Escape to False Cape: Bike & Surf Trip

On the way toward adventure in False Cape State Park. Photo: Streit.

Words by John Streit. Photos by Shaun Devine & Streit.

For however cool, windy and rainy this spring had been, the morning of our first adventure of the year to False Cape State Park had that summertime feel.

Warm. Breezy. Humid. Sunny.

Our expeditions of last summer revealed that the sandbars just six miles south of Sandbridge held a small-wave oasis amidst an undeveloped, pristine East Coast paradise. Word spread through the community that our day-long retreats provided a unique, exhilarating experience into the park’s isolated, undeveloped marshes, maritime forests, dunescapes and beaches.

True to the form of our signature outdoor adventure, May 11’s False Cape Surf & Bike Trip took a stoked crew of about 20 surfers, standup paddlers, bodyboarders and bodysurfers into the park for the 12-mile biking round trip with a day of playing in the ocean sandwiched between.

Past the Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge visitor’s center, paved roads give way to gravel pathways through the marshes and maritime forests of the barrier spit. Photo: Streit.

About five miles into the bike ride, the crew reaches False Cape State Park. Photo: Streit

Anticipation builds as the crew nears the beach. Photo: Devine.

Wildlife sightings and awe-inspring landscapes gave way to a beach scene featuring dozens of surfing craft from handplanes to standup paddleboards. Our event tent and umbrellas provided shelter from the brillant sunshine that soaked the sands of the beach at Barbour Hill. Before long, the crew took to their boards, hit the ocean and took advantage of the small-but-fun, clean conditions.