Cape Cod Rail Trail:
Massachusetts
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Description:
The 22-mile Cape Cod Rail Trail serves up a genuine Cape Cod experience, stretching through quaint villages and along sandy beaches past a diverse landscape of salt marshes, pine forests and cranberry bogs. The trail is paved, with few inclines, and trailheads sprinkled along the route offer restrooms, food, water and swimming areas. You'll also find trailside shops where bicycle—and even handcycle—rentals are a breeze.

The trail follows the former Old Colony Railroad right-of-way from South Dennis to South Wellfleet, via Harwich, Brewster, Orleans and Eastham. The railroad laid the tracks linking Boston and Sandwich in 1848, and by 1873, it had pushed all the way to Provincetown at the tip of Cape Cod. As the Cape gained popularity with vacationers, more railroad connections were made to New York, Connecticut and other parts of Massachusetts. Passenger service ceased in 1937; transport freight hung on until the mid-1960s. By 1978, the trail was in place, and vacationers once again hit the corridor—this time on foot, inline skates and bicycles.

Near its western trailhead in South Dennis, the trail is at its busiest. The first 4 miles offer ample opportunities to picnic, indulge in ice cream or detour to other trails and towns. From a large, unique bicycle rotary in Harwich, the Old Colony Rail Trail continues through Harwich and the Hacker Wildlife Sanctuary and ends in Chatham. The beautifully landscaped rotary doubles as a gateway to the rest of the Cape Cod Rail Trail, providing a picnic area and trail information kiosks.

Heading north from the rotary, you'll soon be sailing along busy US Route 6 past glacial ponds. Along the way, you can pop into a quaint general store for a refreshment or take a break at a trailside picnic table. At the trail midpoint near mile 11, you'll reach Nickerson State Park, which offers swimming pools, picnic areas, walking and biking trails and restrooms. The forested trail here makes for a shady, cool ride.

Past Nickerson, the trail breaks and continues along the road for about 0.5 mile and crosses a bridge before rejoining the corridor into the delightful town of Orleans. Boasting a range of restaurants and specialty stores, Orleans is a good place to stop for lunch. Also, watch for the trailside water fountain and bike rental shop.

As you approach mile 16 along the Cape Cod National Seashore, be on the lookout for the Salt Pond Visitor Center, which houses a bicycle repair shop. The remaining miles of the corridor are lightly forested in trees and shrubs that have adapted to drier, sandier conditions. This stretch offers public camping facilities and coastal overlooks.

At trail's end, the Wellfleet trailhead provides a parking area and basic restroom. The town itself occupies a narrow strip of the cape, flanked by the Atlantic Ocean and Cape Cod Bay. It's well worth continuing another mile on Long Pond Road to Maguire's Landing, where you can look for shells on the lovely beach, take a dip in the Atlantic or simply enjoy the rewarding ocean view.

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Parking & Trail Access:
The Cape Cod Rail Trail is in the mid-cape area in southeastern Massachusetts. Free parking is available at several locations, including the trailhead on Route 134 in South Dennis and the trailhead on LeCount Hollow Road in South Wellfleet.
To reach the South Dennis trailhead, take US Hwy. 6 to Exit 9 and head south on State Route 134 past Patriots Square Plaza and Cumberland Farms. The trailhead parking area is on the left, about a half mile south of the exit.
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Reviews: [3 trail ratings]
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Great trail for inline skating
By gebobs in October, 2010
I did the CCRT while on vacation over Labor day 2010. Pristine asphalt, many dangerous/blind road crossings, gradual grades. Definitely one of the best trails for inline skating I have ever been on. the road crossings are only dangerous if you don't take care. Slow (at a minimum) and look both ways.

I did 10 miles out and back (20 total) from Dennis to Brewster the first day.
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=115426453979635020450.00048fd6b11305ed863bc&z=12

I did 12 miles out and back (24 total) from Dennis to Chatham the second day.
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=115426453979635020450.00048fd6a544141768302&ll=41.690604,-70.068741&spn=0.111267,0.308647&z=12

Approximately 1/2 mile near Chatham is Share The Road and *very* rough. Otherwise, very enjoyable.

One among the best trails I have biked
By skywalker in September, 2010
I bike the Cape Cod trail atleast once every Summer.
I don't have anything to say as the previous reviewers have described the trail already.
I start to bike the trail from Dennis in the mornings so I will reach Wellfleet before noon.
I rest in the beach , eat food nearby as the shops are accessible and bike back to Dennis.
Than the other trails that I have biked, I see a lot of bikers on this trail.. I bike Cape Cod and Chatham trail on the same day which adds about 64-65 miles on to my bike.
If you are near CapeCod and you bike, then it is worth biking Cape Cod trail
Lots of standard rail-tail scenery
By DCwom in August, 2010
I'm rating this trail 4 stars rather than 5 only because I was expecting more "Cape Cod" scenery, otherwise it is a great trail; paved the entire length, well marked, etc. It is what a rail-trial should be. We did see cranberry bogs and the such, but also lots of trees as is typical of rail-trails in the east.

This is certainly one of the busiest trails we've ridden on, comparable to the Schuylkill River Trail in Philadelphia or the Manhattan greenways in NYC. As mentioned in another review the cars always tend to stop at the trail crossings, as regular trail riders elsewhere this was very strange to us and can lead to a dangerous situation of compliancy for novice riders.

Parking at the end point trail heads in Wellfleet & Dennis was a premium, both lots were filled early (before 10AM) on a Wednesday morning in late July, so plan accordingly.

All-in-all this is an excellent and well developed trail that provides cape vacationers a fantastic off beach activity.
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Trail Facts
Trail End Points: E-W Dennis Rd./SR 134 (Dennis) and George Ryder Rd. (Chatham Airport) to US 6 nr. Marven Way (Wellfleet)
Counties: Barnstable
Trail Length: 22 miles
Trail Category: Rail-Trail
Trail Surfaces: Asphalt
Trail Activities: Bike, Inline Skating, Wheelchair Accessible, Walking
TrailLink ID: 6015955

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