Biking Head of the Meadow Trail at Cape Cod National Seashore

See the Biking web page for an interactive location map.

Length: 2 miles
Difficulty: Easy

Head of the Meadow Trail is a paved, multi-use path that is open to pedestrians, bikers, and skaters. It runs approximately two miles between a parking lot at the end of High Head Road and Head of the Meadow Beach. There are no mid-trail access points.

High Head Road is full of potholes, and while you don’t need a 4-Wheel Drive, expect a rough ride on your way to the parking lot. I had bikes on the back of my truck, and they were bouncing up and down so violently that I was expecting the bike rack to break. I drove at a snail’s pace to limit the bouncing. I can’t stress enough how awful this road is. The parking area has room for plenty of vehicles—more than I can ever imagine would want to park here—and there is a two-hour time limit. The parking lot is located at an Off-Road Vehicle access point.

I rode my bike on the trail starting at the High Head Road parking lot. The trail is flat, but it is quite bumpy. Expect to get jostled everywhere you see grass growing up through a crack in the pavement.

Cracks in the trail make for a bumpy ride

The only attraction along the trail is the site of Pilgrim Spring, a fresh-water spring (now dry) discovered by the Mayflower Pilgrims in 1620. While they eventually settled across Cape Cod Bay in Plymouth, the cape is the first land they spotted and explored. The site is marked with a granite memorial on the right side of the trail about .75 mile from High Head Road.

Granite memorial marks the Pilgrim Spring site

The trail ends at Head of the Meadow Beach. There is a bike rack next to the bathhouse. Keep in mind that there is a charge to use the beach during the summer even if you arrive on bike or on foot.