Arcadia & Beach Pond Loop

The big forest of southern Rhode Island: from Kingston the loop heads west on RI-138 to Wyoming, climbs Arcadia Road through the Arcadia Management Area, and takes RI-165 out to Beach Pond at the Connecticut line, where it turns around on the Rhode Island side and comes back the same way. It returns east on Ten Rod Road through Exeter and south on RI-2 to Kingston. It's 47 miles of wooded back roads with easy bends. There are no services inside Arcadia, so fuel in Wyoming, Exeter or Kingston.

Arcadia is the largest of Rhode Island's management areas, more than 14,000 acres of hardwoods, pines and fields spread over Richmond, Exeter, Hopkinton and West Greenwich. Arcadia Road crosses it through the trees, and RI-165, Ten Rod Road, runs west to Beach Pond, where the road reaches the Connecticut line. This route turns around there, on the Rhode Island side, and comes back the same way; past the pond the road continues into Connecticut.

There's nothing to buy inside Arcadia, so fuel and eat in Wyoming, Exeter or Kingston. The Middle of Nowhere Diner, on RI-3 in Exeter, just north of Ten Rod Road, is the classic stop. These are forest roads, so watch for sand on the shoulders and for deer early and late in the day, and remember that the management area is open to hunting in season.