Great Head from Sand Beach

The walk starts at the Sand Beach parking lot on the Park Loop Road. Go down to the beach and cross it with the sea on your right. The Great Head Trail starts at the far end, up a flight of granite steps. Turn right at the junction and follow the trail out along the headland, over rocky ledges with short steep sections, to the highest point, 145 feet above the sea, where the ruins of a 1915 tea house stand. Carry straight on for the longer loop, which swings north above the cliffs and comes back through the woods to the beach.

It is 1.8 miles (2.9 km) around with 180 feet (54 m) of climbing; allow about an hour. The grade is Easy: short, with rough, uneven footing and a little scrambling.

There are steep drops into the sea along the headland, so keep children away from the edge. A shorter loop of 1.3 miles turns left just past the tea house ruins.

The Sand Beach car park fills by mid-morning in summer; the fare-free Island Explorer bus stops here. From May 15 to September 15 dogs may be on Sand Beach only to cross to the trailhead, on a leash. A park entrance pass is needed ($35 a vehicle for a week; non-US residents pay $100 each more without an annual pass).

Route drawn by Global Adventurer along OpenStreetMap paths (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), with figures worked out from it. Check the forecast and the ground on the day: paths change.