Cape Cahhhd National Pahhhk….

We left the Alfalfa Farm Winery at around 10:00 pm since we only had to drive about 100 miles to just the other side of Boston. We elected to take the inner loop around Boston so we left the winery on Highway 1 and then got onto Interstate 95 (the inner loop). Traffic was fairly light and then we got onto state route 3 which took us to our next stay at Scusset Beach State Reservation.

Reader Ed told us about this park and the location was perfect for our needs so we made the reservation and Ed was right… this is a great park. State owned, large sites, 30 amps with water and right on the Cape Cod Canal. We got settled into our site and did our normal drive around the area to see “where we were.”

The next morning we woke up to a glorious sunny day and the high was expected to be around 80. This called for a beach day!!! As a result we planned to take the hour plus drive to the end of Cape Code north of Provincetown to see Cape Cod National Park. The drive on highway 6 to the end of the Cape was pleasant and mostly wooded and the traffic was fairly light. Once we got to the end of the Cape the scenery changed from a forested area to that of a surreal landscape of rolling sand dunes and wide sandy beaches…

We made our first stop at Herring Cove Beach and what a stunning sight it is… the beach is wide and sandy and the water is blue as the Antarctic ice and just about as chilly. There weren’t many people on the beach but those that were had this almost hypnotic look about them as the waves lapped the shoreline with that soft hypnotic crashing sound. The sand at the Cape is coarser than most beach sand we were accustomed to which was nice as it was easier to clean off but it was harder to walk in as your feet would sink deeper into the sand (even in the wet sand).

We walked the shoreline for a ways and noticed that some RV’s were right on the beach and wondered how they got there. Later we found out you can get a permit to go off the road through the park service. There were many requirements to be able to get this permit but having a full sized spare and a shovel kept us from being able to even consider it.

The rest of the day was spent hiking and sitting on the beach as we visited other beach sites such as Race Point, Marconi Point, and Nauset Light Beach. The highlights of the day were not only the pristine beaches and the landscapes of water and rolling sand dunes but we also got to see the piping plovers (a life list bird for me) and a large group of feeding grey seals off the coast of Nauset Light Beach.

As with most National Parks Cape Cod is another jewel that our government was wise enough to preserve for all of us to enjoy…

       

It continues to amaze me as to how we are always so tired after a day of lounging at the beach… what is it about coastal environments that seem to just suck the energy out of you?