My Spiritual Home

I live in Newport, RI, and there's an area here that has become my spiritual home. It's where I go to recharge at least once a week, where I lose myself in nature, and where I often take my best pictures. It includes Ballard Park (a city-owned Nature Preserve), Gooseneck Cove (a tidal inlet and salt marsh complex), and some nice meadow area west of these.

Across Wickham Rd. from Rogers High School lies Ballard Park. There are several entrances, this one and another a little further up Wickham Rd., and another on Hazard Rd. from which we'll be leaving the park later.  

We go up the path by the sign...

...and climb up to the north rim of the old quarry and look down: 

Going back down the side path to the main trail we see these White Wood Asters. 

Now we walk along the main trail. See how the trail is grassy here? It won't stay that way for long.

A little farther down this trail we come to some very interesting trees:

Just past the trees we climb a hill and come to my favorite overlook. This is the top of the wall of the second quarry, below which lies a swamp that serves as the watershed for Gooseneck cove.

 This is the view looking west across the swamp. The building on the upper right is the Windham estate. It was from this overlook that I saw a juvenile Bald Eagle three years ago.

And this is looking straight down from the rock of the overlook:

This little green moth (at least I thin it's a moth) hung out with me on the overlook.

 And down the trail on the other side of the overlook.

A little farther on there's an intersection with a trail that goes up the center of the park. this is a section of that trail:

And along that trail I found this beautiful web with the spider right in the middle. There was a breeze blowing so that I couldn't get a focus on the spider, so I concentrated on getting a good shot of the web instead:

 Back on the south trail, which is again a grassy one.

And into the old quarry. This shot is taken from the entrance, where they used to haul the rock out. There's a pond ro the right, and straight ahead is my Sacred Oak and the north wall of the quarry.

And this is the pond. It's dried up this time of the year; it'll slowly fill up through the fall, freeze over in the winter, and be full up in the spring. It's overhung by some large, old Maples, and this time of year it's filled with Purple Loosestrife.

Here's my Sacred Oak, sitting out on its lonesome. I make sure I visit it at least once a week.

This is a stand of Quaking Aspens off tp the side of the meadow. In June this stand is home to a patch of Blue Flag Irises. 

Okay, we're done with the quarry, and here we head out of the park toward Hazard Rd.

Walking down Hazard Rd., salt marsh, reeds, and a Weeping Willow to the right.

This part of Hazard Rd. always floods at high tide and whenever there's a heavy rain. Right now it's about 2 hours past high tide, so it's relatively dry.

And this is the view south and west from this section of Hazard Rd.; Gooseneck Cove at its most scenic!

I've seen this countless times now, but it still cracks me up whenever I see another one - a Great Egret perched on the top of a tree!

Another view of Gooseneck Cove and the salt marsh.

This lower section of Hazard Rd. is always flooded. In thirty-odd years I've only seen it completely dry twice!

And another view of Gooseneck Cove, this time from beside the flooded section of the road.

just past this point we turn west onto Ocean Drive and walk down to the Green Bridge, where Ocean Drive crosses Gooseneck Cove on the bridge and a causeway. This shot is taken next to the bridge looking at the beginning of the path up the east shore of the Cove, heading up to the old Army Corps of Engineers dam.

And this is Tern Rock. In late spring and early summer it serves as a breeding colony for Common Terns. for the rest of the summer it's taken over by Cormorants and Gulls.

The path up the side of the Cove climbs a hill at one point. This is the view looking north from the top of the hill.

And this is looking due west from the top of the hill:

 And this is the view to the south. Across the causeway is the lower section of Gooseneck Cove, where it empties into the Atlantic Ocean.

 Heh, heh! And here's where we climb down to sea level and continue on the path up the Cove!

Looking north along the path, once we get down the hill.

Approaching the dam, I disturbed a Cormorant fishing on the other side.

And here's my reserved seat for lunch at the Gooseneck Cove Café. As you can see, this dam was built in 1942. It's slated to be demolished and hauled away next year; the upper Cove is getting too unsalty and unhealthy things are growing there, so they're going to improve the tidal flow by getting rid of the dam, expanding the Green Bridge, and putting some culverts under the causeway. The local crabbers are going to miss the dam - it's where most of them drop their lines - but we really do need to get ridof it. And it means you'll be able to take a kayak or a canoe all the way up and down the Cove without having to hoist it over the dam!

Relaxing on the dam.

The view north from the dam:

 The view south from the dam:

Lunch over, we head back down the path toward the Green Bridge and Ocean Drive.

Down by the Green Bridge this little Hermit Crab was bustling about under the water.

Down on Ocean Drive and heading west, we take a parting look up Gooseneck Cove:

Around the corner, up Brenton Rd., and then left onto Hammersmith Rd., we come across this pleasant, shady stretch of ancient Beeches and a typical New England stone wall.

And a little farther up Hammersmith Rd. we come to this stretch of gnarled, knobbly old Sycamores:

This marsh full of Cattails and Purple Loosestrife is at the intersection of Hammersmith and Beacon Hill Roads.

And we take a brief look at part of the meadow in the south fields of the Swiss Village Farm off Beacon Hill Rd. I'm ticked off at the management of the farm this summer. They usually let this meadow alone, and it gets full of asters and Daisies and Purple Loosestrife and all kinds of Butterflies and Goldfinches and other small birds and critters. But this year they mowed it early and kept mowing it, and that spoils everything! It hasn't driven the hawks away, though. There was a female Redtail hanging around, but she never got close enough for me to get a good shot.

And here, near the end of Beacon Hill Rd., is a quaint old well on the lawn of an old stone house:

And this is where we end the hike. Basically we've travelled clockwise around Gooseneck Cove. Thanks for coming along for the walk!