Visit Coast Guard Beach, Cape Cod, Massachusetts

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Coast Guard Beach is a prime swimming beach during the summer season. From mid-June to Labor Day, the parking area at this location is restricted to Eastham residents and vehicles displaying handicap placards. The primary parking area for this beach is at Little Creek, located a short distance west of the beach, where a shuttle picks up passengers for the short ride to the beach. There are seasonal restrooms and a wheelchair-accessible ramp way to the beach. Prominent Features: The Great Beach, so named by Henry David Thoreau, starts here. This sandy strand offers opportunities to study coastal beach processes, including longshore transport of sand and coastal erosion. Nauset Marsh is located behind the former Coast Guard Station. It is accessible by a pathway that leads to the bicycle trail bridge. Here, one can see shorebirds working the tidal flats in the warmer months and observe salt marsh grass systems close up. Nauset Spit offers the opportunity to walk directly onto a barrier beach system and observe shorebirds and, during the winter months, seals. The inlet into Nauset Marsh is at the southern end of Nauset Spit. World-renowned nature writer, Henry Beston, wrote The Outermost House from his beach cottage located here. Nesting plovers and terns frequent this area in the early spring to early summer. Plovers are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Please adhere to pedestrian and pet restrictions. Seals can often be sighted at the end of Nauset Spit during the winter months. Generally these are harbor seals. At low tide, they can sometimes be seen "hauling out" onto the marsh. During the summer, large numbers of gray seals may haul out to rest on sandbars. Keep your distance--at least 150 feet. Directions: Litte Creek Shuttle Staging Area is located one and one-half miles east of Salt Pond Visitor Center via Nauset and Doane roads. Look for sign advising summer beach shuttle. From September to late May, there are no parking restrictions at the beach parking lot.

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