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The Cape Cod National Seashore

Salt Pond Visitor Center

U.S. Rt. 6, Eastham
(508) 255-3421

Province Lands Visitor Center

Race Point Rd., Provincetown
(508) 487-1256

Park Headquarters, Marconi Station

off U.S. Rt. 6, Eastham
(508) 349-3785
www.nps.gov/caco

With some 27,700 acres of federally-protected undeveloped uplands, bogs, pitch pine forests, sand dunes, and ponds in six towns (Chatham, Orleans, Eastham, Wellfleet, Truro, and Provincetown), the Seashore takes up almost half of the town of Wellfleet and about 70 percent of Truro. In addition to six glorious ocean beaches, comprising nearly 40 miles of the finest seashore on the Atlantic coast (see our Beaches chapter), the Cape Cod National Seashore boasts nine hiking trails that meander through varied terrain. You can get free hike and bike maps at the Salt Pond Visitor Center in Eastham which is open all year (daily except January and February, when it’s open on weekends only), and shows free interpretive videos in addition to hosting a variety of interpretive programs.

Right behind the Salt Pond Visitor Center are several trails, including the quarter-mile Buttonbush Trail, which has a guide rope and Braille map interpretations along the way—good not only for the sight impaired, but for people who want to experience what life is like without the sense that most of us take for granted. Close your eyes and try it. Another nearby trail takes a wooded route out to the 1.2 miles Salt Pond trail which passes by the Salt Pond, along Nauset Marsh and circles back to the Visitor Center; you can also walk or bike on the 2 mile bike trail that leads out to Coast Guard Beach, past Doane Rock—a good place to stop and picnic (see our Cape Cod National Seashore chapter for more information regarding trails).

One of our favorite walking spots is the National Seashore’s Fort Hill in Eastham, where one and a half miles of trails meander through fields with stunning water and marsh views, through woods and a cedar swamp. You’re likely to spot rabbits, birds, and other wildlife, but watch out for monster poison ivy plants on the edge of the trail! We’re also partial to the Seashore’s longest and most difficult trail, Great Island in Wellfleet. Accessible by driving out past the harbor to the parking area, the trail is a hilly 8 miles (round trip) through soft sand, pitch pines, and marshes that offers breathtaking views of Wellfleet Bay. Look for fiddler crabs, fast-moving, harmless little black creatures so named because the males have one oversized claw that’s reminiscent of someone playing a fiddle. Be sure to check the tides, since much of the trail is flooded at high tide.

In Provincetown, check out the one-mile long Beech Forest Trail, where you’ll circle a freshwater pond as you walk among American beech trees, sheep laurel, yellow and gray birch, and swamp azalea.