Rhode Island Feeds

We continue our series of posts on favorite winter outings for families with children, featuring recommendations from AMC chapter trip leaders and staff. We started in the White Mountains and moved south to Boston’s western suburbs. Now we hear from Boston Chapter family trips leader Heather Hodgson DePaola with suggestions for winter outings in Boston’s southern metro area.

Several of DePaola’s favorite walks — the first three listed here — are in land protected by The Trustees of Reservations. In 1890, Boston architect Charles Eliot, who would become an originating force behind Acadia National Park, proposed that a volunteer conservation organization be created to hold land free of taxes for the public to enjoy “just as a Public Library holds books and an Art Museum holds pictures.” The Trustees of Reservations conserve and care for more than 25,000 acres of forest, wetland, and open space around Massachusetts.

Noanet Woodlands, Dover. DePaola and her daughter, Mckinlee consider this nearly 600-acre Trustees of Reservations preserve “home” territory and visit it in all four seasons. It’s a short drive from their home in Dover. DePaola used to bring Mckinlee in a baby backpack to the top of the hill with its spectacular views of the Boston skyline. Now that Mckinlee is walking on her own, they are just as likely to explore the little ponds around the preserve.

Noon Hill, Medfield. The short trail of another Trustees of Reservations preserve, Noon Hill, leads to a gentle summit and sweeping views. The DePaolas especially like the loop trail around Holt Pond.

Rocky Woods, Medfield. Two brooks, many ponds, and wetlands in nearly 500 acres means there’s always something new at Rocky Woods. In the winter, that can mean exploring the many varieties of ice — the lacy edges of frozen ponds, panes of ice on the trail that are fun to stomp, ice pockets tucked away — and then sharing a winter snack at a picnic table.

Blue Hills Ski Area, Canton. This small downhill ski and snowboard area is still very much in operation and makes for a great winter outing all by itself. DePaola also likes the trails maintained by the ski area and nearby Blue Hill Meteorological Observatory, a one-mile uphill walk from the ski area parking lot. Check ahead for tours of the weather station. The observatory is offering kite-flying lessons on President’s Day, February 22.

Elm Bank, Wellesley. The Massachusetts Horticultural Society, fondly known as “Mass Hort,” is the oldest horticultural institution in the United States. The 36-acre hands-on horticulture center offers adults and children the opportunity to experience, enjoy, and learn about plants and the environment. “Weezie’s Winter Story Hour” is held every Friday in February from 10 to 11 a.m. in the Education Building. The Charles River runs along one side of the center, and DePaola and Mckinlee often take “great strolls” along the river, where there are always ducks and other waterfowl, even in winter, and dogs along the trail for Mckinlee to enjoy.

Children’s Museum, Boston. On some days, the best winter outing for DePaola mother and daughter is to walk to the commuter rail stop near their house, take the train in to Boston, and walk to the Children’s Museum. Sometimes, that’s all the weather lets you do — whether it’s raining or snowing outside or whether it’s a tired child who’s having a stormy day...

Next, we will explore winter outings for families in Connecticut, then winter walks with children in the Delaware Valley end this series. I hope you’ll share your best winter walks with us, too.

Learn more
- Read 5 tips from AMC family trip leaders for winter outings.
- 3 “Best Winter Walks” in the White Mountains
- 5 “Best Winter Walks” in Boston’s western suburbs

Photo credits: Heather DePaola

“Great Kids, Great Outdoors” is an AMC Outdoors blog, written by Kristen Laine.

February 8, 20106:30 pm

Tired of riding outside in the cold or alone on the rollers in your basement? It’s time for the next installment of RIVeloSprints! Come join us on February 8th @ 6:30pm for some fun on rollers.  Rumor has it that someone from the Providence Journal will be joining us this evening, let’s show RI how much fun you can have indoors on a bicycle!

RI VeloSprints is an indoor bicycle roller racing tournament. Two cyclists climb aboard bicycles securely mounted to rollers and pedal as hard as they can for 500 meters. There will be nightly, monthly, and tournament-wide winners in various categories.

Proceeds from the event go to support the US Open Cycling Foundation, East Coast Greenway Alliance, & the RI Bicycle Coalition; organizations working to make cycling safer and better in Rhode Island.

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The folks over at Greater City Providence did a great job summarizing the alternatives RIDOT presented this past Monday for the Wickenden St./195 interchange.  I wasn’t able to attend the meeting and am hoping that anyone who was in attendance would add their thoughts to this post.  My understanding was that the following option was most widely accepted by everyone:

I’d encourage everyone to take some time and submit any thoughts or comments you have to either Melanie Jewett in the Planning Department and/or Lambri Zerva at RIDOT.  They will be accepting comments until the close of business on Tuesday, February 16th.

Looking at these designs, it’s still not clear to me how a bicycle is expected to navigate from the mulit-use path coming from India Point Park, through the intersection, and continue down to the bicycle path on South Water Street.  Clearly they are going to need to use the pedestrian signals, because crossing over two plus lanes of traffic, coming off at highway speeds, is going to be a death wish.  I just hope RIDOT has the sense to build some sort of large catchment area for bicycles, as people riding along paths can often be families with children.

I’m also seriously concerned about how RIDOT and the city plan to encourage motorists to slow down to the posted 25mph speeds after coming off the highway.  I don’t see any sort of traffic calming built into the plans.  I’m also dismayed to see that no thought, once again, has been given to HOV lanes in either direction.

This is the second in a series on best winter walks with children. AMC chapter trip leaders and staff have compiled lists of their favorite winter outings for families. We started in the White Mountains, with suggestions from AMC senior interpretive naturalist Nancy Ritger. Now we move to exploring winter with children in the suburbs around Boston.

Eddy Luttmer “retired” from leading family trips for AMC’s Boston Chapter on the last day of 2009. Now that his children are older — his daughter is 22, his son is 18 — he’s looking forward to following their lead in the outdoors. He drew on his own parenting experience, as well as 14 years of leading family trips, for the following list of winter outings in and around Boston’s western suburbs.

Mt. Misery, Lincoln. This close-in peak off Route 117 jumped immediately to Luttmer’s mind. “It has a nice network of trails,” he says, with great views of the Sudbury River.

Walden State Park, Concord. “Obviously,” Luttmer says, Walden pond and the surrounding woods are a great natural retreat in any season, but for locals, some of the appeal of a winter visit is the absence of crowds. Henry David Thoreau wrote in Walden, “Every winter the liquid and trembling surface of the pond, which was so sensitive to every breath, and reflected every light and shadow, becomes solid to the depth of a foot or a foot and a half, ... and it is not to be distinguished from any level field. Like the marmots in the surrounding hills, it closes its eyelids and becomes dormant for three months or more.” Trails are open for snowshoeing and cross-country skiing, and also for simple rambling.

Cat Rock Park, Weston. The downhill ski area that ran here for two decades starting in the 1950s left open slopes that make for accessible “back-country” skiing and snowshoeing only a few miles from downtown Boston. In spite of the name, the park has become known as a leash-free area for dogs.

Cutler Park, Newton Highlands. In the summer, Luttmer and his children ride fat-tire bikes along the trails of this well-known green space right next to Interstate 95 (take the Kendrick Street exit). When there’s snow in the winter, those same trails make for great cross-country skiing.

Auburndale Park, Newton. Luttmer recommends this park for families with younger children because of its combination of playground, walking paths along the Charles River, and small-scale nature walks.

The next post explores southern Boston. After that, we learn about great places for families to go in the winter in the Delaware Valley and Connecticut. I hope you’ll share your own thoughts and ideas, too.

Learn more
- Read 5 tips from AMC family trip leaders for winter outings.
- 3 "Best Winter Walks” in the White Mountains

Photo credit: Pick-up hockey at Auburndale Park. Newton Conservators.

“Great Kids, Great Outdoors” is an AMC Outdoors blog, written by Kristen Laine.

February 8, 20106:00 pm

We’ve got a shot at real, good improvements to Pleasant Valley Parkway!  Please join the forces for good!

When: Monday Feb 8, 6 pm

Where: Capital Ridge (assisted living facility) 700 Smith St

Early word is that the new plan calls for one-way movement on each side of the stream, removal of one car lane, and addition of bike lanes on each side.  It would end up looking like a small-scale Blackstone Blvd, if this is true.  Currently, the roads on both sides of the median/stream BOTH allow 2-way traffic, with little room for cyclists and walkers, and extreme confusion at intersections.

See you there!  We’ll all head to RI Velosprints (at McFadden’s, on Pine St) afterwards!

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Healthbeat, the e-newsletter from Harvard Medical School, offers ten really easy steps to protect your heart: 1. Take a 10-minute walk. If you don't exercise at all, a brief walk is a great way to start. If you do, it's...

Ever hear these words? I'm cold. Why are we doing this? I lost my mittens!

If you have, you know the special challenges of being outdoors with children in the winter. How do we encourage hesitant children — and perhaps ourselves — to enjoy the cold air, snow, and even the freezing rain? AMC family trip leaders have lots of experience with this question, and some tips to help answer it. (See below for links to specific recommendations for child-friendly winter outings.)

Explore close to home. "We stay a little more local in the winter," says AMC Boston Chapter family trips leader Heather DePaola, who is mother of Mckinlee, age 3. Last winter, DePaola carried her daughter in a backpack, but discovered that she kept taking off her mittens. Instead of the longer hikes that DePaola had imagined, mother and daughter took advantage of trails near their home in Dover, MA, maintained by The Trustees of Reservations. One of their favorite walks goes through the Noanet Woodlands, a 600-acre preserve dotted with little ponds, to the top of a hill with an expansive view of Boston's skyline. "She's a little better about wearing mittens this year," DePaola says, but they will continue exploring local places.

Be flexible. Pick walks or hikes that give options for bailing out or changing course along the way. "We look for short, point-to-point hikes," says Linda Dallas, a member of the Delaware Valley Chapter, "and hikes that we can shorten" by taking different routes back to the car.

Make it an outing. Debra Rich looks for ways to motivate children on the trips she leads for AMC's Connecticut Chapter. "If I just lead them through the woods, they're going to be asking, 'What's the point? Why are we doing this?'" The castle that looks as if it belongs on a Harry Potter movie set in Sleeping Giant State Park in Easton, CT, is a favorite destination of Rich's 8-year-old son, Zachary. John Urick, Delaware Valley Chapter trip leader, notes, "It's always good to stop for ice cream" — even in winter.

Dress for success. "The key to winter hiking is adjusting layers," says Urick. It's hard enough for adults to dress so that they don't overheat or get cold, he notes, and even harder with young kids. "You don't want them to have a miserable experience and not want to do it anymore."

Dallas sometimes "borrows kids" to encourage her 6-year-old daughter, Sadie, on their winter treks. Some of those young friends show up without the basics, like warm boots. She keeps a stash of extra winter clothing for such situations. "I've learned that plastic bread wrappers work almost as well as wool" in keeping cotton-clad feet warm.

Gear — hiking poles, hand warmers, traction devices — can make winter hikes safer, more fun, and motivating, too. And one piece of "gear" that never fails: a thermos of hot chocolate.

Take advantage of the season. The Dallas family prefers to hike the Tekening Trail in Martin's Creek, PA, during the winter months because "all the ticks are dead then." At the same time, they can watch for ducks and other migratory waterfowl on the Delaware River, which winds along one side of the trail. They also make regular winter pilgrimages to Ricketts Glen State Park, in Benton, PA, which is known for its many waterfalls. The park often closes longer trails during the winter, but Dallas has discovered that her family can reach one of the falls by hiking only about 100 yards in from the road. They've taken to calling that special place "Icicle Heaven."

Toward the end of winter, visit maple sugaring operations. Such outings reassure children and parents alike that winter won't last forever — and sugar on snow is a treat that kids will remember long after. Later this month, Rich will lead a "Sugar Maple Hike" in Naugatuck State Park for the Connecticut Chapter. She's planned a 45-minute hike that starts and ends near an operating sugar shack. There will even be an outdoor petting zoo. And of course she'll bring hot chocolate — and maybe marshmallows, too.

Read more "Best Winter Walks with Children" lists from AMC trip leaders over the next week on the "Great Kids, Great Outdoors" blog.


Learn more
- Noanet Woodlands, Dover, MA
- Tekening Trail, Martin's Creek, PA
- Ricketts Glen State Park, Benton, PA
- Sugar Maple Hike, Naugatuck State Park
- You can also view a complete Family Outdoor Resource Guide on AMC's website.

“Great Kids, Great Outdoors” is an AMC Outdoors blog, written by Kristen Laine.

You’ve packed the warm clothes, the thermos of hot chocolate and snacks, maybe the snowshoes or cross-country skis, and yourselves. You want a winter outing that doesn’t involve lift tickets or the mall. What to do?

AMC chapter trip leaders and staff have compiled lists of their favorite winter outings for families with children. Suggestions range from short walks for children in backpacks or still finding their cold-weather legs to short-but-steep challenges. Some of the outings include activities, too.

We’ll start with the North Country, explore the suburbs around Boston, and discover winter’s beauty in the Delaware Valley and in Connecticut. I hope you’ll share your own favorite winter walks in these and other areas as we go along.

In this first post of the series, Nancy Ritger, senior interpretive naturalist at AMC’s White Mountains headquarters in Gorham, NH, offers a local’s trio of suggestions at three levels of difficulty.

Diana’s Baths in North Conway. An easy walk on level ground brings you to what could be the winter baths of the goddess of the hunt, complete with crystal and ornate designs, all formed from ice. One mile roundtrip. Take the Moat Mountain Trail off West Side Road about 0.3 mile south of the Conway-Bartlett town line.

Saco River Ski Loop, Bartlett. Ritger suggests that novice skiers explore scenic cross-country ski trails along the Saco River maintained by Bear Notch Ski Touring Center in Bartlett. Some of the touring center trails go right into the Village of Bartlett and by the Bear Notch Deli, where hot chocolate is sure to be on the menu.

Square Ledge, Gorham. Families searching for a more challenging outing that doesn’t take all day need only look across the road from the Pinkham Notch Visitor Center. Square Ledge Trail begins at the same trailhead as the Lost Pond Trail. A steep (500-foot elevation gain) but short (one-mile round trip) walk, snowshoe, or ski offers breathtaking views of Pinkham Notch and Mount Washington, especially the dramatic headwall of Huntington Ravine.

Next: Winter outings in the Boston metro area.

Learn more
- Directions to Diana’s Baths.
- Information about Bear Notch Ski Touring Center.
- Directions and trail information for Square Ledge on the AMC website.
- Read 5 tips from AMC family trip leaders for winter outings.

“Great Kids, Great Outdoors” is an AMC Outdoors blog, written by Kristen Laine.

We've set dates for this year's RI NABA Butterfly Counts! At these events, amateurs and experts go into 15 mile diameter 'count circles' and identify as many butterflies as they can in a single day. The Bristol and Newport County circles will be counted on Saturday, June 19th. The Providence, Kent and Washington County Circles will be counted on Saturday, July 10th. More details will be posted as we get closer to the date.

Maps of the 5 RI count circles (one centered in each RI county) can be viewed by clicking on the link in the sidebar. Remember: some of the circles overlap quite a bit into other counties. The "Bristol" circle includes parts of Warwick, Cranston, Providence, East Providence and Massachusetts!

Beginners are welcome! If you've never participated in the Butterfly Count before and would like to be added to the email contact list or get more information, please contact me at jlewis@asri.org.

Looking forward to spring,

July Lewis