The national government does not encourage Cape Cod National Seashore camping anywhere as easy as our neighbours to the North where camping in Canada is positively a breeze. NB! Camping in Cape Cod National Seashore is prohibited by the National Park Service! Cape Cod National Seashore CampingĪlthough there’s no tent or trailer camping on the Cape Cod National Seashore, the NPS allows camping for off-road vehicles who have a permit. There is limited Cape Cod National Seashore lodging but plenty of hotels near Cape Cod National Seashore in the adjacent six towns. This organisation offers lots of hikes and kayaking opportunities on their website. Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary is a 12oo acre wildlife sanctuary run by Mass Audobon that has lots to keep a birder happy. Their nesting sites are not too be disturbed because they are considered a threatened species with only about 2000 pairs left. You can find the piping plover, a federally protected species, at the Cape Cod National Seashore. For example, Nauset Marsh in May is good for viewing shorebirds. You get not only the regular shore birds but also song birds and predatory birds such as hawks and owls. Some of these migrating birds go as far as the Arctic and the Antarctic. About 80 of these species nest and raise their young in spring and summer.Ĭape Cod National Seashore is a great place to watch birds migrating in the spring and the fall. There are over 370 species of birds that you can find at the Cape Cod National Seashore.

Having seals around the waters of Cape Cod means the great white sharks are likely to be around hunting for prospects for a meal as well. Check out Coast Guard Beach in Eastham, Nauset Beach in Orleans and Ballston Beach in Truro for seal sightings. On the Cape Cod National Seashore seals are a common sight, usually Harbor and Grey seals. There are over 450 species of animals that call Cape Cod National Seashore home either full-time or seasonally. Offseason Cape Cod means peace and quiet at the national seashore! Cape Cod National Seashore Wildlife If you are with mixed ability group though, note that there’s an option of a short or a long hike, either 4 or 9 miles taking 3 or 5 hours, respectively,įor easy Cape Cod National Seashore trails, there are 5 miles of trails at the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary that goes through marshes, beaches and woodlands. Hiking Cape Cod National Seashore’s Great Island Trail is the hardest trail. Of these Cape Cod National Seashore trails, 5 are in Eastham, 2 in Wellfleet, and the other 5 are Truro and Provincetown. In terms of opportunities for hiking, Cape Cod National Seashore has 12 trails that are open throughout the year. There is the Salt Pond Visitor Center in Eastham and Province Lands Outdoor Visitor Center in Provincetown. There are two visitors centres at each end of the Cape Cod National seashore that are open from late spring to fall. It’s a wonderful weekend break from city life in Boston or New York. Just throw on some extra layers and enjoy the peaceful solitude. You can feel you are in your very own natural paradise. The best thing about offseason Cape Cod National Seashore is that the crowds have thinned. October is a fabulous time to visit because Cape Cod in the fall is gorgeous. September is our favourite time to visit because the weather is still warm but the crowds are considerably less. Even then, peak high season is only the months of July and August. In reality though, its still offseason during the shoulder months when the kids are in school. The Cape Cod offseason is considered to run from October through April. You can go by car, ferry and plane on day trips from Boston MA to Provincetown on Cape Cod. You may recognise some of the other national seashores such as Cape Hatteras in the Outer Banks and Canaveral in Florida (also famous for the Kennedy Space Center). The Cape Cod towns encompassed by the National Seashore are mostly in Eastham, Wellfleet, Truro and Provincetown, with some shoreline in Chatham and Orleans.Ĭape Cod National Seashore is in the middle in terms of size among the 10 national seashores. With 44,000 acres of ponds, woods and beach, Cape Cod National Seashore covers most of the eastern end of Cape Cod that juts out to create Cape Cod Bay. Kennedy, Cape Cod National Seashore was created in June 1966. Cape Cod National Seashore Map Cape Cod National Seashore History.

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