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Doane Rock in Cape Cod National Seashore

Sight · Cape Cod National Seashore

Doane Rock

A giant ice-age erratic with an accessible woodland loop nearby.

Type
Sight
Nearest trail
Right here
Audio stories
8 nearby
  • Parking
  • Picnic tables
  • Restrooms
  • #17 of 35 sights
DirectionsMap

Hear the audio tour

Doane Rock and Picnic Area

Overview

About Doane Rock

Why stop

  • A memorable glacial landmark for a short stop.

Heads up

  • The visit is brief if geology is not your thing.

Map

Where it is

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SightDoane Rock41.84438, -69.95779
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Plan your stop

Before you go

3 active Cape Cod alerts

  • CautionSharks active in park waters through OctoberSharks are active in Cape Cod National Seashore waters through October; heed all beach guidelines and signage before entering the water. Check current park conditions before entering the water.Official details
  • CautionHarmful algal bloom advisories at Snows and Slough PondsDo not swim in or swallow water at Snows Pond or Slough Pond; the Town of Truro currently lists harmful algal bloom advisories at both ponds.Official details
See all 3 alerts
A park ranger sits on a dash-mounted phone, talking, as Parkwolf’s Tour Guide plays “Army Cutworm Moths: A Grizzly Bear Buffet” on Grand Loop Road below Dunraven Pass in Yellowstone
Parkwolf Tour GuideThe highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.

Cape Cod Tour Guide

Your drive to Doane Rock, narrated.

Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Cape Cod National Seashore. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.

See the Cape Cod audio tour

Recorded for this place

Doane Rock and Picnic Area
0:00 / 0:28
“Up ahead is Doane Rock, Cape Cod's largest known boulder left behind by a glacier. Ice carried it away from its original home, then dropped it as the glacier melted.”

Plays as you drive up to Doane Rock in the Parkwolf Cape Cod Tour Guide.

More stories near here in the app

  • Coast Guard Beach via Little Creek
  • Salt Pond Visitor Center
  • Nauset Light and the Three Sisters
  • Keeping Pace with the Waves
  • 56 audio storiesacross Cape Cod’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
  • Wildlife heatmapsfor Gray Seal, Coyote, Red Fox, and 13 more
  • Works offlinemaps, 32 trails, 55 places, and audio download before you lose signal
  • CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
★★★★★
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
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4.7 from 8,600+ ratings

Guide

More about Doane Rock

A quick stop for a big boulderDoane Rock is a huge glacial boulder in a wooded clearing near Doane Road in Eastham.

Doane Rock is a huge glacial boulder in a wooded clearing near Doane Road in Eastham. It's the largest known boulder left on Cape Cod by the retreating Laurentide ice sheet. Stop if the glacial story interests you; if you're after a full attraction, this is one remarkable rock beside a picnic area.

Add the woodland loopThe rock is beside Doane Picnic Area, about a mile east of Salt Pond Visitor Center on Nauset…

The rock is beside Doane Picnic Area, about a mile east of Salt Pond Visitor Center on Nauset Road toward Coast Guard Beach; look for the brown signs. The separate Doane Trail makes a paved, wheelchair-accessible 0.6-mile loop through young pine-oak woods and takes about 30 minutes. Seasonal vault restrooms, picnic tables and a shelter serve the picnic area. The trail's accessibility doesn't establish access onto the boulder.

A stone carried by iceA glacial erratic is a boulder carried away from its source by ice and left behind as glaciers…

A glacial erratic is a boulder carried away from its source by ice and left behind as glaciers melt. The Laurentide Ice Sheet covered much of New England about 23,000 years ago and had retreated from southern New England by about 15,000 years ago. Doane Rock is a giant example of what that retreat left behind; it is thought to have traveled from the Massachusetts Bay area.

Show its scaleFrame someone standing at the base with a few of the surrounding tree trunks in view.

Frame someone standing at the base with a few of the surrounding tree trunks in view. The broad rock can lose its scale in a close crop, while the woods show how it sits in the clearing.

geologyglaciallandmarkwoodland

Wildlife

Wildlife in Cape Cod

All Cape Cod wildlife maps
Gray Seal461 sightingsGray SealMost seen around 11 AMSighting mapCoyote85 sightingsCoyoteMost seen around 6 AMSighting mapRed Fox300 sightingsRed FoxMost seen around 7 PMSighting mapWhite-tailed Deer49 sightingsWhite-tailed DeerMost seen around 6 AMSighting mapHorseshoe Crab264 sightingsHorseshoe CrabMost seen around 8 PMSighting mapGreat Blue Heron74 sightingsGreat Blue HeronMost seen around 6 PMSighting map

Sighting maps show where each species has been reported across Cape Cod. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.

Keep exploring

Near Doane Rock

See it all on the map

Trails nearby

EasyDoane Trail0.6 mi · 30 min · At the trailheadA short paved loop past a glacial boulder at the start.EasyCoast Guard Beach Trail4 mi · 2.2 hr · 0.9 mi awaySalt marsh footpath to a wide Cape Cod beach.EasyButtonbush Trail0.3 mi · 15 min · 0.9 mi awayBraille, guide ropes and a pond bridge pack into 0.3 miles.EasyNauset Marsh Trail1.3 mi · 1 hr · 0.9 mi awaySalt Pond, tidal marsh and a short loop through recovering forestEasyNauset Bike Trail2 mi · 1.3 hr · 1 mi awayA rolling paved path through woods to Coast Guard Beach.EasyRed Maple Swamp Trail0.8 mi · 30 min · 1.6 mi awayA short boardwalk beneath red maples, brightest in fall.EasyFort Hill Trail1 mi · 45 min · 1.8 mi awayA short field loop with marsh views and a 20-ton story.ModerateAtlantic White Cedar Swamp Trail1.2 mi · 1 hr · 4.8 mi awayBoardwalk through cedar swamp; half a mile of soft sand after.

More stops nearby

Picnic area · 0.1 mi awayDoane Rock Picnic AreaA covered picnic stop with an easy forest loop next door.Sight · 0.2 mi awayDoane Homestead SiteA vanished 17th-century home left unusually vivid archaeological clues.Entrance station · 0.2 mi awayLittle Creek Beach Shuttle and Fee StationSettle fees and catch the Coast Guard Beach shuttle here.Beach · 0.6 mi awayCoast Guard BeachOpen Atlantic sand, where the Great Beach begins.Visitor center · 0.9 mi awaySalt Pond Visitor CenterRanger help, local history, and a view over Salt Pond.Sight · 1 mi awayThree Sisters LighthousesThree small towers with a story that wandered inland.Sight · 1.1 mi awayFrench Cable HutA small hut marks Cape Cod's part in the French cable story.Sight · 1.1 mi awayNauset LightThe red-and-white tower printed on the Cape Cod Chips bag.

Parkwolf’s Cape Cod ranking

Top sights in Cape Cod

All 55 places
  1. 1Nauset LightSight
  2. 2Coast Guard BeachBeach
  3. 3Race Point BeachBeach
  4. 4Herring Cove BeachBeach
  5. 5Highland LightSight
  6. 6Marconi BeachBeach

Take Parkwolf to Cape Cod.

The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.

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