South Cape Beach

Great Flat Pond Trail

South Cape Beach

Mashpee, Ma.

October 2, 2009

I got an early start on this Friday morning.  Leaving home as soon as the kids were off for school,  I arrived at South Cape Beach by 8:10 am.

After a brief stop in the Mashpee Town Beach parking lot for a look at Martha’s Vineyard Sound, I backtracked to the Bayberry Lot across the road from the Great Flat Pond Trailhead.

It was about 8:30 when I walked off the road at the trailhead. The brush was still damp. The first 25 feet of the trail is very tight,  almost like no trail at all and with the morning dew still on the leaves,  I was getting wet fast.

Once I was out of the thick brush it dawned on my that there might have been a deer tick of two in those bushes. Just before reaching a plank trail the brush opened enough for me to see. My jeans were freckled with ticks and they were crawling on my arms and fleece pullover.  Great way to begin a hike.  I had to stop for a few minutes and pick them off.

The plank trail continued on to a small bridge over a culvert.

Once out of the bushes, the trail turned south toward the Sound and some views opened up.

In spots along the trail there were glimpses of tidal pools at the marsh edge.

After about a quarter mile the trail turned dry and for the most part remained dry with only a few scattered plank walks.

Trail dries out

There were more marsh views on the other side of the loop. These views are looking out toward Sage Lot Pond to the southwest.

Further south overlooking Sage Lot Pond

This used home looked vacant

The end of the trail back at the Bayberry Lot. It took me 35 minutes to walk the loop without more than a few minutes of stopping to brush off ticks. Surprisingly, there were no animal signs, with the exception of where a white and grey bird had been killed and eaten by possibly a fox;  no scat, no tracks. I was the first through the trail that day as the spider webbing across the trail attested. I had the place to myself.

I still had the rest of the morning,  so headed up to the beach parking lot to sit on a rock and eat the bagel I had picked up on the way.

That’s Vineyard Haven about three miles across the Sound. The gull in the forground and a couple of his pals were closely watching my bagel. They didn’t get any.

I decided to walk down the sandy trail toward Dead Neck.

I was enjoying my solitary morning stroll along the beach, when I came across this.

This was cause for pause.  Was this a problem here at South Cape Beach during warmer days.  I had no prior plans to do any nude sunbathing, but it would sure be a good way to make sure I had gotten all the ticks off.

I crossed the boardwalk to the beach still pondering the question.

This bench was at the end of the boardwalk on the beach.  I decided to sit for a minute and enjoy the view.

There was no one in sight. I had the beach to myself.  But, as if to make sure that I got the message, there was another one of these.  This place must have a summertime problem with people keeping their bathing suits on.

As I was the only one on the beach there was no chance of catching any nude sunbathers, so I crossed back on the boardwalk.  Off to my right I noticed something odd.

This required investigation.

Covered with ribbons and bows,  ornaments and Christmas wishes, this apparently is a year round attraction. Beneath the tree is a small happy  snowman.

After 20 minutes of No Nude Sunbathing and Christmas wishes,  I figured it was time to move along. It was still early in the day and I still had time on my hands.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 2nd, 2009 at 10:15 pm and is filed under Cape Cod Hiking, Hiking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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