[BACKLOG] Great Island (Cape Cod National Seashore)

Great Island Trail Extended Loop, excluding the sand spit to Jeremy Point.

Hike Type: Loop
Distance: 7.4 miles
Elevation: 387 feet
Time: 3 hours, 4 minutes
Hiking Challenges: Cape Cod National Seashore Trails; 52 Hike Challenge

The Hike
Gen and I had one more hike to do on the cape to finish out self-made challenge of hiking all the trails on the national seashore to earn our made up patch (we ended up finding a couple on EBay)! We ususally start hiking around sunrise but I had read on AllTrails that this trail can be submerged at high tide, which was convienently just after sunrise. We made it to the trailhead at 9:18am with no clouds in the sky but chilly wind.

From the parking lot we descended to sea level where we circumnavigated the marshland behind the dunes. There was a narrow footpath paralleling uphill, likely caused by hikers hiking at high tide. The trail was still wet from the rain and the high tide, but was navigable. We did get a little "lost" at the further end of the dunes - the path we were following turned into marsh so we "bushwacked" back to the dry sand. 

This brought us to what I'm calling the first island. The main trail goes around the island halfway then climbs into the forest, and another shortcut trail goes right into the forest. We took the shortcut trail into the forest to give the tide time to lower some more. The open pine forest was beautiful and the path was wide. When we reached the trail junction, we turned left instead of going straight to loop us back to the beginning of the first island. The forest trail was really beautiful, and we found a side path to a beautiful overlook on a STEEP sandy cliff. We followed another unmarked trail from there and eventually bushwhacked our way back to the main path. We eventually descended back to the original trail junction along the marshland where we were greeted with the land of dead seagulls and a larger dead creature with it's bones scattered about. Eerie, but very cool! Went back into the woods, following the same trail as before, and continued straight where we had turned left the first time. 

After some more woods walking we descending back into the second area of marshland. Very similar to the first, but this time the trail kept us on the dunes for longer. The weather was finally starting to warm up but I had realized I lost my sunglasses - sad. I bought them becuase they were specifially made for "pumpkin sized heads," but they were still tight. I guess it's okay...

We eventually climbed up island number two, kept left at the fork, and worked our way though beautiful pine forests, stopping at a monument honoring a former resident, and reached the island's end! We turned to head towards the beach. A lot of this path was flooded, but we were able to "marsh-hop" (I guess that's a term now?) to the dunes. Now on the beach, we could have turned left and went towards Jeffrey's Point, but that would remain submerged for a few more hours, so we turned right and started the lovely walk back to the car.

The dunes were amazing from the beach side. There were tons of rocks and shells and very few people. We made our way back across the dunese at the end, back to the car, and started our journey home. 

Photo Album

Originally written March of 2022.

[BACKLOG] Cape Cod National Seashore Trails

This is a series of seven different hikes along nine different trails, all apart of the Cape Cod National Seashore. Hikes will be listed in chronological order. All hikes qualified for my self-imposed "Cape Cod National Seashore Trails" Challenge, which is a challenge that I made up once I found a "Cape Cod National Seashore" patch on eBay - one has to hike all of the trails on the Cape Cod National Seashore.

Hike #1: Fort Hill & Red Maple Swamp Trails

Hike Type: Loop

Distance: 2 miles
Elevation: 101 feet
Time: 45 minutes

The day started out with a bang! We used the lovely vault toilets right at the parking area (which we're not sure if we were supposed to be at or not...) and followed the trail closest to the water first, as the sun was beginning to rise. We made sure to hike the trails on the NPS map that were marked, although there were more paths in the area. Right as we got a view of the water, the sun began to poke above the horizon - beautiful! We climbed the gentle hill and eventually dipped into the woods for the Red Maple Swamp Trail, which was a really nice boardwalk walk back to the car.

Hike #2: Buttonbush Trail

Hike Type: Loop 
Distance: 0.4 miles
Elevation: 52 feet
Time: 10 minutes

The next stop was the Buttonbush Trail at the Salt Pond Visitor Center. This trail is a trail specifically designed for folks with visual impairments, which made this easy trail very interesting. This area connects to the longer Nauset Marsh Trail, which Gen and I had hiked last year. We explored the visitor center a bit afterward, and then drove a little further in for our next hike.

Hike #3: Doane Loop

Hike Type: Loop
Distance: 0.6 miles
Elevation: 32 feet
Time: 14 minutes

This stop was more of a formality - we had previously hiked most of this area but for our self-imposed patch challenge we needed to clean up the rest of it. Very gentle, very paved, very big rock. Not much else to it. I guess technically some history, but we were too lazy to read into it. Next!

Hike #4: Atlantic White Cedar Swamp Trail

Hike Type: Lollipop Loop
Distance: 1.5 miles
Elevation: 128 feet
Time: 33 minutes

This was one of my favorite trails. We parked at the trailhead and first went over the ocean overlook, which had a decent drop off to the shoreline. Into the woods we followed a great boardwalk system through a beautiful cedar swamp. The return trail was on an old woods road with a gentle incline. 

Hike #5: Pemet Area Trails

Hike Type: Lollipop Loop-ish
Distance: 3.2 miles
Elevation: 525 feet
Time: 1 hour, 21 minutes

Now this was the pinnacle of "Cape Cod Hiking" of the day. The wewather broke into the low 50s, which meant it was shorts time! The trail starts by climbing Berberry Hills West and Easy summits, which offer great views of the area. We then took the side trail to the old Bog House that was a little spooky, and then began our hike on the great dune system. Where we hit 2 miles was a long trail that we couldn't find much infomation on - apparently there used to be an overlook a ways down, but I read it was well overgrown now. I also found a tick on me which sent me through a mini crisis - but we prevailed. The trip nearest the ocean is high up on the dunes and just spectacular. We concluded our hike by retracing out steps back to the car - just amazing!

Hike #6: Small's Swamp & Pilgrim Spring Trails

Hike Type: Figure 8 Loop
Distance: 1.3 miles
Elevation: 197 feet
Time: 33 minutes

We were officially in the upper cape! This was a combination of two loop trails that join at the trailhead. First was Small's Swamp, which was a nice easy loop around a swamp, sometimes on trail sometimes on boardwalks. There was one flooded section of boardwalk, but not enough to get our feet wet. There were some views towards the end.

Pilgrim Spring Trail was a bit longer and bit less used, but had some great views of the nearby wetlands and the ocean in the background. Even being on someplace as busy as Cape Cod, we really felt like we were the only ones around. It definitely helped that it was winter... Anyway, one more stop to go!

Hike #7: Beech Forest Trail

Hike Type: Figure 8 Loop
Distance: 1.1 miles
Elevation: 164 feet
Time: 1 hour, 19 minutes

The final stop for the day was all the way up in Provincetown - the Beech Forest Trail. We easily saw the most people of the day here. It first looped around Blackwater Pond, which was partially frozen over, and then had a secondary loop through some sandy woods. There was a side trail up to a tune with some cool other-worldly views. Once we finished we hit up Cumberland Farms, ate at Race Point Beach, and began our long drive home (we later realized we hit up every Cumbies on US-6 on the cape this day). Great day!

Photo Album

Originally written September 30th, 2022.