(birds chirping) (calm music) (calm music continues) - [Narrator] Here in Southern New England, we are lucky enough to live in a part of the world that is blessed with an abundance of beauty.

All we have to do is open a door and take the first steps.

Each view is a treasure, each landscape an invitation to become one with nature.

Join us as we journey into the outdoors and navigate some of the trails in our corner of New England.

(birds chirping) (calm music continues) (birds chirping) Henry David Thoreau was only 27 years old when he set out to observe the beauty of nature in the woods that surrounded him.

It was a transformative experience.

(birds chirping) (calm piano music) Whether you venture out to create memories with your family or go in search of a few moments of solitude, whether you are an experienced hiker or a novice, the trails await.

(gentle piano music) - My name is Laura Carberry.

I'm the director of properties for the Audubon Society of Rhode Island.

We're at Fisherville Brook Wildlife Refuge and it's in located in Exeter.

We have over a thousand acres and there's five miles of trails.

Today, we're doing the Blue Loop.

It's also called the Pond Loop.

It's our most popular trail here at Fisherville.

It's a mile and a half and we do feel it's comfortable for families.

It's a wider trail, so you can walk next to your family or your friends, but it does have a lot of scenery, so it's a great trail for everyone.

You go around the pond, we have a historic cemetery.

There's a waterfall with a dam and a safe way, and you go through pine forest and fields, so you have a lot of different diversity and habitats.

- So, this is a dam that has been created over 100 years ago.

This was called the Ice Pond.

And it has a beautiful dam and also a slipway, but we have no record of what it was used for.

It could have been a green mill, but there is no actual structure that showed an actual building, so we're really not sure what this was used for.

(water rushing) Today, the pond is still dammed up.

We usually have beaver on the pond, we have otter, so it's a great biological area for many species to live.

(water spattering) Very New England, we have old mills and old structures.

The house down below us was one of the first areas to have a dam that was used for electricity.

So, we're not sure what this one was used for, but just down the stream was the first electrical building in the area.

(water rushing) (calm piano music) (crickets chirping) (birds chirping) (crickets chirping) (birds chirping) (calm piano music) So, there is a lot of history from this property.

It was belief that it was settled by Europeans in the late 1700s.

The first family that was in this area were the Jocelyns.

So, the road that you come in on is part in Jocelyn, so that was the family.

Over time, they started selling some of their land to the Gardeners, and that was in the 1800s.

Later, the Grinnell family started purchasing some of the land.

Mr. Grinnell gave it to his daughter, Rose, and she was the one who donated it to Audubon.

(crow cawing) In New England, you can find all sorts of history just walking through the forest or even a field With the rock walls that are found, you can find signs of the early settlers.

We're off the Blue Trail and this is our cemetery.

It's a historic cemetery of the Gardner family.

There's five generations that are found in the cemetery and somebody's from the Revolutionary War.

There's history throughout New England.

It's everywhere, you can see our past, but these are also a great places for wildlife.

We have bird houses all around.

These are for bluebirds, the eastern bluebirds.

We also have a a Purple Martin box here.

These are a community nester, and so this is a great habitat all around.

If you want to see wildlife, the best time are dawn and dusk.

But if you're just looking for a stroll, you're still gonna able to see birds.

You might see turtles on the pond if it's the summertime.

You're always gonna see something.

Butterflies in the field.

It doesn't matter what time of year you are here, you will see something if you keep your eyes open.

Chickadee.

The wetlands are fantastic.

And in the fall, a lot of the birds congregate together.

So, that's why we're hearing a lot of different ones where the rest of the forest was kinda quiet.

(crickets chirping) (water spattering) (birds chirping) I live and breathe the outdoors.

I think it gives you great mental health and clarity.

Put those cell phones away, put the headphones away, and just listen or be with a friend to come out here and enjoy the solitude and the beauty that is around you.

(gentle piano music) - [Narrator] The Fisherville Brook Wildlife Refuge is the Audubon's largest property in the state.

The trails here are easy to follow and include small bridges that lead visitors over bubbling streams.

(water spattering) (crickets chirping) With over 400 miles of coastline in Rhode Island, there are a number of different seaside trail options beckoning.

Ocean views vary from the rocky shore at Beaver Tail State Park to the peaceful rhythm of the waves along the westernmost beach in the state.

(slow music) (bird chirping) - I'm Alan Desbonnet.

I'm a science advisor for the Watch Hill Conservancy.

I used to come here as a teenager to go to the beach and it's just a place where I find great peace and joy in being, but I also enjoy hiking.

Done a lot of hiking in the White Mountains, a lot of hiking all along through Rhode Island, Connecticut, much of New England, and a beach is just a very different kind of a place to hike.

You hike the mile and a half of the beach, you're just gonna find out this is just an amazing, amazing place to come.

(waves crashing) I always like to come up here into the top of the dune, 'cause as I look around particularly often and to the north, to me, I feel like I'm on Block Island on Cape Cod.

Someplace very, very different.

And when you look down the beach, I mean, what do you see?

You don't see anything.

You see sand, you see water.

(waves crashing) At one point in time, there was a fort out here, way out at the very tip where you see that little bump of of greenery is Fort Mansfield.

It was a fort built in the very late 1800s.

It was meant to have cannon out here to protect this part of the channel between Fisher's Island and getting into Long Island Sound.

(birds chirping) It is a conservation area and it's an important thing to remember that the place is not manipulated, it's managed to be wild.

(waves crashing) It's a place for wildlife, but it's a place for people.

(birds chirping) The birds that you're gonna find out here are really gonna vary by time of year.

Come out here in the springtime when all of the Neotropical migrants are coming north, the places littered with all kinds of different warblers and piping plovers, terns.

Sandpipers will come and feed along the beach face here.

So, in the springtime, it's a real smorgasbord of different kinds of migrating through birds.

(bird chirping) When you're hiking in this area coming up and down the beach, you really need to look out for these yellow posts with the red tip.

Each of those red-tipped posts means a cut through the dune.

And those are the places where you should go to access from the beach side to the bay side, bay side to the beach.

Why?

Because it's a natural pathway going through so it lets the rest of the dune be a dune.

As you walk out to the very last of these yellow red-tipped pencils and you go over onto the bay side, you're gonna see a little lagoon in the back.

There's very, very little tidal exchange there, so the ecology out there is changing tremendously, but that's what it's supposed to do.

Every time you come down here, it's different.

And that's part of the exciting thing about it, is you gotta come here a lot.

(calm guitar music) - [Narrator] Napatree Point has been a destination for generations that continues under the care of the Watch Hill Conservancy.

(waves crashing gently) (waves crashing gently) Another seaside trail option on the other end of Rhode Island's coastline offers a different type of experience.

The National Wildlife Refuge here offers scenic views in a place shared by people and wildlife alike.

(waves crashing) (waves crashing) (ethereal music) (ethereal music continues) - My name's Alison Schwartz.

I'm a refuge ranger here at Sachuest Point National Wildlife Refuge.

(waves crashing) National Wildlife Refuges are an amazing place, because they're the world's largest network of public lands and waters that are set aside for wildlife plants and fish.

Sachuest Point is one of five in the state of Rhode Island and one of 570 in the country.

We have a lot of of different recreational uses of our wildlife refuges.

People come here to observe wildlife, to watch birds, they come here to take photos.

We get a lot of photographers that come here throughout the year.

So, a large variety of activities for everyone here.

(waves crashing) In the winter where we're at now, it really is a nice peaceful time to come visit Sachuest, a little bit less crowded.

You can see more into the shrub lands, because there's no trees or no foliage on any of the shrubs.

So, it's really easy to kind of see into all of the different habitats we have and you might spot the ring-necked pheasant, you might spot the deer, you might spot a mink this time of year.

There are so many deer here throughout the year.

People love to come and get to see them throughout their different stages of their life.

(wind whooshing) (waves crashing gently) And then we've got all of these migratory waterfowl species that come from all over, but a lot of them come from as far as the Arctic Circle.

So, they come and they spend the entire winter here and they're feeding and they're attracting mates and they're doing courtship displays.

So, it's really fun to come out and discover all the different types of seabirds that we have spending the winter here.

There's some scoters.

Some Harlequin ducks, those ones right there.

They migrate here all the way from the Arctic.

Oh, and they spend the entire winter here.

I think that the great thing about Sachuest is that it's got something for everybody.

So, whether you're an avid naturalist and you're really into birds and plants and you wanna come explore, we've got things for you.

But if you also just want to look at beautiful scenery just to come and explore and see some things you've never seen before.

That one isolated rock in the middle of the water, there's one female eider and then the rest are harlequins.

I love coming out here, even on my days off, and just walking around and just clearing my mind, looking out on the waves crashing against the rocks and just feeling the wind against my face.

You don't have to be an avid birder or a naturalist to come out to Sachuest.

(waves crashing) We crave distraction and we are constantly seeking some entertainment, whether it's on our phones or devices, but getting outside and just clearing your mind and walking, and maybe you're looking for birds, these different activities can be a really healthy way to just get your mind off of life's distractions, and there's really something for everybody here.

(relaxing guitar music) - [Narrator] The trails here offer expansive vistas in any season.

(waves crashing gently) (snow whooshing gently) Hiking in the winter can be just as enjoyable as any other season, so long as you prepare properly.

The cool air and a freshly fallen snow can make for a peaceful setting and trails are usually much less crowded.

(water spattering) (water rushing) In the spring, melting snow finds its way into nearby streams, creating a gentle roar that fills the air.

(water rushing) (slow ethereal music) (slow ethereal music continues) - I am Kevin Bruff.

I'm out here hiking this morning in the beautiful Stepstone Falls.

And it's a beautiful spring morning, there's a lot of greenage, and the water's just flowing through.

You can hear the rippling of the water and some beautiful songbirds adding to the morning orchestra.

(water rushing) Ah, great.

I love the outdoors.

And while I'm outdoors, I wanna have something to do besides just see stuff, which I do appreciate.

But I like looking at things and reporting as much as I can with my camera equipment.

(water rushing) Thinking about life and just looking around and things that nature created, like that beautiful form and tree down there.

I love that tree.

It creates, like, a pathway for a little animal to just go down there and get a sip of water and go back up.

(water rushing) I wanna bring back a record of what I saw, what the area was about, what effects nature had on the environment, just to have some type of record of what I witnessed and what is happening all around us.

(water rushing) Sometimes, I feel like the color of the water changes.

It looks a little bit more brown for some reason.

I don't know if it's 'cause of the mud or whatever, but it looks more brown.

(slow guitar music) (slow guitar music continues) I come here probably once every, well, four times a year at least.

I like the wintertime the most.

I love the icicles.

About a winter ago, I was able to photograph a beautiful icicle pattern, which was just the boundary difference between the water flow and a rock above.

And it just represents the interaction between, you know, structure and fluid medium.

You know, just down the road at Tillinghast Pond, I got a beautiful evening time long exposure of clouds above the pond.

Janelle's very proud of that image.

I prefer a silver, gray light.

And so, right now, everything looks perfect.

This is like Bob Ross.

You know, you just love it.

You know, sometimes, I come out here, I think about friends and family.

And recently, I had a friend transition, so I like to try to see her in different things that I look at, 'cause I know her eyes is always open to nature.

So, I came out here this morning with a little bit of her in my heart.

(bright piano music) - [Narrator] The trails at Stepstone Falls are just a small part of the much larger Arcadia management area, a place that takes on a very distinctive look and feel in every season.

(bright piano music continues) (water rushing) (water rushing) In 2001, The Nature Conservancy became stewards of a beautiful piece of land in southern Rhode Island with a mix of trails in forest and open fields.

(birds chirping) - My name is Tim Mooney.

And today, we're on the Tarzan Brown Trail at the Francis Carter Preserve in Charlestown, Rhode Island.

Tarzan Brown was a member of the Narragansett tribe.

He lived here in Charlestown for many years.

He was a marathoner in the 1930s.

He won the Boston Marathon twice and represented the United States in the 1936 Olympics in Germany.

This is a great beginner trail.

It's flat, it's well-marked, it is mostly wide open, and you don't have to do the whole thing.

No one says you have to come out and do a great, big hike and spend the whole day.

Come out, maybe just start from the trail head, come out to the field, take a look around, and you can go as far as you like.

(birds chirping) The Carter Preserve has seven miles of trails, over 1100 acres, and there is incredible diversity throughout this property.

The Nature Conservancy has a contract with the Audubon Society in order to mow this field every year to keep it as a field.

And so, the cycle , you know, of the field starting up again from the bare ground is just an annual ritual, and it never comes back the same way twice.

This is one of the most popular birding spots in South County.

You'll see common yellowthroats, prairie warblers, indigo buntings.

If you like wildflowers and butterflies, the summer is a time to experience all of that.

(birds chirping) We have a trail that walks all the way around 100 acre fields.

And then moments later, you're in a pine forest.

And moments later, you're in an oak forest.

And a little bit beyond that, you're walking along the Pawcatuck River.

So, all of that is contained in one beautiful preserve here in Charlestown.

(soft piano music) (birds chirping) In the 1700s, 1800s, much of southern and western Rhode Island would've been a combination of wood lots and small family farms.

That land use have died out as we came into the 20th century.

And this stone fireplace isn't that old.

This is probably from mid-20th century, a time when people from Providence War, Cranston might have what they call a camp in South County.

This is an example of one of those camps.

You'd see a stone fireplace and a small cabin tucked in the woods.

It's just something interesting to look at along the trail and think about who came before us and how decisions that they made affect what we see today.

It's one of my favorite places in Rhode Island to visit.

I love being a small person in a big space.

It helps center me, it helps clear my thoughts, and there's an energy here that I absolutely love.

- [Narrator] Spending time in nature can be an inspiration or a moment of solitude.

It can also be a time of discovery.

(birds chirping) (leaves rustling) No matter where we live, none of us are far from an opportunity to experience the outdoors.

Even in the shadows of downtown Providence, there are trails waiting to be explored.

(slow guitar music) (birds chirping) - My name is John Kostrzewa.

I'm a retired reporter and editor from the Providence Journal.

This is new to Neutaconkanut Hill.

It's on the northwest corner of Providence.

The first time I climbed here in probably 2018, 2019.

I was amazed at this urban oasis in the middle of this very, very dense populated neighborhood of Silver Lake and Olneyville.

(birds chirping) (wind whooshing gently) In the 1930s, President Roosevelt started a Depression Era program called the Work Progress Administration.

The idea was to put unemployed workers to work, to give them jobs, and to build public works projects.

So, these steps were actually built by the WPA in the late 1930s.

(birds chirping) This was a bandstand foundation.

On a Sunday afternoon, thousands and thousands of people from Providence, the dense neighborhoods right below, would climb the hill, sit on the summit on the hillside, and watch the band concerts.

It was a wonderful, free Sunday afternoon during the Roosevelt presidency.

(water trickling) If you take your time walking in the woods, look to the left, look to the right, you'll see an amazing amount of information about how we lived 250, 300 years ago.

You'll see foundations, you'll see sluice ways.

This might have been an old farm lane maybe.

See how wide it is?

A road of some type.

You can always tell.

It's really cut back.

And for wagons, the way to cross the hill, I would think.

It's right on the ridge line.

You don't wanna go down there where it's steep, a little steep over there.

So, it's really well-cut.

It's really a self-education.

Tells you who we were and how we lived.

This is a sign that we were in an urban park years ago.

This was a dumping ground for stolen cars that were stolen in Providence, driven up the hill, and burned it, abandoned right here.

When the conservancy found the site, they decided that they were gonna remove 10 or 11 of the old frames and the old cars here, but they left behind two frames and a lot of the engine blocks.

Why?

Because they wanted to show people that this is an urban park.

And eventually, the land reclaims everything.

Again, another sign of how the Earth will eventually heal itself.

There are great places to hike throughout Rhode Island.

I'm constantly amazed that for such a small state, there are many, many, many, many different venues to go hiking for different experiences.

- [Narrator] Our state and local parks are open to everyone.

Organizations like The Nature Conservancy and the Audubon Society maintain trails that are easy to navigate.

And the abundance of beaches close by never disappoint.

Spectacular views, the sound of wind blowing through the trees, and the feel of the trail under your boots is always just a few steps away.

(calm music) (calm music continues) (gentle music) (bright guitar music)