Free Cape Cod

Attitude adjustment is open to one and all. It's free. The Big Idea is to slow down, let go, and live by the natural rhythms of sun, moon, tides, and weather.

There are hundreds of miles of walking and hiking trails on thousands of acres of public conservation lands across the Cape's 15 towns. Use is free. Many such properties were bought by local taxpayers after town meeting votes, others preserved by local nonprofit groups and their coordinating agency, the Compact of Cape Cod Conservation Trusts. Cape Cod Pathways, an ongoing project of Barnstable County's Cape Cod Commission, is linking such open spaces via trails.

SOME FAVORITE WALKS: Peterson Farm and Beebe Woods, encompassing nearly 500 acres of grassland, woodland, ponds, and marshes within half a mile of downtown Falmouth; West Barnstable Conservation Area, with three trailhead parking areas for 1,100 acres of pine and oak forest and 15 miles of trails, popular with mountain bikers; and Bell's Neck Road Conservation Area in Harwich, 250 acres of marshlands, tidal creeks, reservoirs, and exceptional bird-watching.

To find out about such places, go to the town hall wherever you are and seek out the conservation commission. Then stop by the recreation commission office to learn about athletic facilities, free and typically first-come, first-served -- tennis courts, softball fields, basketball hoops. For rollerblading, head for the 14 miles of paved paths flanking the Cape Cod Canal.

If you'd rather watch than do, the Cape Cod Baseball League is on everybody's list, but the amateur Cape Cod Soccer League, founded in 1971, is a home-grown option. It has eight teams, cool names like the Falmouth Tide, Chatham Fog, Orleans Storm, and (the side with the best home field) Bass Strikers, who play at Cape Cod Regional Technical High School in Harwich, just off Route 6 at Exit 10. It's good soccer -- current college players, some alums, many of them local. Matches are Sunday and Wednesday evenings, mid-June to early August. Check the schedule via the Web: www.capecodsoccer.com.