In any other year, with weeks to go until we begin our new jobs, Jane and I would probably be on-board an airplane, hiking and photography gear packed, bound for literally anywhere, though probably somewhere far to the north (itineraries I prepared for Norway, the Outer Hebrides, and Newfoundland have been staring me in the face for years). But the pandemic is still very much ongoing, so we settle for a car-based getaway for three days to the eastern tip of our new state - the famous Cape Cod.
The Cape has loomed large in the imagination for awhile now, celebrated as it is by many of the natural writers, essayists, and poets whose work lines my bookshelves (Thoreau, Beston, Robert Finch, John Hay, and Mary Oliver among others). Like many parts of the Chesapeake, it is a place where the extreme beauties of natural and human history are entirely inseparable from one another - a vast fabric of edge communities and vibrant ecosystems, beloved landscapes and historic homesteads. In short, my favourite kind of place. For Jane and I, who became friends while studying and nerding out over wetland ecology and marine biology together (no joke), the Bay State was a dream place for us to wind up immediately after our long stint in the Chesapeake region. Early as we are in this new phase of our lives, it seemed appropriate for us to make a summer visit to the legendary Cape. One has the feeling that we will be back quite regularly.
On the first day of our trip, we leave Boston in the early morning, arriving at the Massachusetts Audubon Society’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary after about two hours of driving. We take a lovely stroll through the sanctuary’s well-maintained forest and marsh trails, Jane and I both photographing the abundant wildlife and flowering plants. The mudflats, covered with fiddler crabs, bubbling mollusks, and the shorebirds that prey upon them, are a special delight to explore.
Afterward, we take a brief walk along the bluffs overlooking Marconi Beach, and down the nearby trail that takes us into the upland forest and through picturesque swamp filled with Atlantic white cedars. With the dense canopy, these photograph quite well even in the harsh midday conditions of summer, if one takes cues from the light and gets a little creative. Emerging back into the scorching parking lot dehydrated and famished, we drive back south to Eastham for ice cream, soft drinks, a lobster roll, and stuffed clams (our vegetarianism is low-priority during vacation) at The Friendly Fisherman. Jane begins her binge streak of ordering clam chowder whenever she can, and I can hardly blame her.
After a brief afternoon nap, we stock up on food and drinks at Mac’s Seafood Market before driving a short distance south to Rock Harbour Beach. While photographing golden hour colors over the marsh, I get a taste of the rapidity of the Massachusetts Bay’s spring tide, which swarms up against my camera tripod legs in the short span of time it takes for us to take a selfie. Boot bottoms brackish and wet, we retreat to higher ground and photograph to my heart’s content - boats coming in along the harbour’s picturesque channel markers as the sun sets behind them. I end the day with only 2 insect bites - a bona fide miracle! Our new picaridin-based repellent seems to be working a treat.
