Beach · Cape Cod National Seashore
A small sandy swim on a 15,000-year-old kettle pond.
Overview
Map
Plan your stop
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Cape Cod Tour Guide
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.
Recorded for this place
Gull Pond Landing Beach“You're coming toward Gull Pond Landing Beach, a small sandy spot for a freshwater swim. The roped swimming area and dock make this a good choice for a beach break without the Atlantic surf.”
Plays as you drive up to Gull Pond Landing Beach in the Parkwolf Cape Cod Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
“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!!!!”
Guide
Gull Pond Landing Beach is a public sandy swimming area on the west shore of Gull Pond in Wellfleet. A roped swimming area and dock make it a straightforward stop for pond swimming; the same landing is also a cartop boat launch. Come for a freshwater swim and a short beach break, not a long ocean strand.
Gull Pond is the southernmost of a chain of kettle ponds linked by small waterways. These ponds formed when glacial ice melted, leaving basins that filled with water about 15,000 years ago. When the water is high enough, cartop boats can continue north toward Higgins Pond and farther to Williams Pond.
MassWildlife stocks Gull Pond with trout each spring, and the pond also supports smallmouth bass. A fall survey in 1988 recorded a brown trout 28 inches long and a little over 14 pounds. That's a surprising fishery beside a modest swimming beach.
For a phone photo, keep a strip of sand and the dock in the same frame, with the pond behind them. A water-only shot misses the compact landing that makes this spot distinct.
Wildlife
459 sightingsGray SealMost seen around 11 AMSighting map
84 sightingsCoyoteMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
297 sightingsRed FoxMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
49 sightingsWhite-tailed DeerMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
263 sightingsHorseshoe CrabMost seen around 8 PMSighting map
73 sightingsGreat Blue HeronMost seen around 6 PMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Cape Cod. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
Keep exploring
EasyAround Dyer Pond Loop1.3 mi · 40 min · 1 mi awayA compact loop circles a freshwater pond through Wellfleet woods.
ModerateDuck Pond, Great Pond and White Crest Beach Loop5.9 mi · 2.5 hr · 1.3 mi awayTwo kettle ponds and a beach in one sandy loop.
EasyOld Fox Bottom Road1.8 mi · 1 hr · 1.4 mi awayA Cold War fire road ends at an eroding Atlantic bluff.
ModerateGreat Dunes Trail2.6 mi · 1.8 hr · 1.9 mi awayA shaded approach opens to an Atlantic bluff above the waves.
EasyHerring River Overlook Trail0.7 mi · 30 min · 3.2 mi awayA quick woodland loop to benches overlooking Herring River.
ModerateHiggins Hollow Loop3.1 mi · 2 hr · 3.3 mi awayLow hills, an ocean overlook, and a cranberry boghouse.
ModerateBearberry Hill Overlook Trail0.5 mi · 45 min · 3.3 mi awayTwo summit spurs give you Atlantic and cranberry-bog views.
ModeratePamet Cranberry Bog Trail1.8 mi · 1.3 hr · 3.3 mi awayA woodland walk to the former cranberry Bog House
Beach · 0.7 mi awayLong Pond BeachA clear-water swim in a glacial kettle pond.
Beach · 1 mi awayNewcomb Hollow BeachA gentler dune descent leads to a wide, surfy Atlantic shore.
Beach · 1.3 mi awayGreat Pond BeachA shaded freshwater swim, reached by long stairs and a wade.
Beach · 1.6 mi awayCahoon Hollow BeachA broad Atlantic beach with an 1897 life-saving station above it.
Restaurant · 1.6 mi awayThe BeachcomberA raw bar and live music above Cahoon Hollow's Atlantic shore.
Campground · 2.2 mi awayWellfleet Hollow State CampgroundA wooded base for Cape beaches, the Rail Trail, and Duck Pond.
Beach · 2.2 mi awayWhite Crest BeachWide sand and Atlantic surf beneath high dune bluffs.
Sight · 2.4 mi awayAtwood-Higgins HouseFrom half-Cape to full Cape, then a four-decade second life.Parkwolf’s Cape Cod ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
