The Cape Cod Trinity

About the Trail

This is an ever changing ecosystem. “Nothing is as sure as change” and the landscape is ever evolving a different look and different mix of plant communities. Those changes occur (even) without the influence of humans. A tree may fall and create an opening in a mature forest. Sunlight invigorates seedlings that may have not tolerated the shade. Low growing plants attract a different wildlife set. As the vegetation changes, so will the associated wildlife. Plant communities are always on the march, succeeding species, eventually being succeeded themselves. Everything you see is in motion.

The entrance roadway to Rocky Pond Bog begins within the dry hill-top community of pitch pine, scrub oak and bearberry, sometimes called the Cape Cod Trinity. The power transmission line cuts a swath through the forest at this location and regulations forbid the planting of trees under the wires. This is a place where plant succession stands still, because vegetation is carefully controlled so as not to interfere with the transmission lines.