Old Colony Rail Trail

The Old Colony Rail Trail is a paved rail trail located in Harwich and Chatham, Massachusetts. It occupies the Old Colony Railroad's abandoned Chatham Branch railroad right-of-way. Most of the trail follows roughly the path of the old railbed, except for deviations around the Chatham Municipal Airport and a utility yard in Harwich. Its west end connects to the Cape Cod Rail Trail in Harwich at a bike rotary.

Old Colony Rail Trail
The Bike Rotary in Harwich
Location	Barnstable County
Trailheads	Bike Rotary, Cape Cod Rail Trail, Harwich Crowell Road, Chatham
Use	Hiking, bicycling, horseback riding, roller blading, and cross country skiing
Hiking details
Trail difficulty	Easy
Season	year-round
Hazards	deer ticks poison ivy road crossings
Surface	Paved surface
Right of way	former railroad line
Massachusetts
Location in Massachusetts

Another view of the rotary

Although largely built to modern bike path standards, the trail has certain elements potentially dangerous to cyclists. Several road crossings have tight corners and limited sightlines, while others are poorly marked or have too-closely-spaced bollards.[1] The trail also includes several on-street sections without separate bike lanes, including on the relatively busy George Ryder Road in Chatham.[1]