Reconnoitering Cape Cod

 Thursday, July 8, 2021

Hi Blog!

On Wednesday, we drove our rig out to Cape Cod. We are staying at the Old Chatham RV Campground in the middle of the Cape. We had a little trouble getting level in our site. This old Thousand Trails Campground is more a mobile home park than a campground. After finally getting settled, we decided to just call it a day.

Tropical Storm Elsa is due here on Friday and she is making her presence known ahead of time. The weather on Thursday was unpredictable. We decided to use our time by visiting the National Seashore Visitor Centers. Our first stop was the Salt Pond Visitor's Center. The rangers there gave us lots of good suggestions, including visiting the Province Lands Visitor's Center.

At Province Lands, we were able to watch a couple National Park videos and climb up to the observation deck. Here is a view out toward Race Point Beach and the Parabolic Sand Dunes.

We learned during our video that this end of the island keeps growing each year.

We drove down to Race Point Beach to get a closer look at the old Ranger Station.

We also took the boardwalk out to the Old Harbor Life-Saving Station. 

We were a little early for a life-saving demonstration, so we decided to scout out the trailhead for a great lighthouse hike we hope to do once the weather clears.

A funny thing happened on the way to the trailhead. As we drove back up from Race Point Beach, we noticed a police officer talking to two bicyclists. It was obvious the two women were having trouble. We could see one of the bikes was dragging its chain behind. The cop took off and the two bikers were left pushing their heavy electric bikes up the hill. Our Jeep has a bike rack and we had left our bikes back in camp. We stopped and offered them a lift. Turns out, the woman with the broken bike was from Pennsylvania. Her parents grew up in Cheltenham and attended Cheltenham High where Katie and Matt went. Talk about a small world. 

Once our good deed was done, we started our return to camp. But first, we had to stop for lunch at Mac's Seafood in Wellfleet for one of their famous lobster rolls!

After lunch, we hiked the Fort Hill Trail. This one mile loop was recommended by the park ranger as the best example of the environments on Cape Cod.

We started on an old farm road next to fields of marsh grass.

We hiked down toward the water and got our first look at the Nauset Marsh.

As we made our way along the marsh, the grass grew as tall as an elephant's eye.

The entire Cape was once covered by the Laurentide Ice Sheet. The receding glacier left large rocks in random places.

Kathy tried to use one of these glacier erratics to get a better view.

As we climbed up to the top of Fort Hill, we met a young family who was watching a baby bunny hopping down the trail.

At the top of the hill, we were surrounded by wildflowers. The sweet peas were particularly colorful.

A side trail led down for views of Town Cove.

The final part of the trail led through a young red maple forest.

At the end of the trail, just across the street from the trailhead, stands the Captain Penniman House. The house was built by Captain and Mrs. Edward Penniman in 1868. The Penniman House is a 2.5 story, wood-frame structure with a mansard roof. When first built, the house was lighted with kerosene lamps. Electricity was introduced in the 1930s, but most of it was removed when the house was restored. Due to Covid, they are not currently conducting tours.

We got a great overview of the Cape and have lots of materials to go through before deciding which will be our next adventure. Stay tuned.