Unforgettable Cape Cod Vacations: The National Gift of the Coast
Take a captivating journey through Cape Cod National Seashore with miles of white-sand beaches, breath-taking trails and hikes, and majestic dunes. Just keep reading and you can visit all those places right now.
Cape Cod National Seashore is a 4,308-acre park set aside by an act of Congress in 1961 to preserve and protect a unique New England geological area and wildlife habitat.
Cape Cod is about 60 miles south of Boston, Massachusetts. It was formed when the last glaciers to visit the region melted around 12,000 years ago, leaving a large lake. Due to the special characteristics and material surrounding the glacial lake, the water drained away, exposing sediments and deposits left behind by glaciers from earlier times.
With rising sea levels and the disappearance of the protection against the onslaught of the ocean provided by Georges Bank, nature began to reshape all of Cape Cod, especially the National Seashore area facing the Atlantic.
The relentless formation of the Cape continues even today. But this is the place to come to escape. This is the place to come to experience nature.
So let’s take a short vacation trip to Cape Cod together. Are you ready?
Nauset Beach…
The first stop on your trip is Nauset Beach in the city of Orleans.
The entrance to Nauset Beach is in East Orleans at the end of Beach Road, where there is a large parking lot. The lot is about 2 miles from Routes 6/6A. During the summer months you will pay to use the lot.
Protection is the name of the game at Nauset not only for the dunes, but also for spring nesting birds. Always pay close attention to beach erosion and bird nesting protection signs anywhere on your Cape Cod vacation. Paying attention to the signs means the area could still be here the next time you visit.
At the entrance to the beach you can turn left and walk. Northor take the South walk turning right. Both rides offer spectacular views and hidden areas of the Cape that many residents have yet to discover. Time your walks to be at low tide, so you walk over exposed sandbars on the north walk, or have a dry crossing to Pochet Island on the south walk.
In the summer, Nauset Beach is very popular with tourists, but there always seems to be room, even at the busiest times. Swimming is good, but stay close to the shore. It is the Atlantic Ocean so it will be a little cooler than in the Cape Cod Bay side or the beaches of Nantucket Sound.
National Seashore Eastham Visitor Center…
The Salt Pond Visitor Center in Eastham is your next Cape Cod vacation stop. It will orient you to the park and offers short films, a museum, and free maps for hiking and biking trails.
Note: The Salt Pond Visitor Center building has been closed for renovations since 2003. It is scheduled to reopen in 2005, in fact, right now!
From the visitor center is the short and easy 1-mile Nauset Marsh Trail, which follows a path around the salt pond and Nauset Marsh before returning to the visitor center. It is a varied terrain of greasy marshesjuniper and myrtle shrubsand a great place for bird watching due to the proximity of the marsh.
The salt pond itself is a glacial pool that was once freshwater but the ocean has seen through.
The Lighthouse Beaches…
Two wonderful beaches to visit in the Eastham area are Coast Guard Beach and Nauset Light Beach.
Coast Guard Beach can be reached by bike from the Salt Pond Visitor Center bike path, or by car from Nauset Road on Route 6 directly past the Visitor Center; just follow the signs to the lot on Doane Road. This beach is one of my favorite walks in Low tideand was the area where Henry Beston wrote The outermost house. Unfortunately, the blizzard of 1978 swept the country house where she was living while writing the book, out to sea.
Yet another example of the amazing forces that continually carve Cape Cod National Seashore.
But here’s another beach gem for you…
Nauset Light Beach can be reached from Brackett Road as well from Route 6, and then cable road and sea view promenade. The parking lot is small and fills up quickly in the summer.
Near the beach is the Nauset lighthouse. Originally built in Chatham in the late 19th century, it was moved here soon after, and moved again in 1996 when erosion from the cliff threatened to collapse the lighthouse.
The beach is popular for the imposing and imposing and clean cliffs White sandand hikes that create memorable Cape Cod vacations.
Great Island Hike in Wellfleet…
The Great Island Walk in Wellfleet is a 6 mile walk, so give yourself at least a half day to explore this wonderful area.
Located on the Cape Cod Bay side of the headland in Wellfleet, drive to the trailhead on Checkesset Neck Road and gear up, and gear up for an exhilarating hike. The area is quite open, so bring sunscreen and a hat.
What are you going to see?
Wonderful views of Wellfleet Harbor and Cape Cod Bay await you once on the island (clue: not really an island anymore).
another clue: This is a true nature walk. There is no sandwich shop gold coke machine waiting for you at the end, so take your own snacks and drinks. Of all the trails in Cape Cod Coastal National Park, this is perhaps the most remote, and I like that!
On the island itself there used to be an isolated tavern used by whalers and the like. Today there is nothing left of it except a sign to mark the place where it was.
National Seashore Province Lands Visitor Center…
The visitor center at Province Lands is off Route 6 and on Race Point Road. This is the northern end of the park and marks our last stop together on this vacation trip to Cape Cod.
The Visitor Center itself has an observation deck where you can see the majestic environment of the ocean, forest, and the imposing omnipresent dunes. The area includes two swimming beaches, Race Point and Herring Cove, one bicycle trace, and a walking path. There is also a beautiful lighthouse at Race Point.
The bike trail is a challenging 5.25 mile loop that you can start from the visitor center. I would describe it as undulating bordering on hills.
There is also its fair share of hairpin turns so helmets and safe speed are a must. Trust me, the downhill sections are very exciting, but you can easily forget and misjudge oncoming bike traffic. I have seen many tangled messes — Ouch!
And that is the end of this short journey.
Wow! You did a lot in a few minutes, from your chair. But now it’s time to do the real thing. Are you ready?