On a spring morning in 1993, state officials and hikers gathered to dedicate a new trail linking Dawley Park in Exeter with Stepstone Falls in West Greenwich.
The opening of the 7-mile trail through the Arcadia Management Area would have seemed like a modest achievement in and of itself, but it marked the beginning of something much larger.
It was the first piece of the North-South Trail, a walking route that runs the entire length of Rhode Island, from Charlestown’s sandy beaches to Burrillville’s dense forests…