Nasketucket Bay State Reservation

August 2, 2020 Sunny

This reservation in southeastern Mass, near the Cape, offers several miles of wooded trails, meadows, saltmarshes, and a rocky coastline.

We followed the Bridle Trail from the parking lot, which is a flat carriage road through low trees.

Eventually this reaches a large meadow and then continues through a forested area.

At the next intersection we followed the Saltmarsh Trail, which was shaded and narrower. It passes through a fairly small marshy area and then opens to a rocky coastline.

The shore had that salty smell, and was very tranquil, with just a few other walkers during our visit.

After hanging out for a while and exploring the views with our binoculars, we continued along the shore, checking out the shells.

There were also a few large boulders near the shore for the kids to climb on and to explore a sort of “tidal pool”. We saw a few fish here and even picked up some hermit crabs that were scurrying along the sand.

We had brought our binoculars and could see a few interesting sights – a large island just offshore, some boaters enjoying a small beach in the middle of the bay, and also some lobster traps just offshore.

For the return trip, we found the entrance to the Holly Trail, following it back to the Bridle Trail. The forest was dense and was filled with small holly trees, but also had some mosquitoes.

The whole trail was about 2 miles and very pleasant. Younger kids will enjoy the varied scenery, easy trails, and exploring the coastline and water.

The rocky shore is peaceful, with great views and some interesting wildlife to explore.
It was very quiet, and a place to enjoy solitude. Some mosquitoes.
The forest was super boring and the shore was pretty boring as well.
The walk at the start was boring but it was fun to sea the ocean.
We walked through a forest with a grassy trail in the middle and then we got to a shore and we saw a hermit crab and we saw seagulls with clams and it was fun.