Following World War II, hiking gained popularity as a leisure activity because it was affordable and easily accessible. This outdoor recreation spiked during the pandemic. However, former Providence Journal reporter and editor John Kostrzewa was ahead of the curve — hiking and writing his way along Rhode Island’s most breathtaking trails.
After his retirement, Kostrzewa met so many novice hikers on the trails who asked him questions about the pastime, the avid outdoorsman approached his former bosses at the Journal about writing a Sunday column about his adventures.
He has now compiled more than 150 stories or columns and collected 40 of them in a book using the name of his newspaper column, “Walking Rhode Island.”
“The most surprising, interesting part, whenever you set out on a new trail that you’ve never been on before ... it’s intriguing because you don’t know what you’re going to find and what you’re going to see,” Kostrzewa says.
Kostrzewa was a business columnist and editor at The Providence Journal. After leaving, he says he took up hiking to sharpen his mind and spirit.
“All I want to do is take people where they haven’t been before or if they’ve been there before, show them something about the history, the geology or the wildlife,” Kostrzewa says.
He says though his work is far from his old beat, the critical skills are the same.
“I have been trained for 42 years to observe, to look to the right and to the left and then try to figure it out.”
Kostrzewa’s book offers a variety of paths: There are nature walks for families, challenging hikes for the experienced, coastal climbs and even urban explorations.
” A lot of historical sites along the trail always fascinate me,” he says. “It really shows how we lived 300 years ago .... and you’ll see sluice-ways built to speed up the water to run lumber or gristmills. And I’m always interested in finding out who built those, how long ago and why.”
Kostrzewa has also encountered some fascinating lore and legends along the way. For instance, in Cumberland, townspeople speak of the supernatural at the newly opened Catamint Brook Preserve. They claim sightings such as the ghosts of children lining the road and a monkey-like man roaming around — the Ocean State’s Sasquatch.
Kostrzewa says he has never encountered Bigfoot in his travels. He also says he simply loves what he does — describing it as wandering.
“Just reading a book by (Henry David) Thoreau going back, (he) would never call it walking or hiking, he called it sauntering because (he) had the idea ... you don’t rush through the woods, you go to explore the woods and experience the woods,” Kostrzewa says.
