5th Annual Ted Tarr Memorial Cross- Cape Ann Hike

Join Cape Ann Trail Stewards for our 5th Annual 7.3-mile Ted Tarr Memorial Cross- Cape Ann Hike, from Cape Hedge Beach in Rockport (Massachusetts Bay) to Halibut Point State Park (Ipswich Bay), through the Rockport South Woods and Dogtown via the "Luce Trail."

The hike will take us about 5 hours through some challenging and varied terrain (including a number of steep inclines, boulder fields, and wet areas), and  includes a stop mid-way (at the Whale's Jaw boulder in the middle of Dogtown) for lunch-- please bring a picnic lunch for yourself!

A link to a map of the route can be found here.

(above photo:  Participants in the 2022 Cross-Cape Ann Hike pause for a photo on a granite ledge in the Rockport South Woods)

Meeting Spot:

Please arrive at 8:45.  The hike will depart promptly at 9AM from the Cape Hedge Beach parking lot, at the end of Seaview St. (which is off Thatcher Rd./ Route 127A in Rockport).

Note: Since this is a one-way hike, we will need some people to park at the endpoint (Halibut Point State Park) and carpool others back to their cars at Cape Hedge Beach at the conclusion of the hike (we will coordinate rides for those who park at Halibut Point to get to Cape Hedge Beach for the start of the hike). 

You may email us at contact@capeanntrailstewards.org if you are able to help with this carpooling from Halibut Point (especially people who have MA state park passes!).  Thank you!

Please note that dogs are not permitted on this hike.

History of the Ted Tarr Memorial Cross Cape Ann Hike and the Luce Trail:

This annual hike was established by Ted Tarr, a beloved past board member of Cape Ann Trail Stewards and well-known Cape Ann local activist, environmentalist, and hike leader. In 2019, we re-named the Cross Cape Ann hike in Ted’s memory.

The  hike traverses the entire length of the Luce Trail, which was named for Dorothy Luce, longtime member of the Rockport Conservation Commission and original initiator of the Sunday Morning Hike series back in the 1960’s. Ted Tarr took over the Sunday hikes for Dorothy in the 1970’s and he led them for the next 40 years.

(Photo from 1975 of Dorothy Luce and Ted Tarr inaugurating and "cutting [the] final twig" along this Massachusetts Bay to Ipswich Bay Trail [likely the current "Luce Trail"];  photo taken along the west ledge of Cape Pond)

For more details on Dorothy Luce, see a Facebook Post from earlier this year by Mark Carlotto on the Friends of Dogtown public Facebook page.