Agate Beach — Attraction in Newport

Google maps may tell you you've arrived at your destination, but it's a small lane lined with homes and no parking or beach acces.

It's a sandy beach. Aaaaand that's about it There are no agates. At all. I doubt there ever were. I have no idea why it's named that. It's a long sandy beach. That lone, tiny black rock does not a beach of agates make. 😆 It is a popular place for surfing. The waves were slightly crowded with people surfing but mostly body boarding. The beach itself was not crowded with only a handful of people scattered about. It was very clean, but no restrooms, garbages or much parking. Several dogs were running around unleashed and there were BIG piles of poo in places. Im not a dog on the beach unleashed fan, but I had no issue with them at all. There is enough room to spread out. Not at all wheelchair accessible, and not a place to pack down a cooler or stroller. A large cable on the way down to the trailhead means you would need to lift everything up and over and then maneuver down a bulky, fairly long staircase. You can easily manage the trail with 4+ year old though. The steps down are wide, seem well maintained and are on slight grade. There is a warm fresh water stream at the bottom of the stairs that is an absolutely perfect place for small children to play in safely. I would make a special trip for small children to play there. The dogs were far away at the shore, no waves, the water was just over ankle high on an adult and it's perfect sand castle area.

Because of poor parking, only 2 two pokestops were around, no restrooms, no wheelchair access and the false advertising 😆 it gets a low rating. It's got a few specific great things that really are great, but in general it's meh. I'd...

Okay so I want to start off with a few warnings! Do not go down to this beach if you do not have shoes that are acceptable to be drenched. Even when the tide is low it's almost impossible to go anywhere on the beach without having to pass through enough sea water to ruin regular shoes. Even on sunny days when it is hot out we have had issues with the sand fleas... The little buggers love to jump on the kids feet and bite them. I would highly recommend using water socks. There are definitely still agates to be found! You will have to dig quite a lot especially where the water dredges. My kids found too small ones while we were there. There is a little changing room and bathroom at the top where you park. Also a foot washing station that came in handy. The views from halfway down to see the beach are absolutely beautiful. The steps going down are fairly easy and there are guardrails to hold on to. I think the only downside is that at the bottom of the steps there is a pretty sharp drop off into dry sand. It can make it a little frustrating and difficult to get back up when you're leaving. The water was actually warm in many places and most of the people there are here for surfing or playing...

We stopped at the state park to use the restroom and watch the sunset. We were pleased with the restrooms, they were clean, and we were suprised to see that they had outdoor showers. However we were dissapointed with the view from the benches in the park. We couldn't actually even see the beach only houses and condos. We didn't go down to the beach but I'm assuming that it is somewhat of a trek to get down there from the parking lot as there is a neighborhood between the parking spaces...