GOLDENROD, GOLDENROD, AND MORE GOLDENROD

We got up early the next morning and had breakfast in a little café in Narragansett. I was feeling pretty good, thanks to a decent night of sleep. We killed a little time there, as there was a huge traffic jam on the Jamestown Bridge. We headed that way after it cleared up. We enjoyed a charming drive through Jamestown, passing quaint houses with yards lined by stone walls. We drove to Beavertail State Park and parked near the lighthouse. I had no map and only a vague description of the park trails. I was pretty sure we could figure it out though. The park is on a peninsula, so it would be hard to get lost.

We started on the southeast corner of the peninsula. We walked out onto some rocks to take in the pounding surf. The shore along the peninsula is a long stretch of rock outcrops pierced by small coves. There is a trail on the bluff above, and we alternated between rock hopping and walking the trail around the more challenging spots. The rock route was more fun and scenic, but those rocks were surprisingly slippery. We followed the shore around to the Beavertail lighthouse. The lighthouse was built in 1856 to mark the entrance to Narragansett Bay.

We continued up the west side of the peninsula. This stretch of shoreline is even more rugged, so we conceded and mostly stayed on the trail up on the bluff. The trail wanders through woods and meadows full of goldenrod. There were hundreds of monarch butterflies enjoying the goldenrod. It’s easily the most monarch butterflies I’ve ever seen. Aside from the flowers and insects, we were treated to frequent views across the bay. One small cove even featured a small natural arch. I’d read that there are sea caves as well, but we didn’t find them.

We reached a junction with a trail heading inland, but continued ahead. The trail became overgrown, so we doubled-back and followed the other trail out to a parking lot. There we found another trail heading back down to the shore. We followed it back to the original trail at a point a bit farther north than where we had left it. We followed it a little farther, but the trail became overgrown again. This didn’t seem right, so we doubled-back to the parking area. We crossed the road, and found another trail on the northeast end of the peninsula. We followed it back south until we arrived back at our starting point.

From there, we drove to Newport and continued out to Sachuest Point National Wildlife Refuge. We parked in the main lot, which is adjacent to a huge field of goldenrod. Our hike there included most of the trails in the refuge. First we followed a wide trail along the field of goldenrod out to Flint Point. While walking this stretch, we were startled by two deer that darted across the trail right in front of us. We had lunch at Flint Point before looping back south along the coast. I took an alternate route along here over some rock outcrops up above the main trail. They offered even better views of the surf and the Island Rocks just offshore.

We finished our hike by mid-afternoon, just in time to hit the road and get ahead of Boston rush hour traffic. We drove up into New Hampshire, and stopped at the last sizeable town to get groceries. From there, we headed north, towards Franconia Notch State Park, where we would spend four nights camping.

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