Projo Fitness Blog

The Emilie Ruecker Wildlife Refuge in Tiverton is filled with wonders for wanderers.

The trail system in the 50-acre refuge, owned by the Audubon Society of Rhode Island, is about 1.75 miles long and flat. "I always recommend the trails for children because you don't have to go very far to find some cool stuff," said Joe Metzen, a member of the Audubon staff who lives on the refuge.

Emilie Ruecker, an artist and teacher, donated her family's summer home and land to the Audubon Society in 1966, Metzen said. Audubon received two smaller parcels of land in 1998.

The Sakonnet River flows by the refuge, and it provides tidal water to marshes filled with pea-green cord grass with patches of a magenta succulent plant whose fingers reach upward.

"It's glasswort," said Scott Ruhren, a botanist and senior conservation director of the Audubon Society. "Taste it," he said.

The "fingers" are crunchy, slightly sour and very salty. Like wild pickles.

It is a weekday in autumn, but sailboats are still cruising the Sakonnet near the smaller of Narragansett Bay's two Gould Islands. The looping yellow and blue trails offer several views of the marsh and the river. They may be spots where Emilie Ruecker painted.

Today, bird watchers with digital cameras stop to make photographs. Among the birds they may see are great egrets, snowy egrets, and glossy ibis. The refuge is also home to a variety of fur-bearing animals, said Metzen.

Jack's Island, a peninsula that extends into the Sakonnet River, is home to breeding ospreys and hordes of fiddler crabs, said Metzen. The waters off the peninsula are popular among fly fishers below the mean high-tide mark.

Driving directions to get there.

 Tags  Audubon Society hike Ruecker walk

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