Print it. Bag it. Bring it.Phones die, screens crack, and most of this water has no signal. Print this map, fold it into a zip-top bag or dry bag with your license, and you have a backup your electronics can’t give you. Every marker is numbered so you can say exactly where you are.
| # | Point | Type | Lat, Lon | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pharisee Rock Trail footbridge Exeter, upper Wood River | Bridge crossing | 41.65386, -71.83334 | Trail footbridge near the head of the mapped reach, where the river is a small brook. |
| 2 | Cedar Swamp Road Exeter | Bridge crossing | 41.65207, -71.82907 | First road crossing on the upper river. |
| 3 | Bailey Pond Road Exeter, unpaved track crossing | Bridge crossing | 41.63123, -71.79703 | Track crossing inside the Arcadia block; passable on foot, not a place to leave a vehicle. |
| 4 | Wood River Barrens The Nature Conservancy preserve | Park / conservation area | 41.61344, -71.78752 | Pitch pine and scrub oak barrens preserve on the west side of the river, about 1 km back from the bank. |
| 5 | Falls River Road Exeter, Arcadia Management Area | Bridge crossing | 41.61267, -71.76051 | Crossing at Stepstone Falls; the parking pull-off here is the usual walk-in for the falls. |
| 6 | Stepstone Falls Arcadia Management Area, Exeter | Dam / hazard | 41.61222, -71.76018 | Ledge falls and stair-step drops, the best known feature on the upper river. A trail footbridge crosses within 25 m of the falls and is folded into this point rather than mapped separately. |
| 7 | Tanner Washout footbridge Ben Utter Trail, Arcadia Management Area | Bridge crossing | 41.59934, -71.74782 | Foot crossing on the trail along the west bank; a second span of the same name sits 40 m downstream and is not repeated. |
| 8 | Plain Road Exeter, unpaved track crossing | Bridge crossing | 41.59818, -71.74588 | Track crossing in Arcadia, useful as a landmark rather than as an access. |
| 9 | North South Trail crossing Arcadia Management Area | Bridge crossing | 41.58008, -71.72101 | Where the state long-distance North South Trail crosses the river; a second span of the same name lies 140 m away. |
| 10 | Arcadia Management Area RI DEM state management area | Park / conservation area | 41.57824, -71.72105 | The largest block of state land in Rhode Island and the reason most of the upper Wood is walkable; it wraps both banks through Exeter, Richmond and Hopkinton. |
| 11 | Special regulation reach, upper limit at Route 165 Ten Rod Road, RI 165 bridge, Exeter | Regulation section limit | 41.57410, -71.72062 | Upstream boundary of the reach the state regulates separately; the downstream boundary is Barberville Dam at Arcadia Road. Check the current Rhode Island freshwater rules for what applies inside it. |
| 12 | Audubon Society of Rhode Island land Riverside parcels, Hopkinton | Park / conservation area | 41.53614, -71.69536 | Three adjoining Audubon Society of Rhode Island parcels line this stretch. OSM carries all three under one misspelled name and does not name the individual preserve, so they ship as a single point. |
| 13 | Barberville Pond Dam Arcadia Road, Barberville, Hopkinton | Dam / hazard | 41.54064, -71.69606 | Dam at the Arcadia Road bridge, which stands 12 m away and is folded into this point. It is also the downstream boundary of the separately regulated reach whose upper limit is the Route 165 bridge. |
| # | Point | Type | Lat, Lon | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | Skunk Hill Road Richmond | Bridge crossing | 41.52245, -71.69177 | Road crossing just above Hope Valley village. |
| 15 | Nooseneck Hill Road RI 3, Hope Valley | Bridge crossing | 41.52112, -71.69156 | Route 3 crossing 140 m below the Skunk Hill Road bridge. |
| 16 | Wyoming Pond Upper Dam Richmond and Hopkinton town line | Dam / hazard | 41.51595, -71.70322 | Dam at the head of Wyoming Pond; the Bridge Street crossing sits 25 m away and is folded into this point. |
| 17 | Main Street bridge, Wyoming RI 3 and RI 138, Richmond | Bridge crossing | 41.51427, -71.70503 | The village crossing at Wyoming, and the nearest bridge to the USGS gauge. |
| 18 | Joseph Langworthy Memorial Park Hopkinton village park | Park / conservation area | 41.51001, -71.71501 | Small riverside park at Wyoming, about 0.3 km off the bank. |
| 19 | Depot Square Park Hope Valley | Park / conservation area | 41.50695, -71.71651 | Village green at Hope Valley, the nearest public ground to the Hope Valley Road access. |
| 20 | North Switch Road Hopkinton | Bridge crossing | 41.50281, -71.71623 | Crossing below Hope Valley. |
| 21 | Switch Road Hopkinton | Bridge crossing | 41.49136, -71.71536 | Crossing about 1.3 km below North Switch Road, close to the gauge reach. |
| 22 | Black Farm Management Area RI DEM state management area | Park / conservation area | 41.47808, -71.72171 | State land on the west bank through Hopkinton, with foot trails down to the river. |
| 23 | Woodville Pond Dam Woodville Road, Hopkinton | Dam / hazard | 41.46010, -71.71951 | Dam at the Woodville Road bridge, which stands 7 m away and is folded into this point. |
| 24 | Alton Pond Dam Alton, Hopkinton | Dam / hazard | 41.43780, -71.72173 | The last dam on the Wood, immediately above the Pawcatuck confluence. |
| 25 | N.S. Lewis Canoe Launch Alton, Hopkinton | Access / boat ramp | 41.43804, -71.72236 | Car-top launch at Alton beside the Church Street crossing, which sits 6 m away. RI DEM lists Alton Landing here, serving both the Wood River and Alton Pond, with no motors. |
| 26 | USGS gauge 01118000, Wood River at Hope Valley Real-time stage and discharge | USGS gauge | 41.49816, -71.71646 | The gauge this water page links to; coordinates taken from the site roster rather than typed by hand. |
Gauge: USGS 01118000 — WOOD RIVER AT HOPE VALLEY, RI. Live flow on the web page.
Species: Brook Trout, Brown Trout, Chain Pickerel, Largemouth Bass, Rainbow Trout
Regulations: dem.ri.gov/natural-resources-bureau/fish-wildlife/freshwater-fishing/rules-regulations
Emergency: call 911 and give the number of the nearest point on this map plus its coordinates.
Arcadia Management Area: thousands of acres of public land along the upper and middle river.
Barberville Dam and the fish ladder: a classic access point with parking.
Wyoming and the Route 138 area: middle river access.
Hope Valley: access at the gauge reach.
Woodville and Alton: lower river and the Pawcatuck junction.
Frying Pan Pond and Wood River Junction: quiet lower reaches.
Falls River and Roaring Brook: cold tributaries with wild brook trout.
April and May: stocking, high water and the busiest weeks of the year.
June: the best month, warm air, cool water and manageable flows.
July and August: low and warm; fish early, seek out spring-fed pockets or fish the tributaries.
September through November: cooling water, wild brook trout in spawning color and very little pressure.