• Tri-Pond Park
• Kingstown Road, South Kingstown, RI
• Trailhead: 41°27’22.19″N, 71°30’28.64″W
• Last Time Hiked: July 11, 2014
• Approximate distance hiked: 2.9 miles
• Easy with slight elevation, rocky footing in areas.

The aptly named Tri Pond Park features a series of nature trails that connects three small ponds in the Wakefield section of South Kingstown. The park is also split by the South County Bike Path. I was joined this afternoon by four friends. One from high school, two on their yearly visit from Malaysia, and their friend from Texas. We set out from a small parking area along Route 108 following a yellow blazed trail that follows the edge of the Rocky Brook Reservoir. We then turned right at the first intersection and over a series of boardwalks. The trail, still blazed yellow, meanders through the thick woods. We did come across poison ivy here and the trail in this area is rocky and root bound. You should use caution along this stretch. There is a small babbling brook that runs along a stretch of this trail. The trail eventually turns left just before Asa Pond. We however went straight to the shore of the pond to take in the sights before returning to the turn along the yellow trail. Continuing along the yellow trail again we passed a stone wall and areas of ferns before reaching the stairs that climb upward to the bike path. At the bike path we turned left and walked for a bit looking for the trail on the right. After finding the trail we followed it back into the woods. We came across a four way intersection that is not shown on the map. We went left as the map suggests that we were to take a sharp left. We then came to the next intersection and turned right onto the blue blazed trail. This trail winds through the woods and eventually comes out to California Jim’s Pond. Along the way we came across an old concrete structure as well as a tree with a primitive tree stand. At the next intersection we turned right towards a bridge that crosses the dam with a small waterfall. After the bridge we turned left onto the white blazed trail and followed that back to the bike path. We then turned left and retraced our steps back to the first intersection near Rocky Brook Reservoir. Here we turned right and followed the trail to its end. We then turned around and made our way back to the parking area. We saw several birds here including a family of geese and a swan. We also saw several squirrels, a chipmunk, and a garter snake, as well as many dragonflies and butterflies. The ponds had several lily pads but we did not see any frogs.

Trail map can be found at: Tri-Pond Park.

Asa Pond