Surf and turf: This Wellfleet hiking trail offers endless possibilities

WELLFLEET — As a certified daydreamer, I am often too busy to pay attention to details. I'll be counting dragonflies or sorting my collection of wide wale corduroy tank tops and miss important stuff, like long overdue oil changes for the Curious Prius.

Making matters worse, I have become something of a hiking trail snob, ignoring short trails because they seem, well, too short. I'll read a trail description and if it's under a mile, I throw it on the scrap heap. This might be a symptom of what my life coaches call the "Bunyan Complex," where you imagine you're a giant who needs long trails. And you have an imaginary blue ox.

These two unfortunate personal issues intertwined the other day when I was perusing the intriguing trail offerings of the wonderful Wellfleet Conservation Trust. I was reading about the Ralph and Dorothy Clover Conservation Area, and saw that it was rather small (eight acres) and contained .4 of a mile of trails. "Ho-hum," I thought.

But an unusual moment of clarity, or perhaps a peanut butter cup sugar rush, made me read a bit further. That's when I saw this amazing passage:

"For a longer hike, follow the main trail to the old railroad bed and power lines. If you are very adventurous and have lots of time, you can strike out in a number of directions from here. To the north is the Duck Pond area. Following the former rail bed southward will bring you to LeCount Hollow Rd. If you keep going eastward on the Bell Rd., you will connect to a Cape Cod National Seashore trail and, eventually, come out at Ocean View Drive."

Suddenly it became clear: the Clover trail was a rocket launcher to adventure! And since there was a high surf advisory in place from the National Weather Service, I figured I would take the eastward route and check out the mighty Atlantic.

A few easy miles later, the Prius and I were pulling into the small Clover area parking spot. It holds about three cars and is located where Old County Road turns into the Old Kings Highway, across from where they intersect with Cottontail Road in Wellfleet.

The fun fuse was lit and off I went on a beautiful little trail beneath large oaks and pines. According to the Wellfleet Conservation Trust, the understory of the forest "suggests that while the land may have been cleared (as most of the Cape was by the mid-19th century), it was never plowed."

Shortly, the beautiful Clover trail appetizer brought me to the Cape Cod Rail Trail. The almost-new pavement tempted me to turn north or south, but I could already hear the roar of the ocean, so I pressed east, under the power lines and back into the woods. The narrow trail turned into splendid and sandy Bell Road, a real old-timey thoroughfare.

A mile from my starting point, I struck pavement on Ocean View Drive. The sea was playing a drum kit, crashing just out of sight. I hightailed it south to Lecount Hollow Beach (aka Maguire Landing) and was delighted to encounter Dana, one of the great Wellfleetians, working in the beach attendant booth.

Beyond his beach duties, Dana is a musician, surfer, philosopher, substitute teacher and a wicked fun guy to chew the fat with. We talked about surfing, Louis Armstrong and the melancholia of summer's end. I asked him if he was looking forward to autumn.

The answer was a big no. "At my age, fall is a metaphor for lost youth," he said.

I shook that off and walked down to the beach. The ocean was churning, banging into the shore like a runaway train. Sure it was sunny, but it was chilly and the wind blew sand into my eyes. I counted seven people on the beach, no one in the water. It sure didn't feel like the last day of August.

But I was psyched about fall, especially now that I had found the Clover Conservation Area, gateway to thrills. What started as a teeny walk turned into a nearly four-mile out and back jaunt. And I had just scratched the surface of the pleasant possibilities, with the best season for hiking Cape Cod right around the corner.

Eric Williams, when not solving Curious Cape Cod mysteries, writes about a variety of ways to enjoy the Cape, the weather, wildlife and other subjects. Contact him at ewilliams@capecodonline.com. Follow him on Twitter: @capecast.

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Hiking Cape Cod: Wellfleet trail offers long walk options