Trails: Foster Cove, Cross Refuge, Grassy Point, and
Charlietown Runway Trails
Hike Location: Ninigret National Wildlife Refuge
Geographic Location: southwest of Charlestown ,
RI (41.36814, -71.67210)
Length: 3.4 miles
Difficulty: 2/10 (Easy)
Date Hiked: August 2015
Overview: A flat, sunny loop hike through a World War II
airbase turned wildlife refuge.
Refuge Information: http://www.fws.gov/refuge/ninigret/
Directions to the trailhead: From the intersection of
US 1 and SR 112 in Charlestown ,
take US 1 south 2.3 miles to the refuge’s west entrance, which is on the left. However, if you are traveling south on US 1, left
turns are prohibited, so you must pass the entrance and do a U-turn at the next
designated area to reach the entrance.
Park in the large blacktop parking lot.
The hike: Known as “Charlietown” to the young pilots
who trained here during World War II, Ninigret National Wildlife Refuge partly
occupies the former site of the Charlestown Naval Auxiliary Landing
Fields. The U.S. Navy purchased the
former farmland in 1942 to build a training base for overseas night air
operations during the war. Pilots spent
4 months here training in hellcats before heading out for duty in the South
Pacific. Training exercises included
tactics, gunnery, aircraft carrier landing, navigation, and instrument flying.
The base’s
most famous trainee was George H.W. Bush, the future 41st President
of the United States ,
who trained here before being deployed to the USS San Jacinto in 1944. The runways on which he would have landed
hellcats can still be seen on this hike.
After the war, the base was used as a practice site for trainees at nearby
Quonset Air Field. In the early 1970’s,
the base was closed, and the land was transferred to the National Fish and
Wildlife Service for operation as the refuge you see today. The refuge’s name comes from Ninigret Pond, a
large saltwater body that forms the refuge’s southern boundary.
The refuge
is organized into two units: the Kettle Pond Unit located north of Charlestown
and the Salt Pond Unit featured on this hike.
The Salt Pond Unit offers several short hiking trails. Combining some of the short trails in a
clever way forms the 3.4 mile refuge grand tour described here.
 |
| Start of Foster Cove Trail |
Three trails leave from the west entrance parking area. This hike starts at the west entrance for the
Foster Cove Loop Trail, which departs the west corner of the parking lot at an
information board that contains a refuge trail map. The dirt/gravel trail initially heads west,
but it soon makes a near 180-degree sweeping left curve to begin heading
southeast. Just past 0.2 miles, you
reach a small opening that gives a nice view of Foster Cove, an extension of
Ninigret Pond that borders the refuge on the west.
 |
| Foster Cove |
The
Foster Cove Loop Trail traces the boundary of its namesake cove as it passes
through densely vegetated coastal shrubland.
Many different shrubs including honeysuckle and bittersweet live in this
area. Also, the large amount of water
means that mosquitoes will appear in large numbers during the warmer months, so
make sure you wear plenty of bug spray in season.
At 0.5 miles,
the Foster Cove Loop Trail intersects the Cross Refuge Trail. If you wanted a short 0.9 mile hike, you
could turn left here and complete the Foster Cove Loop Trail. To get to the east side of the refuge and the
best Ninigret Pond views, this hike continues straight on the Cross Refuge Trail. True to its name, the Cross Refuge Trail
connects the western and eastern sections of the refuge’s Salt Pond Unit.
The trail
soon crosses one of the airbase’s old runways, which is now a mixture of
asphalt and gravel. If you wanted to
extend this hike, you could turn right on the asphalt and walk down the runway
0.4 miles to a Ninigret Pond fishing access, but we will get better views of
the pond later in the hike. The trail
leaves the runway before curving left and then right to continue its general
southeast course. More shrubs and more
ponds mean more bugs, so come prepared.
 |
| Crossing an old runway |
At 1.3
miles, the trail curves left where a gated road goes right. Soon you cross another old runway as the
trail heads northeast on what appears to be an old road. Up to this point the trail has alternated
between sun and shade, but full sun now prevails, a condition that will
continue for most of the rest of the hike.
 |
| Hiking a hot, sunny trail |
1.6 miles
into the hike, you reach the connector trail that connects the Cross Refuge
Trail and the Grassy Point Trail. Turn
right to head for the Grassy Point Trail.
A small stand of coastal oak trees provides some welcome shade on a hot
sunny day. When you reach the wide
gravel Grassy Point Trail at a T-intersection, turn right to head for Grassy
Point.
The trail
curves left as it heads out Grassy Point, a peninsula that sticks well out into
Ninigret Pond. Interpretive signs tell
of this land’s agricultural history before it became a naval base. When this area was first settled in the 1600’s,
the flat, fertile, rock-free glacial outwash that now surrounds you was some of
the best farmland in the area. Large
plantations grew everything from corn to vegetables to potatoes, and profitable
grazing and fishing industries also thrived here.
2 miles
into the hike, you reach Grassy Point.
Views into Ninigret Pond extend in three directions, and a provided pair
of binoculars allows you to identify wildlife at a distance. A bench provides a nice spot to rest and
enjoy the scenery just past the midpoint of the hike.
 |
| View from Grassy Point |
The trail ends at Grassy Point, so
your next move is to turn around and retrace your steps back up the
peninsula. Where the connector trail
exits left, continue straight to stay on the Grassy Point Trail. At 2.4 miles, you need to angle left to begin
heading back toward the trailhead. If
you wanted to extend your hike, the trail going right leads a short distance to
another view of Ninigret Pond that is similar to the one you obtained earlier.
Very quickly you step onto asphalt
that is the end of old airbase runway 30, the longest runway at the
airbase. Large white painted numbers
“30” designed to be seen from the air can still be made out on the ground. 2.5 miles into the hike, you reach the paved
east parking lot. To begin the final
segment back to our (west) parking lot, walk directly across this parking lot
and pick up the paved Charlietown Runway Trail.
A sign warns of ticks, but they should not pose a problem if you stay on
the trail.
 |
| Runway 30 |
As its name suggests, the
Charlietown Runway Trail traces the entire 0.8 mile length of old runway
30. As such, the paved trail is
completely flat and almost dead straight.
The facilities of adjacent Ninigret
Park
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