The Vin Gormley Trail">The Vin Gormley Trail
The Vin Gormley Trail
Covered Bridge over the Perry Healey Brook
Stats
- Distance: approximately 8 miles, many additional hikes available
- Level of Difficulty: Easy to Moderate
- Towns: Charlestown, RI
- Property Owned By: State of RI
- Hunting Allowed: Yes, in the northern part
- Dogs Allowed: Yes, must be leashed
Description
The Vin Gormley Trail is absolutely one of my favorite hikes. It’s an 8-mile loop that runs around Wachaug Pond in Burlingame State Park and through both the Campground at Burlingame State Park and the Burlingame Wildlife Management Area. It does include about 2 miles of road-walking, which may be a turn-off to some, but it’s not all in a row and it goes quickly.
It was created in the early days of the Narragansett Chapter of the Appalachian Mountain Club by, you guessed, Mr. Vin Gormley, and is blazed with yellow plastic rectangles.
There is a lot of extra mileage to be had on this trail system, including a nice loop from the Kettle Pond Visitor’s Center of the Ninigret National Wildlife Refuge to the south, and a lot of lovely, well-blazed but not well-documented mountain bike trails created by NEMBA to the north, in the Wildlife Management Area part. And the old Kimball Wildlife Refuge, which used belong to the Audubon Society, has a couple pretty little trails and a Memorial Garden, as well.
Highlights
- The covered bridge that crosses the Perry Healey Brook, also pictured above.
Covered Bridge
- The North-South Trail, which converges with the VG just past the campground going clockwise. The two trails run concurrently for about half the VG’s length.
North-South Trail Sign
- The “Bucky Beaver” Tralhead, located at approximately 214 Kings Factory Road in Charlestown, is kind of an unofficial designation—so designated by me. One time I found a sad, abandoned little stuffed beaver by the side of the road when walking along the road-walking part of the trail, and when I turned into the woods following the blazes I decided I didn’t feel like carrying the thing for another 6 miles, so I kind of stuck it to a nail on the first tree at the trailhead. There he stayed for years until one day he was replaced by… a rat. Then, not too long later, by some weird monkey-head thing. Which is what is there today.
Bucky Beaver & Friends
- Boardwalks! Lots and lots of boardwalks! The infrastructure created by the AMC through here is astounding. I am so grateful to the folks who spend their time lugging wood and pounding nails!
Boardwalks
- Wachaug Pond, which is the main body of water around which the trail winds. Lovely.
Wachaug Pond
- And speaking of Wachaug Pond, there is a short, 3/4-mile long trail that heads south from the VG which leads to North Camp. North Camp was once part of the Burlingame Campground, but was abandoned back in the 60s. There are still remnants of the old campground like rotting old out houses, numbered rocks, and even a lovely little beach, which is a great place to stop for lunch if you don’t mind adding a bit of extra mileage.
Beach at North Camp
On-line Resources (Links)
Afraid you’ll not find much online about the Vin Gormley Trail… but here is what there is to be found:
- Trails and Walks RI blog has a nice description and a link to a photo of the trail map posted at the trailhead at the campground.
- Auntie’s Map
