the Way of the Turtle

LOTS OF BIRDS... BUT NO SEALS...
2.6 Mile Walk at the John H. Chafee Nature Preserve
Saturday, May 14, 2011

Looked through my copy of Weber's Weekend Walks in Rhode Island last night to try and find a place to stop between Point Judith and Willington and eventually settled on Rome Point, or more specifically the John H. Chafee Nature Preserve which includes Rome Point on Narragansett Bay, in part because it sounded like an easy walk through the woods and along the shore and in part because of the possibilities of seeing seals (admittedly a very low possibility - apparently the seals are there mostly in the winter and head back to northern waters in warmer weather. Plus they prefer to rest on rocks out in the bay at low tide, and I would be there near high tide.)

The first surprise was the spacious parking lot that apparently didn't exist when Weber wrote the guidebook... much better than parking alongside the road! The first part of the walk was along an old dirt road, with a nice gentle downhill grade. Lots of birds all around as I walked - robins, chickadees, catbirds, and towhees, and probably lots more I never saw. Passed a couple of groups walking out with their dogs, but for the most part I had the path to myself.

The view once I reached the bay was pretty nice - I could see the bridge over to Jamestown to the south, and the beach curved around to the northeast to Rome Point. So I walked along the beach, which seemed to be made mostly of shells - I don't know if I've ever been on a beach that was so thickly covered with shells before.

Out at the point I could see the tips of one of the rocks poking through the water, with a cormorant perched on top - but no seals (which I expected, but I still hoped all the way there that I might get lucky.) I'll just have to go back in cooler weather (maybe in November after the Lil Rhody Runaround trail race...)

I took a trail back, with some nice views off the other side of the point before heading back into the woods. Saw signs that there used to be some sort of buildings  back there, and toward the end of the walk - the ubiquitous junked car completely surrounded by trees that must have grown up since the car was left there.

My timing was pretty good, because on the way out I passed three guys who looked ready to do some serious fishing, and just missed a very noisy group heading down the main trail I'd walked in on. So I left just in time, before the peace and quiet disappeared. It was also timely because my legs were getting more than a bit tired... not really a surprise, between walking almost 5 miles and running a bit over 6 miles this morning and afternoon... it will be interesting to see how well they hold up to the rigors of Soapstone (definitely one of the tougher spring trail courses) tomorrow.

For more info on the seals at Rome Point, I strongly recommend the excellent Rome Point seals website.
JMH