well), but at least it's an easy one to quickly check off the list.