Want to hike in Mashpee? Try these trails, from a rare old-growth forest to a beach walk
Editor's note: This is part of our Best Hikes on Cape Cod series, which will highlight trails across Cape Cod all summer.
Read our recommendations for hikes in Chatham, Falmouth, Wellfleet, Truro, Provincetown, Orleans, Yarmouth, Brewster, Eastham, Barnstable, Dennis and Harwich.
Mashpee ranks right up there with the best hiking towns on Cape Cod, including one of my all-time favorite nature areas, the Lowell Holly reservation.
Some Mashpee trails also offer significant length, so you can work up an appetite before grabbing some chow at Mashpee Commons or Roche Bros. supermarket. And if you're a fan of river views, Mashpee has you covered.
As you start planning your Mashpee adventures, make sure to take ticks into consideration. You may want to look into treating your clothing with permethrin, an insecticide that keeps ticks from clinging to your apparel. The spray form is available at many Cape hardware stores. Several clothing companies (including Insect Shield and L.L. Bean) sell clothing that is pre-treated with permethrin — the protection lasts for about 70 washes.
As always, sunscreen and water should be part of your tool kit. So lace up the hiking shoes and let's take a look at some of the top trails in Mashpee:
Lowell Holly reservation
Hooray for the Lowell Holly reservation, a Trustees of Reservations property on the Mashpee/Sandwich town line. According to those trusty Trustees, the 135-acre nature area is "a rare example of a Cape Cod old-growth forest."
The land was donated by the late Abbott Lawrence Lowell, president of Harvard University from 1909 until 1933. Later, the Johnny Appleseed of Cape Cod holly trees, Wilfred Wheeler, Sr. (aka The Holly Man), planted 50 varieties of holly trees on the property. The towering trees are splendid.
There are about four miles of old carriage roads that wind through a peninsula that juts between Mashpee and Wakeby ponds. In warm weather you can swim there! If you happen to bring a kayak, you can head out on the water and explore three islands. In the fall, the foliage can be spectacular by Cape standards. The parking area is located off South Sandwich Road, roughly across from Warwick Way in Mashpee.
Mashpee River Reservation and Mashpee River Woodlands
This hiking adventure combines the adjoining Mashpee River Reservation, a Trustees of Reservations property, and the Mashpee River Woodlands, a conservation area owned by the town. They wrap around the river south of route 28, with a parking lot off Quinaquisset Avenue.
The combined areas offer miles of hiking trails through the forest and along the beautiful Mashpee River. It is kind of astounding to find this much open land in such a busy and populated part of Cape Cod. One of the trails runs by the biggest pine tree I have ever seen on the Cape.
There's a lot of natural beauty to take in as you hike along, but perhaps the most intriguing thing along the trail is a man-made object known as the Great Bridge and a section of old road that used to be part of Route 28.
Dead Neck Trail
A walk on the Dead Neck Trail in Mashpee makes a trip to South Cape Beach a special occasion. The trail winds through a sandy peninsula with pond and ocean views, then out to a scenic breakwater at the entrance to Waquoit Bay. You can walk back along the beach, creating a nice loop that approaches three miles in total distance.
In the summer, swimming is a delightful option in the gentle waters of Nantucket Sound, and you can clearly see Martha's Vineyard in the distance. But unless you are lucky enough to have a Mashpee beach sticker for the town lot, there is an admission fee at South Cape Beach State Park from June 21 to Sept. 5. It's $15 for Massachusetts residents and $40 for non-residents, with residency determined by the license plate on the vehicle.
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: Best hiking trails in Mashpee on Cape Cod
