SILENCE ON SQUAM ROAD
Quiet on Nantucket is an oxymoron in the summer, especially in August.

This week, The Nantucket Independent continues a summer series entitled Night Hikes. This series will help you to discover the island's natural world as the light of day fades into nighttime. At dusk, while some Nantucket critters bed down for the evening, the night shift of birds, reptiles, amphibians, animals, fish and insects emerge, looking for food, love and vocal chord exercise. Stars come out, planets glow and sparkle and as the air cools, a whole new world opens up. Less destination-oriented and much more of a what's-out-there guide, we will also share with you what there is to see, hear and feel out in Nantucket's harbors, saltmarshes and ponds.

One is hard-pressed - even during the early morning hours - to find a single place on the island where manmade sounds are not beeping, grinding, whining, gurgling or shouting in people's ears.

That is, except maybe Squam Road at dusk. I was out there last Thursday evening when I thought the clouds might spoil a nocturnal bushwhack out on the moors. Having hiked this part of the island at least 100 times and written about it in my book, "Walking Nantucket," but never walking it after sundown or into the night, I found serenity on that dusty, sandy road.

PETER B. BRACE/The Independent It's just a dirty, sandy road all overgrown with wild grape vines, huckleberry bushes and grasses, but you'll never know just how much more you can see and hear until you take a walk down it at dusk on a clear night.

I saw more rabbits than I could count. I found fresh whitetail deer tracks in two places along the road. I heard crickets and other chirping bugs. I saw bats - yes, bats - but no woodcocks. I heard ocean and wind, but no drone of commuter planes and screech of private jets. The occasional car loped along past me looking out of place, disappearing around overgrown corners into the growing dark.

And I heard nothing. Nothing but the island before people lived here. No, really, it's true. Must have been the wind and ocean drowning out the 60,000 or so people back west on the rest of the island. Anyway, it's a simple walk down a rural road that its residents aim to keep that way, which begins at the parking lot for the gatehouse operated by the Trustees of Reservations and the Nantucket Conservation Foundation.

Start from here just after sunset so you can get your bearings. Find the path at the northeast corner of the parking area and follow it past the Wauwinet House's tennis court and out to the north end of Crow's Nest Way. The reason to go while there is still a little bit of light left is so you can get a sense of how the route of this path goes because you'll be returning in total darkness.

Once out on Crow's Nest Way, walk south; when you reach Squam Road, go left. Squam Road runs north-south between Quidnet and Wauwinet, and is, in many places along its course, a very narrow overgrown road, which is great for being engulfed by night sounds and shapes but a little dangerous when you encounter vehicles. When I was out last week, I found the calm I was looking for in not walking so much for exercise, but from what I saw and heard.

Cottontail rabbits, the numbers of which I lost count way back at Crow's Nest Way, either darted across the road or stood still as stone, probably hoping I might not see them. Bats flitted across the sky and gulls with muted calls followed each other along the shore, maybe looking for a sheltered spot to rest for the night.

I got down as far as a cleared lot next to the public way going to the beach just north of Squam Pond and followed this path out the beach. With waves lapping on the beach like the ripple of a rug being shaken out to cover a floor and the wind blowing, a stereophonic kidnapping of my hearing took over. The intermittent beacon from Sankaty Head Light and scant lighted houses silently told me I wasn't completely cut off, but I found the quiet I was looking for.

The clouds I originally thought would spoil a walk elsewhere on the island, had now thinned in the moonlight, acting as a veil hiding the fainter stars and allowing the brighter ones to shine through. Piecing together the constellations, if I actually remembered them from my father's casual instructing when I was much shorter, was pointless, but then it was just peaceful enough to lie there on that beach and look up at them come out one by one.

Walking back to the gatehouse parking lot meant doing so in greater darkness. Too dark to see bats and rabbits, but quiet enough to hear a symphony of insects and amphibians working out the kinks of their evening arrangements.

As the night air pushes out the warmth of day, you can definitely feel - and smell - the change in temperatures. Yes, once your sight is diminished, your other senses take over. You'll need to embrace this as you reach the end of Crow's Nest Way and try to find your way back to the parking area. Even with moonlight, this trail is a challenge at night. Use your hands to feel brush on either side of you and your feet to find the gravelly sand on the trail. Some shapes will be visible. Listen for birds off the trail and know not to follow them, as they are flying into the thicket. Smell, if you can, the clay of the Wauwinet's tennis court and glimpse the shape of its fencing and lights of houses beyond it.

You're almost there. Lights from trucks returning from Great Point should lead you to the parking area and

back to the noise of the island. I NIGHTWANDERINGS 101 Before venturing out into the night, it's a good idea to heed basic safety and personal comfort advice.

Bring a good flashlight and a compass and/or GPS (global positioning system) unit that are easy to carry if you get butterflies when the sun goes down. Maps of the island properties owned by the Nantucket Islands Land Bank and Nantucket Conservation Foundation will aid your wanderings, as will a copy of my book, "Walking Nantucket."

Choose a bug repellent that works for you, and lather up before you head out. Pay particular attention to your legs, ankles and booted feet. While it is the biting, winged bugs you want to fend off because of their immediate itchy sting, by far the most critical defense should be against deer ticks that carry Lyme disease, Babesiosis and Ehrlichiosis.

If you can, stuff your pants into your socks - although that may not be practical in warmer weather - and apply repellent. If you wear shorts, the more repellent the better, on your legs and ankles. And when you get home, check your body for ticks.

When paddling at dusk and into the early evening, have a loud whistle and strobe light attached to your life preserver. Turn the strobe on after the light fades or during foggy conditions. Be sure to tell someone where you are going and when you plan to return.

Take plenty of water and snacks. Always bring all trash back with you, and any that you care to pick up along the way.

- Peter B. Brace