The Cape Cod Central Railroad reached down the peninsula in the 1860s, became part of the Old Colony line, ended its days under Penn Central and was eventually pulled up. What is left is 25.5 miles of paved trail running from Station Avenue in South Yarmouth to LeCount Hollow Road in Wellfleet, through seven towns, on a grade that was laid for locomotives and therefore barely rises at all.
That flatness is the point and also the thing people plan around badly. A trail with no hills tempts riders into distances their legs are not ready for, and the Rail Trail is an out-and-back: whatever you ride away from the car, you ride back.
The segments
| Stretch | Roughly | What it looks like |
|---|---|---|
| South Yarmouth to Dennis, Route 134 | 2.5 miles | The newest western end. Suburban, useful mainly as extra mileage |
| Dennis to Harwich, Route 124 | 5.5 miles | Cranberry bogs and kettle ponds. The most photographed section and the busiest |
| Harwich to Brewster and Nickerson | 4.5 miles | Pitch pine and scrub oak, quieter, with the state park gate off to the left |
| Brewster to Orleans | 4.5 miles | Woodland giving way to the back of Orleans; a spur drops down to Rock Harbor |
| Orleans to Eastham, Salt Pond | 3.5 miles | Crosses into National Seashore country; the visitor centre is right on it |
| Eastham to Wellfleet, LeCount Hollow | 5 miles | The emptiest and prettiest stretch, ending a short walk from the ocean |
The Dennis trailhead on Route 134 is the classic starting point and, for exactly that reason, the one that fills first on a July morning. If you want a car space after ten o'clock in high summer, start at Harwich, Brewster or Orleans instead.
Four rides that work
Two hours, with children. Park at Nickerson State Park in Brewster and ride the Harwich direction, then turn round at Long Pond. Almost no road crossings, shade most of the way, and eight miles of the park's own trails to escape onto if the main trail feels busy.
Half a day, the classic. Dennis to Harwich and back, around eleven miles round trip through the cranberry country. Do it before nine or after four in summer.
A full day, end to end. South Yarmouth to Wellfleet is 51 miles there and back, which is a serious day for most people. The usual solution is to ride one way and arrange a lift, or to split it across two days from a Lower Cape base.
The one that ends at the ocean. Park at Salt Pond in Eastham, ride the Nauset Bike Trail spur down to Coast Guard Beach, and come back. It is under two miles each way and it is the only part of the network with real hills, short steep ones through the marsh. Swim, then climb back up.
The spurs, which are where the good riding is
The Rail Trail is the spine. The branches are better.
- Old Colony Rail Trail leaves the main line in Harwich and runs six to eight miles down to Chatham, finishing near the centre of one of the best towns on the Cape to arrive in on a bicycle.
- Nickerson State Park holds roughly eight miles of paved trails around Flax Pond and Cliff Pond, connected directly to the main trail.
- Nauset Bike Trail, Eastham, links Salt Pond Visitor Center to Coast Guard Beach.
- Province Lands Trail in Provincetown is 5.25 miles of twisting, genuinely hilly asphalt through the dunes behind Race Point. It is not a flat rail trail and should not be treated as one.
- Head of the Meadow Trail in Truro is about two miles of flat, quiet riding between the beach road and High Head.
- Shining Sea Bikeway runs roughly ten and a half miles from Falmouth down to Woods Hole along Buzzards Bay, on another old railbed, and is the best ride on the Upper Cape by a distance.
- The Cape Cod Canal service roads give you about seven miles of dead-flat tarmac on each bank with no road crossings at all and ships going past. For nervous riders and very young children this is the safest cycling on the peninsula, and it is free.
Parking, crossings and the honest hazards
Most trailhead lots charge nothing, though the Nickerson State Park entrance and the National Seashore visitor centre have their own arrangements. Lots at Dennis, Harwich, Brewster, Orleans, Eastham and Wellfleet all give onto the trail directly.
The trail crosses roads at grade in a number of places, and a few of those crossings are on roads carrying real summer traffic, including Route 137 and Route 124 in Harwich and the approaches to Orleans. The crossings are marked and most have refuges, but drivers arriving from the mainland are not expecting a cycle route across their windscreen. Stop and look. Every year somebody does not.
The other hazards are ordinary and worth naming anyway. The trail is shared with walkers, dog walkers, runners and roller skiers, so call your pass. Pitch pine roots have lifted the surface in places. And in the last hour before sunset the light comes flat down the corridor straight into your eyes.
Hiring a bike
Shops sit at or near most of the main trailheads, in Dennis, Brewster, Orleans, Eastham and Wellfleet, and several will deliver to a rental cottage. Expect to pay a daily rate rather than an hourly one for anything more than a couple of hours, with child seats, trailers and tag-alongs widely available. Book ahead in July and August; the fleet is finite and a wet morning followed by a clear afternoon empties every shop on the Lower Cape.
On electric bikes, the rules are genuinely inconsistent along a single continuous ribbon of asphalt: state law, individual town bylaws, state park policy and National Park Service policy all apply to different stretches, and they do not say the same thing about throttles and speed classes. Ask the shop which classes are permitted where you intend to ride, and read the signs at the trailheads rather than assuming.
Last updated
Opening hours, ordinances and prices move with the season. We re-check this guide rather than rewrite it, and the date above is the last time someone did. How we research and correct.
