David Weintraub - Walking the Cape and Islands: A Comprehensive Guide to the Walking and Hiking Trails of Cape Cod, Marthas Vineyard, and Nantucket

For all of my Cape and Islands friends...

WALKING THE CAPE AND ISLANDS
A Comprehensive Guide to the Walking and Hiking Trails of Cape Cod, Marthas Vineyard, and Nantucket

Copyright 2006 and 2020 by David Weintraub

All rights reserved

Manufactured in China

Published by Menasha Ridge Press

Distributed by Publishers Group West

Second edition, first printing

Project editor: Ritchey Halphen

Cover design and cartography: Scott McGrew

Text design: Jonathan Norberg

Photos: David Weintraub, except as noted on page

Copy editor: Kerry Smith

Proofreader: Emily C. Beaumont

Indexer: Maria Sullivan/Sullivan Indexing

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Weintraub, David, 1949 author. | Menasha Ridge Press.

Title: Walking the cape and islands : a comprehensive guide to the walking and hiking trails of Cape Cod, Marthas Vineyard, and Nantucket / David Weintraub.

Other titles: Menasha Ridge Press guidebooks.

Description: Second Edition. | Birmingham, Alabama : Menasha Ridge Press, [2020] | Series: Menasha Ridge Press guidebooks | First edition: 2006.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019022087 | ISBN 978-1-63404-034-1 (pbk.) | ISBN 978-1-63404-035-8 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: HikingMassachusettsCape CodGuidebooks. | HikingMassachusettsMarthas VineyardGuidebooks. | HikingMassachusettsNantucket IslandGuidebooks. | WalkingMassachusettsCape CodGuidebooks. | WalkingMassachusettsMarthas VineyardGuidebooks. | WalkingMassachusettsNantucket IslandGuidebooks. | Cape Cod (Mass.)Guidebooks. | Marthas Vineyard (Mass.)Guidebooks. | Nantucket Island (Mass.)Guidebooks.

Classification: LCC GV199.42.M42 W45 2020 | DDC 796.5109744dc23

LC record available at lccn.loc.gov/2019022087

MENASHA RIDGE PRESS An imprint of AdventureKEEN 2204 First Ave. S., Ste. 102 Birmingham, Alabama 35233 888-604-4537, fax 205-326-1012

Visit menasharidge.com for a complete listing of our books and for ordering information. Contact us at our website, at facebook.com/menasharidge, or at twitter.com/menasharidge with questions or comments. To find out more about who we are and what were doing, visit blog.menasharidge.com.

Front cover, topbottom: Gardner Farm, Nantucket (see ).

SAFETY NOTICE Although Menasha Ridge Press and the author have made every attempt to ensure that the information in this book is accurate at press time, they are not responsible for any loss, damage, injury, or inconvenience that may occur to anyone while using this book. You are responsible for your own safety and health while in the wilderness, and the fact that a trail is described in this book does not mean that it will be safe for you. Be aware that trail conditions can change from day to day. Always check local conditions, and know your own limitations.

OVERVIEW MAP

TABLE OF CONTENTS

MAP LEGEND

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Writing a useful guidebook depends largely on local knowledge. Ive been lucky over the years to have a crew of knowledgeable folks I could turn to with questions, advice, and insights into the natural and human history of the Cape and Islands.

Personnel in the various land-management agencies overseeing open space on the Cape and Islands have been unfailingly helpful and generous with both their time and expertise, especially when I was researching the books first edition. Thanks, again, to Karen Beattie, Mike Brady, John Chatham, Matthew Dix, Gage Dobbins, Pat Dwyer, Kristen Fauteux, Sue Haley, Kim Heard, Jeanne Johnson, Keith Johnson, Richard W. Johnson, Chris Kennedy, James Lengyel, Alan S. Marcy, Jim Mitchell, Sue Moynihan, Dennis Murley, Diane Nickerson, Jon Peterson, Bob Prescott, Steve Prokop, Eric Savetsky, Julie Schaeffer, Bob Sherman, Martha Twombly, and John Varkonda.

I also offer a tip of my (ever-present) hat to Ivan Ace, Mimi Ace, Mary Fox, Cynthia Riggs, Marsha Salett, Jeff Stewart and Lynn StewartCape and Islands friends whose love for and knowledge of this special place are always inspirational. Glenn Ritt and his wife, Joan Urrarolongtime Cape Coddershelped me by checking a handful of Cape walks I was unable to do. Molly Merkle and the staff at Menasha Ridge Press have always been helpful and supportive colleagues.

Finally, I want to thank my wife, Maggi Morehouse, who over the years has adopted the Cape as her own and brightened our Wellfleet home.

David Weintraub

PREFACE

This edition represents a complete revision of Walking the Cape and Islands, first published in 2006 and researched from 2001 to 2005. Every trail has been rewalked and remeasured using the GPS-based smartphone app Walkmeter. New routes have been added, a few deleted, and some reconfiguredall in the interest of providing a rich and rewarding outdoor experience.

So, what has changed since I began walking the Cape and Islands in 2001 for the first edition of this book (other than the fact that Im a bit older)?

On the plus side, dedicated land managers, park rangers, and naturalists continue to maintain and improve existing trails and signage, remove invasive species, and preserve rapidly disappearing habitats, such as heathlands and sand plain grasslands. A special shout-out, then, to Cape Cod National Seashore, Nickerson State Park, Mass Audubons Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary, and the crews on Marthas Vineyard and Nantucket, aka the Islands, who continue to care for our precious open spaces. Town conservation departments, with support from local land trusts and foundations, have steadily been buying and maintaining significant parcels of remaining open space.

Also an improvement: most of the Cape and Islands open-space agencies now put maps and other information online, meaning the days of visiting or calling nearly 20 offices for printed maps and brochures are over. And many walkers have the internet, GPS, and mileage-tracking apps in their pockets, allowing for more accurate and precise route-finding (and also plenty of photographs on social media).

On the downside, a number of Cape and Islands plant and animal species are in trouble because of continued habitat loss and conflicts with human use. And proposed changes to the Endangered Species Act would make it more difficult to protect those that are federally listed as threatened or endangered. Climate change has taken an undeniable toll on our summer weather, producing longer stretches of hot and humid conditions, along with extended dry spells. In the summer of 2018, according to weather.com, the average high temperature in July was 2F higher than the historical average, and August was 4F hotter.

But my love for this part of the world, which I first visited in 1951, when I was 2, has only increased. Having wandered from New York to Oregon and San Francisco, then to South Carolina, my heart and home remain in Wellfleet, near the wrist of what Thoreau called the bared and bended arm of Massachusetts. Tramping along pine-shaded dirt roads and singletrack trails lined with stands of sweet pepperbush for the books first edition gave me the opportunity to broaden my understanding of, and appreciation for, the Cape and Islands wild places. Revisiting all of them and adding some new ones for this edition has been a joy.