Cross-Island Hike Returns For Seventh Year On Saturday

The Nantucket Land Bank’s Cross-Island Hike returns for its seventh year this Saturday, September 19, taking walkers on a 20-mile trek from the end of the Tom Nevers field through zig-zagging wooded trails in Madequecham, into the pitch pines of the Middle Moors and the State Forest, and finally out to the "Settler’s Landing" on Madaket Harbor.

“We want to increase people’s exposure to conservation properties in a comfortable way,” Land Bank executive director Rachael Freeman said. “This is a hike that’s loosely guided. You can choose to walk with Land Bank staff. Everything’s flagged and we do our best to make sure it’s well marked. It provides people with a relatively structured opportunity to get off the beaten path more than you might on your own.”

The hike, which began in 2019 to coincide with the creation of the coast-to-coast trail, is free and open to the public. From the start, the idea has been to introduce people to trails, forests, grasslands, beaches, and wetlands they might not be familiar with. While it will swing through Sanford Farm, Hinsdale Park and Ram Pasture, there’s nearly a marathon’s worth of trails that few, apart from Nantucket's deer and birds, get to see.

While the route this year starts in Tom Nevers, it has previously had walkers, dog walkers and the occasional runner line up at other starting lines, including the end of Hoicks Hollow Road, the eastern end of the coast-to-coast trail. The hike has also started in Quidnet, though Mother Nature had other plans that year, and the hike saw its lowest turnout.

Like every Cross-Island Hike, walkers can opt into the full 21-mile journey from dawn to dusk, or stop by for a mile or two, and walk it at their own pace. This year’s path meanders through Nantucket Conservation Foundation, Land Bank, Mass Audubon and state conservation property, through some of the island’s most popular properties and some lesser known areas. For the geographically impaired, the Land Bank has marked the course.

“You basically see everything,” Freeman said. “You cover the upland habitats, pitch pine forests, heathlands and grassland areas, and some really amazing areas of oak and sassafras. We really do run the gamut of all the classic Nantucket native habitat types.”

The Cross-Island Hike starts promptly at 8 a.m. Click here for more information.