Scenic Slide Shows

From Doane Rock To Coast Guard Beach – Slideshow

Coast Guard Beach
Written by Brian Tarcy

EASTHAM – There are several great woods-to-beach hikes on the Cape, but the Doane Rock to Coast Guard Beach trek is one of the best quick Cape Cod hikes one can take that start in the woods and end up at some spectacular beach.

And not just any spectacular beach. Coast Guard Beach is ranked one of the top ten beaches in the United States by Stephen “Dr. Beach” Leatherman, a coastal scientist and professor at Florida International University, who has been ranking the nation’s beaches for 30 years.



Now one assumes Dr. Beach isn’t ranking this beach in March. And while Coast Guard Beach is not even my favorite beach on Cape Cod, and March is certainly not my favorite month on the Cape, my recent March visit to Coast Guard Beach was interesting, beautiful and awesome – as in awe-inspiring.

Trekking from Doane Rock, a 45-foot long by 18-foot high glacial boulder at a parking area along the road to Coast Guard Beach is a different way to visit the famous beach. A little secret of this parking area is that one can then hike through the woods to the beach. So I did, going for a short while onto a bike path and then a bridge and finally into the parking lot that is graced by the old Coast Guard Station that gives this beach its name.

And then I was at the beach itself. Even in March, it is breathtaking. I get lightheaded and forget all other beaches and then I think that, yeah, that Dr. Beach guy just might be onto something.


– Please like us on Facebook.

For more photos from across Cape Cod, please see Scenic Cape

Cape Cod Wave’s Eastham stories.

Cape Cod Wave Magazine covers the character & culture of Cape Cod. Please see our Longform stories.

About the author

Brian Tarcy

Brian Tarcy is co-founder of Cape Cod Wave. He is a longtime journalist who has written for the Boston Globe, Boston magazine, the Cape Cod Times and several other publications. He is the author of "YOU CAN'T SELL RIGHT FIELD; A Cape Cod Novel." He is also the author or co-author of more than a dozen mostly non-fiction books, including books with celebrity athletes Cam Neely, Tom Glavine and Joe Theisman. His previous book was, "ALMOST: 12 Electric Months Chasing A Silicon Valley Dream" with Hap Klopp,who created the iconic brand, The North Face.
For more information, see Briantarcy.com
Brian is a long-suffering Cleveland Browns fan with a long-running NFL predictions/political satire column connecting weekly world events to the fate of his favorite team, now at Whatsgonnahappen.com.

1 Comment

  • A walk I take a lot – But the real payoff is continuing to walk the beach south to Nauset Inlet especially at low tide in September at dawn

Leave a Comment

error: Content is protected !!