Cape Cod National Seashore · Massachusetts

Pilgrim Spring

0.7 mi of trail, end to end · Hike the Pilgrim Spring Trail: 1 mi loop in the Service's write-up · about 40 ft of climbing · 9 ft–67 ft · hiking

62 ft 10 ft · 0.2 mi high 64 ft

Hike the Pilgrim Spring Trail 1 mi loop · the Park Service's write-up

30-60 Minutes · dogs allowed

Start Pilgrim Heights Parking Lot

Entrance to the Pilgrim Spring trail. Pine needles on the forest floor surround the trail.
Entrance to the Pilgrim Spring trail. Photo: NPS Photo

Find your trail to explore at Cape Cod National Seashore! One of eleven trails in the park is the Pilgrim Spring Trail, a 1-mile loop trail in Truro, Massachusetts. The trail leads to a site representative of where the Pilgrims drank their first fresh water in New England. This short loop trail winds through the recovering pine and oak forest, and passes a marker which commemorates the Pilgrim’s initial exploration of this area.

The trail is rated as easy. It has solid surface for the duration of the trail with some slopes. There are some log steps. There are seasonal restrooms at the end of the trail in the parking lot. Leashed pets are permitted on this trail.

Accessibility The trail is rated as easy. It has solid surface for the duration of the trail with some slopes. There are some log steps on the sloped sections of trail. There are seasonal restrooms at the end of the trail in the parking lot. Contact the visitor center with any accessiblity questions, 508-255-3421.

This hike on nps.gov

On the parks map

All 12 trails in Cape Cod National SeashoreFind a trailOn the parks mapPark on nps.gov

About this trail's facts

The lines are the National Park Service's public trails layer, the trailheads and the waterfalls, views, peaks and historic places along them the Service's public points of interest, read 2026-10-16 and simplified for the map; the length is the line's, end to end. The write-ups are the Service's own "things to do" text, unedited. Heights come from USGS 3DEP through Terrain Tiles on AWS (Mapzen/Tilezen), read along each line and rounded; a short trail on steep ground can be off by a few tens of feet. Closures change: check the park's own site before you go.