Waterside Walking in Newport & Whitehall

There are plenty of reasons why Newport, R.I., is a hot tourist destination during the summer -- beaches, sailboats, mansions -- which is why we waited until the end of summer to head down there. It's a short ride from Worcester (thanks for being so small, Rhode Island!) and I really wanted to hike the famed Cliff Walk that runs along its eastern shore. Sometimes I'm not the greatest planner, though, and aside from heading there over Labor Day weekend it also happened to be move-in time for students at Salve Regina.

That didn't phase me, but unfortunately Jordyn was already a bit mentally exhausted from the car ride (thought we didn't hit any traffic until we actually reached town). For most of the cliff walk portion we did accomplish, she was perched on my shoulders as you can see above. Still, my pained shoulders couldn't take away from the awe-inspiring views that this hike yields. Sara and I both enjoy hikes that come across water in whatever form -- streams, rivers, cascades, falls, ponds, lakes -- and Newport serves up ocean views with the best of 'em.

Every now and then the trail offers some steep pathways down near the water, but we took some nearby steps -- an area called Forty Steps (yes, that's how many there are) -- down for a closer view on the ledges. The one drawback to the trail is that there's no cover from the sun, and on our walk there were few clouds to provide a break and little ocean breeze; we just couldn't last too long. Eventually I'd like to head back and walk more of the 3.5-mile trail, because it's certainly an East Coast treasure, with hiking riches befitting the enormous wealth on which Newport made its reputation.

The following weekend we kept things closer to home for more trekking along the water's edge. This time it was Whitehall State Park in Hopkinton, Mass. The views were not as majestic, and those darn trees got in the way a lot, but the quiet, peaceful morning by Whitehall Reservoir was refreshing -- and provided a nice taste of the coolness that quickly arrives when the calendar turns from August to September.

I have no idea how many miles the entire circumnavigation of the reservoir is, but I'm pretty sure it would entail an entire day of hiking. We probably did about a mile and a half round trip, turning around after getting a good view of the Whitehall Dam in the distance. After a hot summer, during which our hiking schedule is interrupted by things like heat and birthday parties, it felt good to be back in the woods. (Arlen)