Can anyone give me information about the bike path - where does it start, how long, easy riding??, etc.

The Cape Cod Rail Trail starts in Dennis. At the start, there is a bike shop where you can rent bikes. I goes, I believe for 20-some miles and ends somewhere in the outer cape. It is flat and a great ride. It only crosses a street with traffic every mile or so, so you don't have to deal with cars. We rode from Dennis about 5 miles before turning around (we had our boys with us or we would have loved to go further). We passed fields, ponds, and other picturesque scenery. We took an ice cream break at a general store located along side the trail in Brewster. This is really a great bike ride!

The Cape Cod Rail Trail is considered one of the best of its kind, passing by many lovely locations, cranberry bogs, lakes, etc. It begins on Route 134 in Dennis right off of Exit 9 of the Mid-Cape highway (Route 6). It is just past the Patriot Square Shopping Center on Rt. 134 South, past another strip mall and gas station. You can't miss the entrance. It goes by the Pleasant Lake Country Store, which another writer mentioned, a good place to stop for a snack. It continues to the Lower Cape. I am not sure where it ends, as it was recently extended.

The Cape Cod Rail Trail runs for about 25 miles from Dennis to Wellfleet, ending near the Marconi Beach area. There is a great web site at <www.state.ma.us/dem/parks/ccrt.htm> with a trail map, description, and directions to the various parking areas next to the trail. I've ridden about half of the trail, and it is a lovely and fairly easy ride.

There is also a bike path in Provincetown that goes from the town out through the Provincelands to the beach at Race Point. This is a beautiful ride, although a little more challenging as it goes through the dunes and gets fairly hilly in spots. It's been about five years since I was on this trail, and I've heard that it is deteriorating in places, which is a shame, since it's such a lovely trail.

There was an article about the Cape Cod rail trail in the NY Times Sunday Travel section last Sunday (not 8/24, the one before that). You might check their website/archives for it. It had suggestions for places to eat, described the riding, etc.

HTH!

Ramona,

We visited the Cape in June and did a large portion of the trail (Brewster to Wellfleet and return) in one day, then my husband finished it in the other direction (Brewster to Dennis and return) the next day, and meanwhile, I ran a portion of that part. We are avid bikers--we live in an area with a large rail-trail system, and we found this rail trail to be fabulous. It is very easy to bike--all asphalt, just a few bumpy areas. We found most riders had good etiquette even with children and stayed on their appropriate side and rode single file (an unusual occurence in many areas). There are lots of trail heads from which you can access the trail, so I would do as one of the previous posters suggested and get a trail map to find out where you want to enter from. Some lodgings in the area also offer direct access to the trail (Ocean Edge Resort in Brewster was ours). If you bike it along the section near the national seashore, there was one diversion we took off the trail, I believe it was to Nauset Light Beach (but not 100% positive), anyway, it was about a 1-2 mile bike ride through the forest to get to the shore. The ride through the forest was magnificent. You will enjoy wherever you ride.

The best bike path on Cape Cod is the ProvinceLands bike trail in Provincetown. The trail starts and ends at the Provincelands ranger station and does not go into town. The path goes through a forest area and through the sand dunes and legs go to Race Point Beach and Herring Cove Beach. The Cape Cod rail trail is nice however parts of it can be pretty boring and it does get crowded.For more info go to nps.org