by E.A. Mann
Advanced Moves shines a light on the smaller, lesser-known joys of living in Warren.
For years I’d heard of a mysterious second bike path in Warren. Details were vague. For every ten people I discussed it with, only one brave soul had actually walked the path. Every time I was given directions, I listened intently to the words, then immediately forgot them. Over time a mythology built up around this second bike path for me, and I wondered if I would ever actually go there. If it even existed.
Finally, on a recent, perfect summer day, I decided to avoid the inevitable crowds on the East Bay Bike path and search for Atlantis. Rhode Islanders don’t usually like long journeys, and I’ve found Warren-ites to be a particularly concentrated form of them. I wasn’t born here, but I fit right in. The Warren Bike Path is up Child Street, near Kickemuit Middle School, off of Hugh Cole Road. Living, as I do, near the Main and Water Street corridor, it may as well be the Arctic Circle. But I must admit, it wasn’t hard to find. And it was worth the long journey east.
Calling it a bike path may be a bit of a misnomer. At 1.2 miles, a speedy biker can cover it in the time it takes to make a cup of coffee. But as a walking or running path, it’s a beautiful piece of land, and in a town known for water and density, it’s a welcome stretch of shady, idyllic woods. Trees arc over the path, filtering the sunlight down into pretty patches. One side terminates in a nice water view with benches on either side (there is some water, this is Warren after all…). If you’ve got kids, the path abuts the Warren Recreation Park, making for a nice detour into playgrounds and sports fields.
But the path’s best attribute might be the same obscurity that kept me away for so many years. You can jog this path in the morning and not see another soul. Even on a peak summer day, you will not encounter hordes of families taking up both lanes of the bike path. For most of my walk, it was just me, my ten month old napping in her stroller, and the sounds of the woods.
Unless I lose the map, I’ll be back often.
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