Backpack Trail Guide

Trails / Rhode Island / Western Rhode Island

North-South Trail (Rhode Island)

Western Rhode Island, Massachusetts line (Buck Hill Management Area) to Blue Shutters Beach, Charlestown

The North-South Trail runs the length of Rhode Island along its western edge, from the Massachusetts line to the Atlantic at Charlestown. Islands.com says it was first developed in the early 1990s and completed in 1999, and that most hikers take five days to a week to walk all of it.

It’s not a wilderness trail. A 2026 guide on PMags.com estimates that only about a third of it is singletrack, old roads, and rail beds, with most of the rest on paved roads, and the only legal places to sleep are designated campgrounds and camping areas. Plan nights carefully before you start.

The hike

The trail is marked with blue blazes, according to Islands.com and PMags. The descriptions below follow PMags’s north-to-south mileages, based on its CalTopo track.

AuntieBeak and Fastest Known Time put the northern end in Buck Hill Management Area on the Massachusetts border, where the trail connects to the Midstate Trail. PMags lists a side trip of about 1.25 miles to the Tri-State Marker, where Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Connecticut meet, and an alternate to the Carl Erickson Covered Bridge at about mile 6.75. George Washington Campground sits on the trail at about mile 9.75.

Farther south, PMags notes that Jerimoth Hill, the state’s high point at 812 feet, is about a mile east of the trail near mile 18.75. The Stone House Motor Inn and Shady Acres Diner are near mile 22.75. The longest road walk, from about Route 6 to Plainfield Pike (miles 23 to 34), passes Borders Farm and the hamlet of Rice City; PMags calls that stretch mostly quiet.

The trail then enters the Arcadia Management Area, which The Day puts at 14,000 acres. The Day’s account of a 2021 walk mentions Stepstone Falls in West Greenwich, a series of short waterfalls, and the rough, “ankle-twisting” Boulder Field on Tefft Hill near I-95. AuntieBeak notes a spur that avoids the hardest part of the boulder field.

PMags flags Carolina Nooseneck Road (about miles 54 to 56) as a busy cut-through with “little to no shoulder” and gives a safer alternate that passes the only full grocery stop on the route. AuntieBeak also warns of a busy stretch along Route 138 in Richmond. The Day describes the trail sharing part of the Ben Utter Trail, passing Burlingame State Park and its covered bridge, and ending at Blue Shutters Beach.

PMags describes the trail as mainly flat; Fastest Known Time lists about 5,282 feet of total gain. PMags suggests spring and early fall and notes that ticks are “a major concern” in Rhode Island.

For a longer trip, Islands.com notes the Midstate Trail continues 92 miles north through Massachusetts. For more southern New England backpacking, see the Pachaug and Nehantic loop just across the Connecticut line.

Tips

Camping

PMags states plainly that dispersed camping outside designated sites isn’t legal along the trail. The state regulation for conservation management areas (250-RICR-100-00-9) allows camping in management areas only “with official written permission” (§ 9.5(A)) and closes all management areas from half an hour after sunset to half an hour before sunrise, except for listed activities or by written permit (§ 9.7). Open fires are allowed only in designated areas or with written permission (250-RICR-100-00-7, § 7.11).

PMags lists these options, north to south: George Washington Campground (state, on the trail, mile 9.75); private campgrounds near miles 14.5, 18.75, 27.75, 29.25, 40.5, and 43.25; the Frosty Hollow camping area in Arcadia (backcountry, about 0.25 mile off trail, mile 43.5); a primitive Burlingame Management Area canoe campsite on the Pawcatuck River (about 0.6 mile off, mile 68.25); Burlingame State Park Campground (on the trail, mile 73.5); and East Beach, a short walk past the southern end (no dogs). Sources disagree on whether Frosty Hollow takes reservations or allows pets, so confirm with the Arcadia office (401-539-1052). The state says George Washington’s hike-in Angell Loop sites (A1 to A7) are about a quarter mile to 0.4 mile in (its camping page gives both figures), on a trail that is rocky and uphill in sections, and have no drinking water; the nearest water is near Site 30 in the main campground.

From the second Saturday in September through February, and from the third Saturday in April through May, all management-area users must wear 200 square inches of fluorescent orange, rising to 500 during shotgun deer season (§ 7.23). DEM’s September 9, 2026 release says archery hunters are exempt from the orange requirement during archery deer season.

Inside Intel: No camper accounts recommending a specific site were found. A 2015 thru-hiker on the Views from the Top forum described the shelter at the Arcadia backpack campsite with two walls caved in and pitched a tent instead.

Trail facts

The Lowdown

Border to beach, one campground at a time:

On Rhode Island's North-South Trail, nights end at a campground pad or the Frosty Hollow area in Arcadia, never a dispersed site. See the tents reviewers like for a week of pitching and packing up.

See the picks →

Where this comes from

This page draws on the sources below, along with other guides and trip reports. Links go to the original pages.

Before you go: This page is based on published trail guides, trip reports, and reviews, along with official park and agency information where we could find it. It’s meant to help backpackers discover new trails, not to replace current, official information. Conditions, closures, permits, campsites, and water sources change, and some details here may be out of date or wrong. Confirm everything with the managing agency and check current conditions before you head out, and don’t rely on this page alone for safety or navigation. Backcountry travel involves risk.