Cape Cod is still unspoiled and naturally beautiful
and touring by bicycle is a great way to see the
villages that cherish simplicity and their seafaring
heritage. The bike traveler will also find many
modern conveniences, there are bike rental
shops, lighthouses, windmills, nature preserves,
golf courses, art and history museums, a winery,
art colonies, an airport with sightseeing flights, and
campgrounds all along the bike trails that parallel
the beaches.
There is no better way to experience this natural
beauty than on a bicycle.  In the sea-bound refuge
called the Outer Cape you can spread on a little
sun block, pack a copy of Henry Beston’s, The
Outermost House, and  peddle your way between
coast Guard beach, Highland Light and the
Province lands beaches.

The “Cape Cod Rail Trail”, a former railroad bed
now turned bicycle path, and the Nauset Dune Trail,
a system of paved bike trails 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 to the north and reach
the end at Lecount Hollow in the town of Wellfleet.  
At several places along the way, there is ample
parking, if one 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 trail system, with its paved paths
through the dunes and along the beach at the very tip
of Cape Cod.

Try some seafood on your journey at Rock Harbor,
the small port on The Cape Cod Bay side or inner
crook of the elbow of Cape Cod.    Captain Cass’s
Rock Harbor Seafood Restaurant and Young’s Fish
Market, dine in or get local steamer clams and fresh
cooked Lobster to go.
Rock Harbor’s sport fishing fleet comes in twice a
day with catches of Striped Bass, Bluefish, Mackerel,
Tuna, Sharks, Flounder, Fluke and Cod.

Writer and naturalist, Henry David Thoreau, passed
descriptions of 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 a 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 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
From the paved trail in the
Provinceland dunes you can climb a
high dune and get a view of spouting
whales offshore
Cape Cod Bike Trail
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.
Herring Cove Beach
Eastham Windmill
Herring Cove Beach
Ice cream stop Cape Cod
Bike Trail
Nauset Beach, Orleans
.SoftSeatTravel
The network of 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
Provinceland Dunes, connecting with the Beach Forest
Trail and The Race Point 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
Paved Bike Trails through The
Cape Cod Dunes
Cape Cod Bike Trails
Bike Trails On        
Lower Cape Cod
Bicycle on Paved
Bike Trails to the
Beaches of Cape Cod
Cape Cod Biking
Bike to Cape Cod
Beaches
Bike Through the
Cape Cod Dunes
Mountain Bike or Trail
Bike,  Bike Tour or Self
Guided, Bicycling on Cape
Cod Rail Trails makes it
safe and fun
Cape Cod Biking, Cape Cod Rail Trails
your air fare by Parking your Car for Free after one night Lodging in Airport Hotels
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From Boston take Route 93 to Route 3 and after 60 miles, cross the Cape Cod Canal. Continue on
Route 6 for all locations on Cape Cod or go to Route 6A for the slower scenic route through the villages.
Routes 6 and 6A join in Orleans and go to the tip of Cape Cod.
Several small commuter airlines serve Hyannis Airport and Provincetown Airport on Cape Cod from
Boston, Providence, and New Bedford.   Cape Air, US Airways Express, and Linear Air (Hanscom Field
Bedford Ma)
Bus service is available from Boston and from Logan Airport. Plymouth and Brockton, Logan Direct
serves Hyannis
Bonanza Bus Lines serves Bourne, Falmouth, and the Wood's Hole ferry from Logan Airport
Passenger Boats  leave daily from Boston to the tip of Cape Cod (May -September)   at Provincetown.
Bicycles can go aboard.
A fast cat boat and a slower conventional passenger boat make trips from Boston. Bicycles permitted
A passenger boat makes a daily run from Plymouth, MA to Provincetown.
Fifteen large towns and many small villages make up Cape Cod.

Upper Cape: Along the Cape Cod Canal, the towns of Bourne and Sandwich define the northern limit of
the upper Cape  
Mid Cape includes Barnstable, Yarmouth and Dennis. The mid Cap is where you will find Hyannis Airport
Lower Cape includes Brewster, Harwich , and Chatham.
Outer Cape starts in Orleans and includes Eastham, Wellfleet, Truro, and Provincetown.