Cape Cod 2023: Cliff Pond Trail at Nickerson State Park

Cape Cod 2023: Cliff Pond Trail at Nickerson State Park – 5/5/23 – 3 miles

A weather forecast of another cloudy day, possible light rain = decision time for Plan B.

Our original idea to bike on a Cape Cod rail trail didn’t appeal to me, but Jim isn’t put off by a little rain. We quickly performed the McCarthy Pivot: Jim will bike as planned and I’ll hike at local Nickerson State Park in Brewster. 

We were up early in the morning but had to wait until the bike rental shop opened at 10:00 a.m. To pass the time we walked a nice loop around “our” neighborhood, past Sheep Pond where our Airbnb host has SUP’s and kayaks for our use (too cold today, but thanks!)

We visited Snow Owl, the local coffee shop, then headed to the bike shop. Not open yet…if no one shows up by 10:15 a.m. then Jim will go hiking with me. At 10:14 a.m. the owner came cruising in. Jim got his rental started (the rail trail was right across the street) and I hightailed myself to Nickerson State Park armed with a paper copy of the park map from our Airbnb and the trails downloaded on my GAIA app.

In summer season, access to everything on Cape Cod costs money, beaches, state parks, etc. We were still a week early so Nickerson State Park was not yet charging $30 for a non-resident day pass (don’t take NC's free parks for granted!)

The Cliff Pond Trail loop is the centerpiece of this impressive park. There are several other ponds and many other hiking trails, but this was the best choice for my time frame. I walked the loop counterclockwise. The trail skirts the water’s edge in places and goes up into the woods at times, almost always within sight of the water. 

Very little contrast today between the flat gray sky and the pond, but the water is purportedly very clean and I could feel the appeal of a camping, paddling and swimming weekend.

Easy to get to the water from the campsites

The worn, eroded trails on the eastern side of the loop reminded me of some North Carolina
 state parks that are “loved to death” – but what is the remedy? 

How clear the water is!

I passed a fishing committee early in my hike, fishing poles set into the sand as the men (all men) discussed whatever it is fisher folk discuss. They politely said hello but didn’t ask questions of me coming along with my daypack and hiking poles.

An interesting little cove - water lilies?

No place to pee! I was as discreet as I could be, given all the coffee I’d consumed while waiting to start the day.

I crossed paths with locals from time to time, nice to see people out. For them the weather was probably normal, but I wanted some blue skies after so many days of chilly wind.

Another fishing conference

After my hike I was early for my rendezvous time with Jim, so I stopped at the local Brewster Bookstore and bought a book with an intriguing title: Cape Cod Camino Way: Walking With A Purpose by local author Peggy Jablonsi. I read it after I returned home – local history and sites with a social justice background. Wish I’d had it prior to our visit.

The rain never materialized. Back to home base to freshen up, followed by a stroll through the town of Chatham – blue skies at last! We’ll drink to that!

Chatham Light

Adult beverages at The Chatham Squire

“Make your heart like a lake with a calm,
still surface and great depths of kindness.”
~Lao Tzu

Cape Cod National Seashore: Race Point Lighthouse

Cape Cod R&R 2023: Race Point Lighthouse Hike – 5/4/23 – 4.5 miles

A week after our younger daughter got married in April 2023, Jim and I whisked ourselves away to Cape Cod. After many months of planning and spreadsheets, the wedding was a beautiful and (dare I say it?) flawless celebration with family and friends. The honeymoon? Why, yes, the father and mother of the bride were ready for some R&R.

Rain arrived in Boston when we did and lingered for most of our visit, but it didn’t “dampen” our plans. We were a week ahead of the spring/summer season, very few people and free access to all beaches. Chilly gale force winds couldn’t stop us from roaming all around the Cape! The sunsets were gorgeous, the seafood was delicious, and we found adventures everywhere.

We spent one day driving up the east coast from Orleans to Provincetown, checking out coffee shops and Cape Cod National Seashore lighthouses and beaches.

Nauset Lighthouse near Eastham, MA, built in 1877
 (iconic photo on a bag of potato chips, haha)

We walked the sandy access path to peek at the powerful surf and brooding clouds.
No toe dips today, thanks!

Three Sisters of Nauset Lighthouse Station were first established in 1838. Over the years the girls got around, moving to different locations in the neighborhood before they were reunited close to home in 1975, went through fabulous spa treatments and reopened to the public in 1989. 

Mechanical engineer Jim insisted on stopping at the Marconi Wireless Station Site where the first transatlantic wireless communication between the United States and Europe took place on January 18, 1903. Just a couple of years later, the station was closed due to fear of dune erosion. The equipment was removed, erosion eventually happened, and the remaining buildings fell into the ocean. 

We walked the paved path from the parking area to the top of some dunes for an ocean view – imagination required.

Next stop: Province Lands Visitor Center near Provincetown at the northern tip of Cape Cod. We chatted with the ranger and told her we were interested in walking to Race Point Lighthouse. She said it was “about a mile” walking on the beach from the public access at Race Point Beach.

[Race Point Lighthouse is maintained by the Cape Cod Chapter of the American Lighthouse Foundation, meaning volunteers and donations keep it going.]

So…we parked at Race Point Beach and started walking

It was soon after high tide and we had plenty of sand, waves, gloomy skies, brisk wind, and one seal bobbing in the water. What we did not have was human company.

We walked and walked, Jim tracking with his GAIA GPS. After a mile and a half, we began to wonder if we would see the lighthouse above the dunes. How close is it to the water’s edge? Or have we passed it? But GAIA said, nope, we have a ways to go.

We saw an SUV driving along the beach ahead of us. It stopped, then moved on, stopped again, and we caught up with the driver, a photographer. When we asked about the lighthouse, he thought we should keep going “around the bend” and we would see it.

Ummm, which bend?

By now we knew the ranger wasn’t accurate, obviously she had never walked to the lighthouse herself. Not ready to concede defeat, we pushed on and soon spotted a break in the dunes. Jim climbed up and sighted the lighthouse, so we left the beach and walked through the dunes another 15 minutes to reach it. [I am not sure if this was the real beach access or not. Let me know if you know].

The buildings, as expected, were all closed and we took a little time peeking in windows and reading signs. [You can spend the night if you have the funds – a way to support the foundation.] Looking at the time, we decided to walk back via the rough “road” through the dunes instead of returning to the beach – at least we could follow tire tracks. 

Deep sand, slow going, not setting any speed records

The Lesson: We were unprepared for this hike, thinking it would be one mile out, one mile back, an hour at most – no backpacks, no water, no food, just rain gear and our puffy jackets (at least we were that smart, because it was quite chilly). Just always carry your backpacks and 10 essentials, people!

To reset our mindset after the expedition, we headed to Provincetown looking for food,
no dillydallying. We found heaven at The Lobster Pot.

A beer for Jim and Stormalong cider for me

Clam chowder and baked cod stuffed with lobster
 (we share dishes because food is expensive on the Cape)

Sated and hydrated, we strolled around Provincetown. Some businesses were not open on a cold weekday ahead of the season, but we enjoyed the colorful houses and murals.

Wait! There’s one more lighthouse to see on the drive back to our lodgings: Highland Lighthouse in Truro, MA

“Love is a lighthouse: it shines through darkest fears and helps you get where you want to be.” ~Janet Todd

Dismal Swamp State Park & Merchants Millpond State Park

Dismal Swamp State Park – 3/13/23 – 2.5 Miles
Merchants Millpond State Park - 3/15/23 – 1.5 Miles

I’ve visited more than half of North Carolina’s state parks, mostly in the mountainous western regions. Now I’m checking out the others, learning about the Piedmont and the coast. You know I love a must-see list.

I’ve made side trips to some parks en route to other destinations. However, exploring the far eastern gems meant deliberate planning over several days, so I combined a family event in Virginia with a trip to the northeastern NC counties. Mid-March is a sleepy time of year to visit this part of the state, but with an Airbnb home base in Edenton I enjoyed several days of discovery in two parks – natural beauty, history, and people.

Dismal Swamp State Park

North Carolina's Dismal Swamp State Park is a small part (14,000 acres) of the 113,000-acre Great Dismal Swamp that stretches across southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina. The Great Dismal Swamp is the largest intact portion of a great swamp that once exceeded 1 million acres.

The swamp’s natural history is described in many sources. Its human history as a refuge for escaped enslaved persons, known as maroons, was not taught when I was growing up in the 1960’s in a rural Virginia town barely 100 miles away. As an adult, I feel drawn to this history.

The Dismal Swamp Canal Welcome Center is on US Highway 17 North in South Mills, NC. [It is not affiliated with the park itself.] Visitors park there and walk across a swing bridge spanning the Dismal Swamp Canal. The bridge gives access to the state park’s Visitor Center and park trails, opening on a schedule for boats and paddlers.

The canal was created for inland trade between Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay and North Carolina’s Albemarle Sound. The Welcome Center website’s video calls it “the oldest manmade continuously operating waterway in the country,” which I feel is a poor euphemism for the fact that enslaved persons dug the canal in horrendous conditions over 12 years. Searching a bit deeper on the website produces a more detailed history. The idea that today the canal is used for paddling and pleasure boating doesn't sit right with me.

Looking north as I crossed the bridge

Under a brooding, overcast sky I walked the half-mile Swamp Boardwalk Trail. The temperature was too cold to notice any wildlife about – at least I didn’t see any, although I might have been seen. Having read about the maroons hiding/living in the swamps, I tried to imagine surviving here in any season, each with its discomforts (to say the least).

Read more: Dismal Freedom: A History of the Maroons of the Great Dismal Swamp by J. Brent Morris

Cypress knees

Places to sit and watch for birds and other critters

Most of the other trails in the park are a grid configuration of old logging roads, which I didn’t have the time or inclination to walk on today. The Supple-Jack Trail was right up my alley, a meander through the swamp and a return to the start on Canal Road. [Note: Supplejack is a native climbing vine.]

Canal Road

Moonshine operations back in the day

After my hike, I chatted with Melvin, who was operating the swing bridge today. Melvin retired recently and quickly became bored, so started working part-time at the park. When I told him I’m visiting all the NC state parks, his eyes sparkled. He said, “You know, I should do something like that. All the years I worked, I never traveled for fun.” I encouraged him to start with a short trip to one place and see how much he loves it. I enjoyed the conversation with this gregarious fellow and I hope he finds his way to get out there!

Merchants Millpond State Park 

The morning that I visited Merchants Millpond State Park in Gatesville, NC, was windy and quite cold (34 degrees) but lit up by cheery blue skies. I was the lone car at the Visitor Center, where I got the general rundown of the area’s history from Kathy, also a part-time park employee like Melvin. [More about Kathy’s back story below.]

Millponds are manmade damming of creeks to create power for mill operations back in the day. The millpond at the center of the park, originally called Norfleets Millpond, was built in 1811 – yes, over 200 years ago! According to the park’s brochure, “Gristmills, a sawmill, a farm supply store and other enterprises made the area the center of trade in Gates County. Thus, the pond became known as Merchants Millpond.”

The park is small, a bit more than 3,500 acres encircling the millpond and part of Lassiter Swamp. It features a few trails and all kinds of camping, from car camping to backcountry to paddle-in campsites. Again my time was limited because of the long drive home ahead of me. I wanted to get close to the water, so I walked around the Cypress Point Trail loop and then a short distance on Bennetts Creek Trail.

Magical stillness in the early morning light

Spillway at the road crossing

No critters in sight here, either. I'll have to return in warmer weather to check out the American alligators, turtles, frogs and snakes (oh my!)

Kathy’s back story: When she was thinking of college, she sought a guidance counselor’s advice for careers in the outdoors because she liked hiking and nature. The female counselor discouraged her, saying that it was a lonely career for a woman, she might be posted in remote locations, the outdoors was dangerous with animals, etc. So Kathy didn’t follow that dream. She recently moved to the Gates County area and saw that MMSP was hiring, and she’s very happy working in a field that she’s always loved. 

News flash: Outdoors and public lands careers feature women at every level (including our current U.S. Secretary of the Interior). I hope that guidance counselors everywhere are encouraging girls to follow that “outside voice!”

“Natural beauty, history, and people – treasures in
North Carolina State Parks.”
 ~Sharon McCarthy