Kayaking Kettle Ponds – Cape Cod National Seashore MA – September 19, 2024

 

Getting ready to head out

The interior of Cape Cod is pock marked with about 365, round(ish), fresh-water ponds called kettle ponds.  They were formed when the ice sheet that formed Cape Cod retreated 18,000 years ago.  The ice sheet left behind great chunks of ice, that slowly melted and created deep ponds whose bottoms intersected with the fresh water aquifer.  The ponds have no in-flow sources of water, and only a few have an out-flow.  They are replenished by rain water and the water table.

 

We explored Gull, Higgins and Williams Ponds

We signed up for a National Park Ranger-led kayak paddle across three of these kettle ponds.  The trips are very popular, you can only sign up for them starting a week in advance, and they usually fill up the first day the list is open.   

 

Beautiful  tree-lined Gull Pond

We met at Gull Pond, which has a public parking lot, many of the kettle ponds do not have public access.  It was the first day of what was to become a 3+-day rain and wind storm.  We dressed in our kayak gear covered with rain pants and coats.  Only 5 of us showed up - 6 others had dropped out.  We were accompanied by a Ranger and a volunteer guide.

 

Gull Pond

Gull Pond is a beautiful, small, round lake.  It is surrounded with trees and a few summer cottages.  Some of the cottages have small boats pulled up on shore.  Back in the day, summer visitors came to Cape Cod to stay on the kettle ponds.  No one went to the beach and ocean except to fish or collect seaweed for the garden in those days.  After all, the ocean was full of seals and great white sharks, and was dangerous .[Note: the ocean is still full of seals, sharks and danger, just now days folks WANT to be on the beach and swim in the ocean.]

 

After the National Seashore was founded in 1961, no new dwellings were built within the seashore boundaries.  So, no new cottages will ever be built on these kettle ponds.  In 1961, there were almost no trees on Cape Cod.  It had been deforested for lumber for ships, buildings and fuel.  Under the National Seashore protection, forests have returned, and the trees are plentiful.  Cottages that once had a clear view of the water, now peek at it through the trees.

 

Gull Pond/Higgins Pond portage

We dragged our kayaks through a narrow sluice way between Gull Pond and the smaller Higgins Pond.  Higgins Pond is also connected with Herring Pond, which is connected via the Herring River to Cape Cod Bay.  Herring travel up the river to spawn in these freshwater ponds each Spring.

 

Water lillies approaching the Higgins/Williams portage

Higgins Pond is lined with lovely water lilies, with a few closed blossoms left in mid-September.  Higgins Pond has regular summer cottages and a few Cape Cod Modern Houses built around 1960.  These Bauhaus influenced houses were built with cheap or found materials.  They are boxy with simple lines, and large windows overlooking the ponds.  There are seven within the National Seashore boundaries, and a local Trust is buying and restoring them.  Some can now be rented from the Trust as vacation rentals.  We could see the few on this pond through the trees.

 

Late, late summer bloom

From Higgins Pond we made a portage over a narrow sluice to even tinier Williams Pond.  Williams Pond has even more water lilies.  The detritus from the water lillies has been accumulating on the bottom, and Williams Pond is no longer as deep as it once was.  You can see along its banks the 18^th century home of John Newcomb, a Wellfleet MA oysterman.  Henry David Thoreau describes staying with Newcomb in 1849 in his book Cape Cod.

 

Sorry for the water on the camera lens in these photos - it was raining

While we were in Higgins Pond, we could hear the surf crashing on the beach.  It sounded like it was almost on the other side of the trees.  It is always fun to be out paddling on the water, even in winds and heavy rain.  As we write this 2 days later, our leather kayak gloves are still wet, hanging from the shower curtain rod in the motorhome.

The Brave Surfmen at the Old Harbor Life-Saving Station – Cape Cod National Seashore MA – September 15, 2024

 

The Old Harbor Life-Saving Station at Race Point

The seas and sand bars off Cape Cod, a lonely peninsula sticking 25 miles out into the Atlantic Ocean, were treacherous to mariners.  3000 sailing ships ran aground on the shifting sand bars off the beach, and were often pounded apart by furious seas during violent storms. 

 

In 1877, the US Government created the U.S. Life-Saving Service to protect Cape Cod and other dangerous coastlines.  There were 14 Stations along Cape Cod.  They were built about 4 miles apart.  The Stations were staffed with an Officer (called the Keeper) and 6 surfmen.  They lived in the Station year-round, except for two months in the summer when they went home.  During the days, they would follow a strict regimen doing lifesaving drills and maintaining equipment. 

 

Surfmen prepared their meals on a coal stove.  

The Keepers quarters.  Coal hub heaters warmed the rooms.  Each station used an average of 16 tons of coal a year

Each night, surfmen would walk two miles (one headed in each direction) away from the Station, meeting up with a surfman who was walking from the next Station down (or up) the beach at a small halfway house.  They would exchange badges to prove they had made the walk, and then return to their respective Stations.  Upon their return, another set of surfmen would retrace the walk.  This was exhausting work, particularly during a storm.  If a surfman spotted a wreck, he ignited a flare.

 

Oar-powered rescue boat

Larger engine-powered rescue boat

Surfmen would drag, or use a horse to pull, rescue boats from out of the Station to the water’s edge.  They would row out into the storm, bringing back 5 shipwreck victims at a time in the small boat.  Later boats had engines and propellers.  The small size of the boat, and the few number of people who were rescued at a time, meant that the surfmen had to repeat the dangerous trip out to the wreck multiple times.

 

The shot line for the breeches buoy was carefully wrapped in the "faking box" so that it would not become tangled  

If conditions were too risky for a rescue boat, they used a contraption called a breeches buoy, basically a life ring, with a pair of canvas breeches fastened inside.  The surfmen would use a small cannon called a Lyle Gun to shoot a light weight line and pulley system from the shore to the ship.  The ships’ crew would attach the line to the ship, and the surfmen would erect a 12-foot-tall wooden crotch on the shore to suspend the shore end of the line.  Then, one victim at a time would “sit” in the breeches buoy and be pulled to shore.

 

The locations of the US Life-Saving Stations on Cape Cod and the Islands

In 1914, the Cape Cod Canal was opened, and ships could travel safely between New York and Boston without going around the Cape.  The Life-Saving Stations were disbanded on the Cape.  In 1915, The U.S. Life-Saving Service was incorporated into the U.S. Coast Guard.

 

While there was a Life-Saving Station at Race Point, the Old Harbor Station building located there now, was originally built and used further down the Cape in Chatham.  It was moved to the current location in 1978.  It is the last remaining Life-Saving Station on Cape Cod.

 

Note the huge sand dune on the left that has grown between the Station and the beach

When it was relocated, the Old Harbor Station building was placed close to the waters' edge on the beach, as the original Station would have been, giving the surfmen easy access to move their boats from the building into the water.  In the almost 50 years since then, a huge dune has formed between the shoreline and the Station.  Proof that Cape Cod is always changing, and that its sands are always shifting.

 

All you can see of the Station behind the dune from the beach

The Chicamacomico Life-Saving Station in Rodanthe, NorthCarolina is also open to the public, and a favorite stop of ours.  Both Station museums honor the brave men who risked their lives in incredibly dangerous circumstances.

A Tale of Two Lighthouses - Cape Cod National Seashore, MA September 10-12, 2024

 

Highland (Cape Cod) Lighthouse

Outer Cape Cod is beautiful.  The narrow outermost end of this 60-mile-long, curved peninsula is lined with mountainous sand dunes, in some places covered with trees, that fringe wide sand beaches along the Atlantic Ocean on one side and Cape Cod Bay on the other. 

 

Cape Cod has an iconic fish hook shape.  "Outer Cape" is what they call the curved pointy end of the hook.  It, and other areas further down the Cape, are the home of the Cape Cod National Seashore.  The Cape's close geologic and historic connection to the sea is best described by the many lighthouses that protect mariners along its coast.  We visited two of the four on the Outer Cape.

Highland Lighthouse from the rear 

 

The Highland Lighthouse is less than a mile from where we are camping in the town of North Truro. It is sometimes referred to as the Cape Cod Light because it is often the first light seen by mariners approaching Cape Cod from Europe. 

 

The view from the top

Highland Lighthouse was built at the top of a 125-foot clay cliff.  This part of Cape Cod erodes at a rate of 2-3 feet a year, and the 1831 brick structure eventually became perilously close to the edge.  So, in 1996 it was moved back 450 yards from the edge.

 

The lighthouse and part of the lighthouse keepers’ home are open to the public.  We climbed the 66 stairs up the 60-foot-tall structure to enjoy the beautiful view. 

 

Highland Light stairs

Near the lighthouse is Highland House, an old tourist guest house that is now a museum, and the historic Highland Golf Links 9-hole golf course.  It was interesting to approach the lighthouse with golfers playing on both sides of the path.

 

Race Point Lighthouse

While you can drive your car on roads to the Highland Lighthouse, you must use a 4-wheel drive vehicle or hike out to reach the Race Point Lighthouse.  Race Point is located at the furthest most point of the “fish hook” before it curves back on itself.  It is named for the strong tidal currents or “races” that make navigation around the tip of Cape Cod so treacherous.

 

The start of the walk

You time our hike at low tide, because that allows you to cut across an area of tidal wetland that is drained when the tide goes out.  It is about 1.5 miles each way.  At high tide, the walk is much longer.  The tides are 7 feet here.

 

Beautiful marshes as the tide recedes

The walk starts at the tiny Hatches Harbor parking lot.  The trail takes you through the woods, then along an elevated dike across much of the wetlands.  This part of the hike is lovely and scenic.  Most of this section of the walk is through loose sand, so it is slow and strenuous going.

 

Climbing the dunes

Then you slide down the side of the dike and traipse across the emptied wetland.  At the other side, you scramble back up over the dunes (more loose sand) to arrive at the lighthouse.

 

So pretty, so isolated

The lighthouse was not open when we were there, though it is open for tours 2 Saturday’s a month.  The lighthouse keepers house operates as an inn.  If you have a four-wheel drive vehicle, you can stay out there at the edge of the world.  We heard from someone that guests at the inn have seen whales swim by from their windows.  Imagine!

 

We continued along the 4-wheel drive road (more loose sand) to a lovely beach hosting a few beach goers and fishermen who found their way there by truck.