Fisher Cat
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First, this is not one of my typical TR's, which are customized by being at times lengthy and philosophical. This is shorter and a bit more concise. I'm saving my typical kind for after my Historical Trekking hike coming up on Labor Day, so alas, you have been forewarned.
The idea for this hike was spawned by asking Steve Smith what he would suggest for a hike while we would be on vaca on the Cape. (when we refer to the "Cape" down here, everyone automatically assumes we mean Cape May, we do not being from New England. I've been surprised at the amount of people who have never heard of it.) He proposed the Great Island loop which turned out to be fantastic. It has a great variety of terrain though vertical is somewhat limited. It is a total of 7+ miles, but can be shortened depending on cut-offs. We decided to go for the whole thing. It was what we needed after being in a house with all my wife's sisters (4), three of their husbands, our daughter, our niece, and my wife's parents. Compound this with several nights of conituous games of spades and Sequence, finely tuned with Fishhouse Punch, and my new favorite drink, the Stone Fence.
We started around 1145am under cloudy skies. One descends through conifer forest and follows the trail through a tidal marsh, the whole time the beaches are just over the dunes until you get farther south. As we hiked we had the sound of many gulls and terns doing their thing at low tide in the marshes. As we neared a large turn which takes you into the forest we were able to observe a clamdigger at work, his boat quietly moored. At this point we left the bay beaches and climbed up and into the softwood forest. The smell of pitch is overly abundant in this area, it seems amazingly dry, but in actuality is quite moist thanks to the ocean breeze. We stopped at the site of the Great Tavern built in the 1600's as a whaler's intoxication stop. By the 1740's it had fallen into disuse. There are many wonderful views as you gain altitude of the oceanside beaches and marshes. We descended back to beach level through more meadows and marshes. At this point one can turn left (south) and travel as far as possible to Jeremy Point, but beware, it is only as accessible as the tide allows, go out too far at the wrong time, and you've got a problem. The return leg of the loop is totally on the beaches until you cross the dunes at an access corridor and return where you started.
The AMC Mass guide said the hike would take about 4 hours, we did it in about 4.25 because we putted around the woods and Jeremy Point quite a bit.
Parking is free, bring plenty of fluids, and nothing more is required than good trailrunners, as Steve mentioned hkiing boots would be overkill. This is, in my opinion, a wonderful trail running loop should you be so inclined while on the Cape. Use your time in the woods to clear all the sand that you will collect in your shoes and dump it out as you will see by the pics that my sister-in-law was doing. I myself did it at least 3 times. Bring a camera and have fun.
Pics here:
http://fishercat.smugmug.com/Other/Great-Island-Cape-Cod/13476590_3eMMC#981354599_6HRhJ
The idea for this hike was spawned by asking Steve Smith what he would suggest for a hike while we would be on vaca on the Cape. (when we refer to the "Cape" down here, everyone automatically assumes we mean Cape May, we do not being from New England. I've been surprised at the amount of people who have never heard of it.) He proposed the Great Island loop which turned out to be fantastic. It has a great variety of terrain though vertical is somewhat limited. It is a total of 7+ miles, but can be shortened depending on cut-offs. We decided to go for the whole thing. It was what we needed after being in a house with all my wife's sisters (4), three of their husbands, our daughter, our niece, and my wife's parents. Compound this with several nights of conituous games of spades and Sequence, finely tuned with Fishhouse Punch, and my new favorite drink, the Stone Fence.
We started around 1145am under cloudy skies. One descends through conifer forest and follows the trail through a tidal marsh, the whole time the beaches are just over the dunes until you get farther south. As we hiked we had the sound of many gulls and terns doing their thing at low tide in the marshes. As we neared a large turn which takes you into the forest we were able to observe a clamdigger at work, his boat quietly moored. At this point we left the bay beaches and climbed up and into the softwood forest. The smell of pitch is overly abundant in this area, it seems amazingly dry, but in actuality is quite moist thanks to the ocean breeze. We stopped at the site of the Great Tavern built in the 1600's as a whaler's intoxication stop. By the 1740's it had fallen into disuse. There are many wonderful views as you gain altitude of the oceanside beaches and marshes. We descended back to beach level through more meadows and marshes. At this point one can turn left (south) and travel as far as possible to Jeremy Point, but beware, it is only as accessible as the tide allows, go out too far at the wrong time, and you've got a problem. The return leg of the loop is totally on the beaches until you cross the dunes at an access corridor and return where you started.
The AMC Mass guide said the hike would take about 4 hours, we did it in about 4.25 because we putted around the woods and Jeremy Point quite a bit.
Parking is free, bring plenty of fluids, and nothing more is required than good trailrunners, as Steve mentioned hkiing boots would be overkill. This is, in my opinion, a wonderful trail running loop should you be so inclined while on the Cape. Use your time in the woods to clear all the sand that you will collect in your shoes and dump it out as you will see by the pics that my sister-in-law was doing. I myself did it at least 3 times. Bring a camera and have fun.
Pics here:
http://fishercat.smugmug.com/Other/Great-Island-Cape-Cod/13476590_3eMMC#981354599_6HRhJ
