Bell's Neck Conservation Land

  

    The threat of a Nor'easter sent me to my home trail last Friday. Luckily it was just a threat and I walked in cloudy chilly weather. The two days before that I walked the cranberry bog on West Yarmouth Road by the back entrance to Horse Pond. The Cape is an awesome place to walk, there are so many choices. Beaches, trails and bogs, each is so different, you can never get bored.
     Sun in the sky, still a chill in the air, but nice especially if it was January . High tide at the time I was going to walk. New trail, which one? Since there was a chill I decided on an area that was away from the beaches and picked a new town to try also. I picked Harwich and Bell's Neck Conservation Land.  There are eight trails on the list that are taken care of by The  Harwich conservation Trust . The day before I was driving on Great Western Road in Harwich and I passed an international hiking sign next to Bell’s Neck Road so I decided I would try it first.
      There is a parking area with a kiosk on the left just past the Cape Cod Rail Trail. I saw a trail connected to the parking area and followed that thinking it was the trail. Nope. Just a short trail that heads up the hill and to different paths connecting to the Rail Trail. Looking at the map I brought I started walking down Bell’s Neck away from the Rail Trail and with the west reservoir on my right and the east reservoir on my left. There was a trail on the right just past the water. I ended up making the right choice (go figure) and hiked along a narrow hilly path that ended up at the herring river on the other side of the west reservoir. This is also a great place to come to watch the herring run. The path widens again as it loops around with some trail arrows on a couple of trees about half way through this side of the trail. I had just heard on TV that the weather conditions on Cape Cod were perfect for forest fires. I was walking up a hill and could smell fire. The trees and ground on both sides of the trail were black and smoldering. Scary !! Not sure when the fire occurred but glad I wasn't caught in it. On the way back another trail leads back to Bell’s Neck Rd. with another path on the other side. This trail leads to a walking bridge that connects with North Rd. I went over the bridge and turned around when I got to the houses heading back the same way I had come to the parking area.
     From the Parking area walk towards the Rail Trail and there is the north trail on the west side of the street. I didn’t see it on the way in. Since I had done about 5 miles I decided to come back the next day and finish up. I think that so far Bell’s Neck is the most scenic of the inland trails. The views of the reservoir, the marsh and the herring river can only get better in the summer.

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

Accessibility - 5 - International Hiking sign at Bell’s Neck Road. Can’t miss it.
Parking - 5 - Small area on Bell’s Neck,(the eastside) but plenty of room on side of road. The west side has by the herring river has even more.
Length-   5 -  Has trails on both sides of the west reservoir, the north st. bridge trail and the rail trail
Degree of Difficulty-  3 - Easy when the paths are wide and tough hills on the narrow paths.
Dog Friendly-  4 - some narrow paths --saw signs of Horses too
Trail Markings-  2- all the markers are in one area. You have to find them. They do have a map box but probably only fill them in season
Trail Maintenance-   5
Variation - 5  see length
Scenic  - 4 - The reservoirs - herring river and marshes - nice
Worth Returning - 5 - Yes
Beach -   no
Facilities - no
What I like -  The hills, the views, the variety
What I don’t like-  Easy to find with the hiking signs but needs signs for the trails, there are a few times you have choices with no clue where to go.

Overall Rating-    43  out of 50