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Great Island Hike in Wellfleet...
The Great Island hike in Wellfleet is a 6-mile hike, so allow yourself at least half-a-day to explore this wonderful area.
Located on
Cape Cod Bay side of Cape in Wellfleet, drive to trailhead off Chequesset Neck Road, and prepare yourself -- and camera -- for an exhilarating hike. The area is pretty open and so take sunscreen and a hat. What will you see? Marvelous views of Wellfleet Harbor and Cape Cod Bay await you once on island (hint: it’s not really an island anymore). Another hint: this is a real nature hike. There’s no sandwich bar or coke machine waiting for you at end, so take your own snacks and drinks. Of all trails in Cape Cod National Seashore Park, this is perhaps most remote -- and I like that! Out on Island itself there used to be a secluded Tavern used by Whalers and like. Nothing remains of it today except for a sign to mark spot where it was.
National Seashore Province Lands Visitors Center…
The visitor center in Province Lands is off Route 6 and on Race Point Road. This is northern tip of park, and marks our final stop together on this Cape Cod vacations trip.
The Visitor Center itself has an observation deck where you can view majestic surroundings of ocean, forest, and omnipresent towering dunes. The area includes two swimming beaches -- Race Point and Herring Cove -- a bike trail, and a walking trail. There’s also a beautiful lighthouse at Race Point. The bike trail is a challenging 5.25-mile loop that you can start from visitor center. I’d describe it as undulating bordering on hilly. There’s also a fair amount of hairpin turns, and so helmets and a safe speed are a must. Believe me downhill stretches are so exhilarating, but you can easily forget and misjudge bike traffic coming other way. I’ve seen many a tangled mess -- Ouch!
And that’s end of this brief trip.
Wow! You did a lot in a few minutes – from your chair. But now it’s time to do real thing. Are you ready?
Cliff Calderwood is the owner and contributing writer of www.new-england-vacations-guide.com. He lived on Cape Cod for two years. This is an excerpt from a longer article, and you can read the full article and get a free downloadable copy of his complete travel guide at http://www.new-england-vacations-guide.com/
