Cape Cod Rail Trail. Does it have hills?

No. Really no hills on the rail trail. If you continue north beyond the end of the trail in Wellfleet (on roads) there are some hills, but not on the rail trail proper.

A gradual rise up to the Marconi beach entry road...not really a hill.

ok thank you! Also most websites list the rail trail being different lengths. Some as long as 25 miles. Do you know if the 25 miles is true?

By definition rail trails have gradual uphills and downhills.

If you want to run a Time Trial, and want to include a few hills here's what I'd do.

I'd start/park 10k north of Woods Hole on rail trail. You can figure out where that is.

I would then run towards Woods Hole to end of Rail Trail which is where start of Falmouth Road Race begins.

Then run the Falmouth course to finish which would be about a 1/2 marathon.

Then obviously reverse direction and head back to Woods Hole/Rail Tail/starting point.

Still pretty flat course but there are rolling hills the first 3 miles of FRR course and a fairly large rise before finish.

Where do you plan on starting?

Cape bike guy wrote:

If you want to run a Time Trial, and want to include a few hills here's what I'd do.

I'd start/park 10k north of Woods Hole on rail trail. You can figure out where that is.

I would then run towards Woods Hole to end of Rail Trail which is where start of Falmouth Road Race begins.

Then run the Falmouth course to finish which would be about a 1/2 marathon.

Then obviously reverse direction and head back to Woods Hole/Rail Tail/starting point.

Still pretty flat course but there are rolling hills the first 3 miles of FRR course and a fairly large rise before finish.

Correction; should start 6.1 miles north of Woods Hole....otherwise you would run .2 too far on round trip.

I think the trail from south Dennis to Wellfleet is 22 miles. There’s is an additional 3 or 4 miles that split off into harwich and Chatham after mile 3 on the main trail.

Also yes east of the trail past Orleans the beach roads can be very hilly. Nauset and Ocean view roads are hilly in Eastham. . Ocean view in Wellfleet from Lecounts hollow to Newcombe hollow is very hilly.

As much as I like the shining sea bike way in Falmouth. I think you’d have a better time and less people on the outer cape. No disrespect to capecodbikeguy.

You could find the map for the cape cod marathon route and follow that.

I think the rail trail would be great for a time trial. From the satellite view it looks like it's been extended as far as Peter Homer Park in Yarmouth, which would give you the full marathon distance. Just check to make sure those first few miles are open before you start, otherwise I'd start out with an out-and-back. No hills other than a few 15 or 20 foot climbs over bridges, and unlike a lot of rail trails no long 1% grades either. Check the forecast wind direction before you start, too.

Another consideration is that there are places you must stop to cross roads with traffic.