Walking the Cape and Islands: A Comprehensive Guide to the Walking and Hiking Trails of Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, and Nantucket - Softcover

Weintraub, David

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1634040341 ISBN 13: 9781634040341

Publisher: Menasha Ridge Press, 2020

Synopsis

The best walking and hiking trails in the beloved Massachusetts region

Pine forests, windswept dunes, freshwater ponds, salt marshes, and wave-washed beaches, enjoy it all as you stroll along the beautiful trails of Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, and Nantucket. Walking the Cape and Islands is the only comprehensive guide to this incredible area. Experience scenic Cape Cod National Seashore, Nickerson State Park, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket land bank and conservation areas, Massachusetts Audubon properties, and many other parks and open spaces.

Suitable for all abilities, the book’s 72 walks and hikes range in length from less than a mile to just under 11 miles. Families with children will especially enjoy many of the shorter, easier walks. Each entry includes a Walk Summary, which provides a helpful snapshot of the route. Plus, the book describes the area’s rich human and natural history, climate, geology, and more. At-a-Glance Info offers details such as distance, difficulty, walk time, trail surface, facilities available, and whether bicycles, dogs, or hunting area allowed.

Now in full color, the new edition offers photographs and professionally drawn maps, paired with descriptions that take you step by step along the route. So whether you are a visitor or resident, let author David Weintraub guide you to some of the best walking and hiking trails in coastal New England.

About this title

About the Author:

David Weintraub is a writer, photographer, and educator based in South Carolina and Cape Cod. His other books are Adventure Kayaking: Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard, Afoot and Afield: San Francisco Bay Area, Top Trails: San Francisco Bay Area, East Bay Trails, North Bay Trails, Monterey Bay Trails (all published by Wilderness Press), and Peninsula Tales and Trails (Graphic Arts Books). David’s articles and photographs have appeared in such magazines as the American Bar Association Journal, Audubon, Backpacker, Entrepreneur, Forbes, Hemispheres, Photo District News, Sierra, Smithsonian, and Sunset, and in books such as San Francisco: The City’s Sights and Secrets (Chronicle Books), The World of Shorebirds (Sierra Club Books), and Cape Cod on My Mind (Falcon Publishing). David is an avid walker, birder, kayaker, and cyclist.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

Outer Cape: Truro, Cape Cod National Seashore, Pilgrim Spring Area

37. Pilgrim Spring Trail

Key At-a-Glance Information

• General
• location N42º 3.3035' W70º 6.3404'
• website https://www.nps.gov/caco/planyourvisit/pilgrimspring.htm
• distance 0.7 miles
• type of walk Loop
• difficulty Easy
• time to walk 1 hour or less
• scenery Dunes, forest, marsh
• exposure to sun Partial
• trail traffic Moderate
• trail surface(s) Dirt, pavement
• trails open All year
• fees/passes None
• facilities Restrooms and water (seasonal); picnic tables, interpretive shelter
• Trail Use
• bicycles Not allowed
• dogs Not allowed
• hunting Not allowed
• Health Stats
• number of steps 1,575
• estimated calories burned 147
• Directions to Trailhead
• From the intersection of Routes 6 and 6A in North Truro, take Route 6 north for 2.1 miles; then turn right on Pilgrim Heights Road, signed pilgrim heights. Go 0.5 miles to a large paved parking area on the left side of a one-way loop. Two trails are served from a trailhead on the northwest edge of the loop. The trail to Small’s Swamp goes left, toward the interpretive shelter. A trail to Pilgrim Spring branches right from this trail. (Restrooms, water, and picnic tables are a short distance south, adjacent to the next parking area.)

Walk Summary

Where the Pilgrims first found fresh water, you can enjoy a quiet ramble amid a variety of native trees and shrubs on this short, easy loop. Trailside markers identify some of the common plants. (While here, also visit the Small’s Swamp Trail, which departs from the same trailhead as the trail to Pilgrim Spring.)

Description

Just before reaching the interpretive shelter, veer right on a dirt trail and enjoy a level, forested walk. Soon on a curvy course, descend gently to an overlook, about 0.2 miles, where the view extends eastward across a fresh-water marsh to a line of dunes. A narrow corridor of shrubs leads moderately downhill via dirt-and-wood steps to a clearing with a picnic table, near the paved bike trail. Less than a week after making landfall in Provincetown, a party of Pilgrims found their first supply of fresh water here. The seep is beside a nearby split-rail fence, and the event is commemorated by a metal plaque in a nearby rock.

With a paved bike trail on your left, turn right and climb moderately via dirt-and-log steps carpeted with pine needles. The pines here are respected elders, their limbs twisted with age and exposure to the elements. After a switchback and a moderate ascent, find level ground amid the pines. Soon reach a paved path that skirts restrooms and leads through a picnic area, about 0.6 miles. When you reach a large parking area, cross it and ahead find the continuation of the trail, now a level dirt track. At a grassy area, climb an embankment to reach the east side of the first parking area.

Flora

Pitch pine, scrub oak, black cherry, arrowwood, bayberry, beach plum, highbush blueberry, lowbush blueberry, salt-spray rose, and winterberry add botanical interest to the route. The ever-present poison ivy is here, as are bullbrier, Virginia creeper, blackberry, honeysuckle, and wild sarsaparilla.

Fauna

Two small but vociferous songsters, common yellowthroat and chipping sparrow, may be seen and heard here during summer.

About this edition

• Publisher: Menasha Ridge Press
• Publication date: 2020
• ISBN 10: 1634040341
• ISBN 13: 9781634040341
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 336