Tomorrow, Saturday, June 3, is National Trails Day.
This would be a good day (with beautiful weather) to meet or reacquaint yourself with the Wellfleet Conservation Trust trails, including the newest trail at the Herring River Overlook.
Date: Friday, April 28th (10 a.m. – noon)
Cost: $20 per person. Reserve. Driving directions included in your confirmation receipt.
Sponsored by Harwich Conservation Trust and Wellfleet Conservation Trust, join Mark McGrath for a hike around the seven ponds area in Wellfleet while recalling fascinating stories and conversations between Thoreau and locals as discussed in his book, Cape Cod, featuring this region.
This unique corner of the Outer Cape was where Bauhaus architects including Gropius, Breuer, and others enjoyed idyllic beach lifestyles in their ‘modern’ and inexpensive summer houses.
This hike will begin and end at Newcomb Hollow Beach and will cover 2.5 miles across unpaved roads and several well-travelled social trails in the woods.
The WCT Fourteenth Annual Walk will take place on Saturday morning, September 17th. The walk is free and is 2.4 miles in length. The terrain will be mostly on dirt roads and paths in the woods. Topics will include Spectacle Pond, Kinnacum Pond, ice houses, the Gross sisters, Dr. Belding and perhaps Tupelo trees.
Parking is a concern so it is important to register in advance by sending an email no later than August 31st to: wct.annual.walk@gmail.com
Please include email address and the names of all participants who will be arriving in your car.
Final details, including start time and parking locations will be sent to you the first week in September. Rain date will be the next day, Sunday the 18th.
We hope you’ll join us – it’s been too long!
Robert Finch writes:
Over the past several months, I’ve introduced several of our friends to an extraordinary property recently acquired by the Wellfleet Conservation Trust. I don’t usually talk about “official” conservation areas on this program, because I don’t want to imply that “nature” is only to be found in formally protected areas. But this one is special. The property in question is called the Herring River Overlook.
You can listen to his podcast about the Herring River Overlook on A Cape Cod Notebook on WCAI.
Come celebrate Earth Day, Friday, April 22 with the Wellfleet Conservation Trust.
We are offering a walk through a portion of the Fox Island Marsh & Pilgrim Springs Woodland Conservation Area at 10 a.m. Meet at the parking area off Baker Rd. in South Wellfleet.
The one-hour walk features the marsh and harbor views and background information on the area. This mildly challenging walk includes up and downhill terrain. Sturdy walking shoes are advised.
For more than 15 years, the Wellfleet Conservation Trust (WCT) and two Wellfleet-town committees have worked in partnership to provide walking trails on designated conservation lands. All of these trails are outside of the Cape Cod National Seashore and the Wellfleet Bay Sanctuary of Mass Audubon who have some of their own nice trails. On the WCT website, see the down-loadable map called “Wellfleet Open Space and Conservation Lands” for all the conservation land in town.
WCT works most closely with the Open Space Committee (OSC) which is charged with evaluating town owned lands and designating additional lands for acquisition for conservation purposes, including installation of trails, i.e. “passive recreation”. The OSC has had its eye on currently town-owned land which would have a best use as conservation land whether just for pure conservation purposes without trails, or with trails. The OSC then works through Town Meeting to get the land placed under the care and custody of the Conservation Commission (ConsCom).
This has been a very effective partnership leading to trails on eight of the areas designated for conservation. In these areas, the underlying lands are owned variously by WCT and the Town, under the care and custody of ConsCom. The underlying ownership divisions on the land are intentionally invisible so the public can enjoy the underlying conserved land without interruption. The land is cared for by feeownership for conservation purposes and protection under contractual conservation restrictions. In some places the land is owned by the Town with a conservation restriction held by WCT. In other places, it is the reverse. See the map below called WCT and Town Conservation Trails which shows the locations of these trails.
The partnership then maintains the trails through work parties consisting of the WCT trustees, and volunteers, along with members of the town committees. There are times when the efforts are greatly supplemented by the members of AmeriCorps of Cape Cod who bring skills and endurance through youth and contagious enthusiasm.
There are trail maps and guides, in hard copy, that are provided at various public locations such as the Library and Town Hall. Also, these trail maps and guides are available for download or printing from the WCT website.
Enjoy your walks in Wellfleet. There is a lot to appreciate.
Wellfleet Conservation Trust 
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