Car Camping at Nickerson - Aug. 30 - Sep. 1, 2008

Sunset in Orleans on Cape Cod

Here we are again car camping again at Nickerson State Park. Bike the Cape Cod Bike Trail to north to Marconi Beach or east to the town of Chatham or bike and beach at Nauset Beach or maybe bike to Provincetown. Two nights, two breakfasts, two dinners, one being the infamous lobster dinner.

 

Places of Interest

Nickerson State Park
Cape Cod Rail Trail Map
Marconi Beach
Province Lands

One of my best trips is camping at Nickerson State Park. I set this trip up for the end of the summer, hopefully when few people are on Cape Cod. Of course, few people on Cape Cod is actually an oxymoron.

This is somewhat of a relaxing weekend, but some people choose to eliminate the relaxing and ride their bikes 40 miles each way to Provincetown. The rest of us bike to nearby beaches like Nauset on the ocean side or Skaket Beach on the bay. Both of them are easily accessed by road biking and it allows us to bike the Rail Trail and enjoy the beach on the same day. As we ride the Rail Trail, we can also visit Marconi Beach and enjoy some ice cream stops right on the bike path.

We have even gone in the opposite direction of the Rail Trail and head over to Harwich Center and Chatham Center. This direction visits a number of lakes which are an enjoyable place to have lunch or a coffee break in Chatham.

Can you guess who these lovely ladies are?

Sometimes we have even driven up to Truro, parked in the Province Lands Visitor Center, for no fee, and ridden our bikes up and around the hills of the Province Land bike trails.


RECOMMENDED NECESSARY ITEMS FOR NICKERSON 


         

Cape Cod Beach Weekend - Aug. 1 - 3, 2008

Stay with us at a former U.S. Coast Guard station in Eastham, right on the Outer Beach. Adirondack Chairs line the porch. Participate in environmental program after biking and beaching.  We bring our bikes and walking shoes for this trip.

Photo taken by Rachel Neuwirth

The Great Beach, so named by Henry David Thoreau, starts here. This sandy strand offers opportunities to study coastal beach processes, including longshore transport of sand and coastal erosion.

Nauset Marsh is located behind the former Coast Guard Station. It is accessible by a pathway that leads to the bicycle trail bridge. Here, one can see shorebirds working the tidal flats in the warmer months and observe salt marsh grass systems close up.

Nauset Spit offers the opportunity to walk directly onto a barrier beach system and observe shorebirds and, during the winter months, seals. The inlet into Nauset Marsh is at the southern end of Nauset Spit. World-renowned nature writer, Henry Beston, wrote The Outermost House from his beach cottage located here.

Nesting plovers and terns frequent this area in the early spring to early summer. Plovers are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

Seals can often be sighted at the end of Nauset Spit during the winter months. Generally these are harbor seals. At low tide, they can sometimes be seen "hauling out" onto the marsh.

RECOMMENDED BEACH PRODUCTS