Cape Cod Bike Trails take you through
some Unspoiled and naturally beautiful
landscapes and villages where the people of
Cape Cod still cherish simplicity and their
seafaring heritage. They offer the traveler
many modern conveniences., however, there
are bike rental shops along the trails,
lighthouses, antique windmills, nature
preserves, golf courses, art and history
museums, a winery, art colonies, an airport
with sightseeing flights, and campgrounds.

There is no better way to experience the
freedom of Cape Cod than on a bicycle.  In
the sea-bound refuge called the Outer Cape
(lower)you can  peddle your way between
coast Guard beach, Highland Light, Skaket
Beach and New Encounter Beach, or head
north for the Province Lands beaches.

On the lower cape the Cape Cod Rail Trail, a
former railroad bed now turned bicycle path,
and the Nauset Dune Trail, a system that
winds through Beach forest and high dunes,
together contain over fifty miles of off-road
bicycle and walking trails.  
The Cape Cod Rail Trail is a largely off-road
trail that travels for over 25 miles through
Brewster's Nickerson State Park and then
through Orleans’s Rock Harbor and on to
Eastham and The Cape Cod National Sea
Shore’s Salt Pond Visitors Center.  At the
center, you can continue to the windward
Nauset Shore or head north to the end of the
trail at Lecount Hollow in the town of Wellfleet.  
At several places along the way, there is
ample parking, if you chooses not to travel the
entire 25 miles by bicycle.  

From the end of the Rail Trail at Lecount Hollow, a
short drive towards Provincetown will bring you to
the Nauset Dunes bike trail system, with its paved
bicycle paths through the dunes and along the beach
at the very tip of Cape Cod.

First you might want to try some seafood on your
bike trip at Rock Harbor in Orleans, the small port on
The Cape Cod Bay side or inner crook of the elbow
of Cape Cod.    At Captain Cass’s Rock Harbor
Seafood Restaurant and Young’s Fish Market you
can get local steamer clams and fresh cooked
Lobster to go or have them in at Capt Cass.
Rock Harbor’s sport fishing fleet comes in twice a
day with catches of Striped Bass, Bluefish,
Mackerel, Tuna, Sharks, Flounder, Fluke and Cod,
an exciting break in the bike trip.

Writer and naturalist, Henry David Thoreau, passed
through the Cape in 1849, writing detailed  
descriptions of the lower Cape's treeless solitude.  
To this day, a barren starkness prevails on the high
Nauset dunes, just as Thoreau described it in his
journal, Cape Cod.  (Click Here for Text, Cape
Cod)   The relentless sea has reclaimed several
hundred feet of the Nauset-side cliffs and dunes
since Thoreau’s time, but one can still walk as
Thoreau did, on over twenty-five miles of
unobstructed beach, from Eastham to far distant
Provincetown’s Race Point.
For those that want to bike to a beach and return to
the leisurely childhood beach days of warm water
and small waves, two quiet beaches are a little more
than a mile from the Cape Cod Rail Trail.  Follow
Skaket Beach Road in Orleans to the end and find a
quarter-mile granular sand beach bordered by rose
dunes and American Beach Grass with a carpet of
Eelgrass at the tide line.  To the right, as you face the
ocean, you can find privacy in the grass and dune
area near the stream outlet.  
The water is shallow for a half mile, with the flats
totally uncovering at low tide.  These sand flats
produce the delicious white steamer clams found at
Young’s Fish Market in Rock Harbor.   
Further North along the Rail Trail  you will come to
Eastham and find another secluded beach, this one
named for the less than cordial first meeting in 1620,
between the Pilgrims of Miles Standish and the
resident native population: First Encounter Beach.
Coast Guard Beach
Highland Light
On the paved trails built
where the old railroads
once traveled, you can  
ride your bike in the
natural landscapes of  
Cape Cod

Bike Trails on Cape Cod,
Cape Cod Rail Trails
Cape Cod Dune Trails
On a mile or so of low dune Marsh Grass and beach
with the outlet of Herring Brook at the end,  Plovers,
Herons, Terns, Red Tailed Hawk and many other
shore and marsh birds soar and flit over the Heather
and Beach Grass.  Tidal pools are alive with the
drama of Hermit Crabs, snails, Fiddler Crabs, and
tiny fish scurrying through their daily routine.  Finding a
private place to read, write, or just plain snooze
should be no problem here even on a summer
weekend.
www.softSeatTravel.com
david@SoftseatTravel.com
Herring Cove Beach
Eastham Windmill
Herring Cove Beach
Ice cream stop Cape Cod
Bike Trail
Nauset Beach, Orleans
Dave Hilbert's
SoftSeatTravel
The network of bike trails includes Herring Cove Beach
on the tip of Cape Cod.  Many folks snooze in beach
chairs while lazily surf fishing for the lunker Striped
Bass that feed along the shore.  From the parking lot
adjacent to the beach, the bike trail extends into the
Provinceland Dunes, connecting with the Beach Forest
Trail and The Race Point Bike Trail.  Both of these
trailheads have large public parking lots.
This unspoiled land changes with the winds that
restlessly rearrange the hummocks and tufts as if
preparing each day for special guests.  The elemental
forces of nature in this raw land are never far from view.
No better way to see all than on a bicycle.
Johnathan Young
Windmill, Orleans
Eastham Windmill
Bicycle on Paved Bike
Trails to the Beaches of
Cape Cod
Bike Trails on
Outer Cape Cod
Bike Trails
Cape Cod
Bike Trails On Cape Cod , be it  Mountain
Bike or Trail Bike,  Bike Tour or Self
Guided, Bicycling on Cape Cod Rail Trails
make biking safe and fun

Bike Trails on Cape Cod
Cape Cod Rail Trails
Coastal Wineries
http://www.coastalwinetrail.com

New Bedford Whaling Museum
http://www.whalingmuseum.org/
New Bedford history of whaling.

Zeiterion Theatre
http://www.zeiterion.org

Vines to Wines Tours
http://www.vinestowinestours.com
B&B  will arrange transportation from their Inn to the area's wineries.

Northeast Wineries
www.NortheastWineries.com