If you love to swim, explore the kettle ponds of Cape Cod

If you love to swim, explore the kettle ponds of Cape Cod

Pam LeBlanc wades into Sheep Pond on Cape Cod on Sept. 7, 2021. Chris LeBlanc photo

You can keep your chlorine-infused swimming pools and crowded ocean beaches.

When in Cape Cod, I head for the kettle ponds, shimmering pools of water formed when huge blocks of ice melted at the end of the last Ice Age, leaving behind depressions that eventually filled with water. In all, about a thousand such ponds pockmark the Cape, and if you love swimming as much as I do, they serve up the equivalent of an all-you-can-eat buffet.

I’m visiting a friend who has a family home midway up the Cape this week, and as I always do when I visit, I’m making it a point to take a dip in as many kettle ponds as possible.

If you prefer swimming in natural pools of water like I do, this is the stuff of dreams. It’s also nice to know that the burgeoning local population of great white sharks, drawn to Cape Cod by the exploding population of seals, never visits these inland ponds. (For the record, I’m a fan of sharks and scuba dive with them frequently. I just don’t like bobbing at the surface without gear on when they’re in the area.)

Pam’s favorite kettle ponds

A girl swings on a rope tied to a tree at Flax Pond in Dennis, on Cape Cod. Pam LeBlanc photo

In the three days I’ve been here so far this year, I’ve swum in four ponds – Flax Pond, a circular, pine-lined oasis of tea-colored water where you might find a kid swinging off a rope swing tied to a tree but you won’t find crowds; Upper Mill Pond, where you can glide out to a pair of floating docks and take a breather; Slough Pond, which you can swim directly across on your way to investigate a kids’ camp on the other side; or my favorite, Sheep Pond, a hidden gem of a swimming hole with a peaceful lagoon and some overly-friendly ducks.

These ponds feed my insatiable desire to swim in natural bodies of water, where strands of aquatic plants tickle my toes, and a fish might nibble my kneecap at any moment. I love the adventure of it, and the feeling of getting close to nature. I’ll swim to the center of one of these ponds, spin slowly around to admire the surrounding screen of trees, then dive beneath the surface before surfacing like an otter.

Something about swimming this way, in a deep, kettle-shaped pool designed by nature, without stripes on the bottom to guide me or walls to constrain me, makes me happy to the core. It feels old-school, and I bet it hasn’t changed much in the last 100 years.

So many visitors to Cape Cod are bent on finding the ocean. I like the occasional swim there, just for fun, but when I really want to log some distance, I’ll take the ponds every time. Next time you’re in Massachusetts in the summer, you should too.

Sailboats are anchored at Upper Mill Pond on Cape Cod. Pam LeBlanc photo

 

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I’m Pam LeBlanc. Follow my blog to keep up with the best in outdoor travel and adventure. Thanks for visiting my site.

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Best way to get around Cape Cod? Bicycle, of course!

Best way to get around Cape Cod? Bicycle, of course!

 

Cyclists stream along the Cape Cod Rail Trail on Aug. 7, 2019. Pam LeBlanc photo

The best way to get around Cape Cod?

By bike, of course, especially when a bike path connects a slew of small towns and provides easy access to bike shops, ice cream stores, kettle ponds and ocean beaches.

I spent five days on the Cape last week with friends who have a summer house there. We pedaled our way from our home base in Dennis to destinations all up and down the 25.5-mile Cape Cod Rail Trail.

The Cape Cod Rail Trail stretches 25.5 miles along Cape Cod, connecting towns, beaches, bike shops, restaurants and ponds like this one, Seymour Pond. Pam LeBlanc photo

We zipped along the smooth, flat ribbon of asphalt on our way to explore Crosby Beach and stopped for ice cream in Orleans. I experienced my first biking round-about (cool!) and stopped for a dip in beautiful Seymour Pond, which abuts the trail. Every time we zoomed through a tunnel, we all hollered to hear the echo.

We also pedaled back toward the mainland in pursuit of Long Pond in Yarmouth, one of nine kettle ponds I dipped a toe in during my visit. The trail provides easy access to Nickerson State Park, home to some of the best ponds I experienced during my trip.

Shops, restaurants and ice cream stands are easily accessible from the trail. Pam LeBlanc photo

The trail follows the route of an old railroad line that went bankrupt in 1970s. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts bought the land in 1976, and started building the trail a few years later. The first 19 miles were unveiled in 1981, and additional sections have opened since. Most recently, a 5.7-mile stretch between Dennis and Yarmouth was added in 2018, and plans call for ultimately extending the path all the way from Barnstable to the west to Provincetown at the tip of the Cape.

It’s fun to yell when you pedal through the tunnels along the trail. It makes a nice echo. Pam LeBlanc photo

Trail users can park for free at 13 points along the route, which currently links Yarmouth, Dennis, Harwich, Chatham, Brewster, Orleans, Wellfleet and the Cape Cod National Seashore. The Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation maintains the route.

Need a bike? Rent one from one of more than a dozen bike shops along the way. (Check out the list at Cape Cod Visitors Directory.)

The trail is open from dawn to dusk. By law, children 16 and under must wear helmets.

 

 

 

About Pam

I’m Pam LeBlanc. Follow my blog to keep up with the best in outdoor travel and adventure. Thanks for visiting my site.

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