Long Pasture Wildlife Sanctuary

One of my friends lives by Long Pasture Wildlife Sanctuary, off of Rte 6A in Barnstable. It’s very easy to find, There is a sign for Harbor Point Restaurant at the beginning of the street, My friend can walk to a path in the backyard that goes to the beach which eventually leads to some steps that bring you to the trail, but not at high tide. Of course the day I went it was high tide. No big deal, just walked up the street to the pasture and started there. The trail almost looked like it was mowed. The path a bright green, haven’t seen that color since the middle of Fall, contrasting with the slightly taller brown grass that surrounds it. The Sanctuary is on both sides of Bone Hill Road. The west side consists of a group of trails that connect through the meadow. The trails are well marked with signs for each trail. Woodstock trail loops through bushes ending at 6A. Beck Family trail connects with it and brings you through Buttonbush Swamp and an old cornfield over to Harbor Point Rd. You can take Bone Hill trail across the street to the Spruce Forest that leads to the harbor, the visitor center, a butterfly mosaic and Ocean Song farm. The farm is small and has goats, turkeys and pigs. Long Pasture has the meadow, woods and the beach al in one, a good walk on a nice day.
         Another friend asked if I had seen any wild animals. Well the second day I did Long Pasture I saw a woodchuck. It was fast though, I reached for my camera and it disappeared. I need to practice my quick draw I guess. I have seen a lot of rabbits, but that’s it so far. One morning it was snowing so I went to my “home trail” Callery-Darling. No one else had walked it yet as there were no other footprints. I noticed some dog prints, not paying much attention until I realized 2 things. The first was that there were no people prints to go with them. The second was that they didn’t follow the trail. I had been told of coyotes, but that was the first time I saw signs of them. When I got to the end of the first part of the trail that day I saw a nice big thick stick. It was a little slippery that day because of the snow so I picked it up. Not only was it a perfect walking stick, but a perfect coyote stick ,just in case, lol.

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Ratings 1- the cellar  2- shoddy  3- tolerable  4- worthy  5- wicked good

Accessibility - 5  Bone Hill Rd off of 6A
Parking - 5 - across from pasture and at Visitor Center  $4 donation
Length-   4 - Can make it longer at low tide
Degree of Difficulty-  5 -easy with some hills
Dog Friendly- 2  not allowed in main area
Good for Family- 5 -  Kids will like the animals
Trail Markings-  5  Best yet - Signs pointing the way to all trails, harbor and visitor center
Trail Maintenance-   5-. Very well kept
Variation - 3 -  can change it up a little, but not much
Scenic  - 4 - Beautiful view of harbor

Beach -   access to walk - good at low tide

What I like - Pasture part is good for sunny day, can add miles at low tide
What I don’t like-  $4 - I know it’s for a good cause

Overall Rating-    43 out of 50