Riding the Cape Cod Rail Trail

Day two of our Cape Cod vacation, we rented bicycles and rode along the Cape Cod Rail Trail.  Vacationers ain the late 1800's rode the train from Boston to the Cape, but as automobile's gained popularity, the rail service was discontinued.  In 1978 the rails were paved and became a 25-mile bike and pedistrian path.

Eric riding along the smooth sun-dappled Cape Cod Rail Trail.

 

The trail takes you through forests, salt marshes and quaint little towns on a relatively flat smooth service - perfect for a novice bicyclist like me.  We picked up the trail in the town of Brewster and rode about 6 miles before our first stop in Orleans for ice cream at the Chocolate Sparrow, which sits behind an old train station right along the trail. 

The Chocolate Sparrow was a great place to stop and rest and re-fuel with a double-scoop cone.

 

We rode past First Encounter Beach, where in 1620 an exploring band of Mayflower passengers met the Nauset tribe...the first encounter between the Mayflower cruisers and the native people.

Continuing on we came across Three Sisters Lights (they call lighthouses "lights" on the East Coast).  These three squat wooden lights were moved to a park about 1/2 mile inland after the bluff they were on started to erode in the sea.  The land of the Cape, being mostly sand and gravel is slowly eroding away, so many of the lights have been moved off their original cliffside locations further inland to sturdier ground.

One of the Three Sisters Lights sitting in a park about 1/2 mile inland. 

 

Next we visited Nauset Light, also moved back 350-feet from it's orginial location.

Beautiful Nauset Light.  A light keeper still lives in the house.

 

We took a beach break, changing into our suits and enjoying the sand and sea for an hour or so.

Eric and Piper coming in from at dip at Nauset Light Beach.

 

Something we noticed about Cape Cod (most of it), is it is not particularly dog-friendly.  There were "No Dogs" signs at most all of the beaches.  Now, the Cape's beaches do get exceptionally crowded with people sunbathing, swimming and picnicing for the entire day (something pretty hard to to on our cold Pacific NW beaches).  So I understand if everyone brought their dogs, and didn't clean up after them, it would be quite the mess.  But, my dogs love playing on the beach more than anything, so I was feeling a little sad for all the East Coast dogs missing out on beach time.  :-)

 Unlike the Pacific NW, most of the Cape is not dog friendly.

 

 Eric and Piper at one of the beautiful white sand beaches along the Cape Code Rail Trail.

 

After Nauset light, we turned around and headed back to Brewster to return our bikes, stopping at one more beach along the way.  Round trip we ended up riding 22 miles....which is nothing compared to what bicyclists around here do.  But having broken my tailbone just the month before, I was pretty sore by this point, so was glad to turn in the bike and hobble, Festus Parker style, back to the car, to head to the resort for a quiet, relaxing evening.

 

 

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[Caramoan]

Oh! I love biking in a long narrow road with less vehicles passing. Then stop by to eat some ice creams while viewing the forests trees and taking some pictures of those great beaches. I just want to visit the place and go explore their white sand beaches.