Bike Book
Start at the Rail Trail!
Bicycling on Cape Cod has been enormously popular in recent years. Cape Cod has always been a wonderful bicycling spot, but in 1978, when the Department of Environmental Management purchased part of the right-of-way along the old Pennsylvania Central Railroad grade and set up the Cape Cod Rail Trail, bicycling really took off on the Cape. Originally, the path extended from South Dennis to Eastham. In 1994 the trail was extended past Eastham to South Wellfleet and again in 1999 toward Chatham from Harwich.
Added to trails at
the Cape Cod National Seashore in Eastham, Truro, and Provincetown, and
to the trails at Nickerson State Park in Brewster and the Shining Sea
Trail in Falmouth, the Rail Trail provides the backbone to link Cape
Cod's bicycle paths into an unequalled opportunity for sightseers and
exercise-seekers alike. Plans exist to extend the trail past Dennis at
the west end, and past Wellfleet in the east.
Needless to say, the planners of the Trail, who studied bikeways from as far away as California, are delighted to find that bicycling has been THE hottest thing on Cape Cod during the past few summers. It has gotten to the point that if you visit Cape Cod and don't go bicycling, well .... just don't say it too loudly when you get back.
A rainy day will find many visitors on the Cape's roadways, touring from place to place and from one breathtaking sight to the next. Bicycle "tourists" are finding, though, that the motor tourists are missing more than just a few things, from unique perspectives of the magnificent Bourne and Sagamore bridges, to closeups of life in the dunes, to access to quieter beaches and freshwater swimming, "whispering white pines" in Brewster, and so much more.
Sometimes you've just got to get out there in the middle of things, and the bicycle routes on Cape Cod let you do that splendidly. Pilgrim Springs, for example, widely reputed to be the spot where the Pilgrims first found fresh water in America, is easily accessed along the Head of the Meadow bike trail in Truro. All of Chatham's famous sights, from its Fish Pier to its eroding shore, to its Coast Guard Station, are found along its superb bike route. And the trails in Provincetown couldn't bring you closer to the treasures of
the sand dunes and beaches at the Cape's tip.