Summer in the Northeast often includes trips to sandy beaches, bracing plunges in chill Atlantic waters, and strolls along the shore. Discovery awaits in the sand and surf, in the seashells and shorebirds. Leave the surf's edge, and you will find entirely new coastal ecosystems, where cliffs are scoured raw by wind and briny water, peaks of sand and salt grass rear up, or dwarfed forests provide cool shadows. The following nature walks lead into the heart of these pristine habitats, where vistas are matched only by the plants and animals you'll find along the way.

Cutler Coast Public Reserved Land
Cutler, Maine
In the far corner of Downeast Maine, Cutler Coast is a remote landscape of dense forest, peatlands, and open ledg­es. The Coastal Trail travels through spruce-fir forests and bogs before spill­ing out atop a headland 100 feet above the roiling ocean. Vistas of the Bay of Fundy abound, as do possible sightings of whales, porpoises, and seals. The trail undulates along the cliff's edge, into coves and through forests and berry bushes before intersecting with the re­turn path, Black Point Brook Cut-off. 

Distance: 5.8-mile moderate loop
Information: Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands, 207-287-3821; AMC's Best Backpacking In New England (AMC Books) 

World's End
Hingham, Mass.
Groves of trees cluster atop four distinct drumlins at World's End, a 251-acre pen­insula and former estate that looks out onto Weir River, Hingham Harbor, and the Boston skyline from vantages along the 4.5 miles of carriage paths and foot­paths. The glacier-formed hills spill into small valleys of open fields ideal for but­terfly watching. These fields are managed to provide habitat for grassland-nesting birds. Protected by the Trustees of Res­ervations, World's End is now part of the Boston Harbor Islands National Recre­ational Area. $5 admission fee per adult.

Distance: 4.5-mile trail network, easy grade
Information: The Trustees of Reservations, 781-784-0567, www.thetrustees.org

Atlantic White Cedar Swamp Trail
Wellfleet, Mass.
Expansive views of the Outer Cape are abundant at Marconi Station, but a more mysterious setting lies nearby, down a sandy path that travels by stunted bear oak and pitch pine before descending into a basin of water. A boardwalk punctures the swamp, weaving through tall cedar trees whose thick canopies muffle the sunlight. Red maple trees, white-flowered swamp azaleas, and high bush blueberry shrubs also rise from the murky waters to create a lush, serene setting.

Distance: 1.5-mile easy loop
Information: Cape Cod National Seashore, 508-349-3785, www.nps.gov/caco

Sachuest Point National Wildlife Refuge
Middletown, R.I.
Take the Flint Point Loop Trail and the Ocean View Loop Trail for a figure-eight loop around a 242-acre peninsula near Newport, R.I., that affords nearly con­tinuous views of Sachuest Bay, Sakonnet River, and the Atlantic. The wide, flat trails travel over salt marsh, grassland, and beach habitats and sport viewing plat­forms for scenic vistas, including Purga­tory Chasm, a deep fissure 120 feet long between nearby coastal cliffs. More than 200 species of birds stop over at the wild­life refuge, including peregrine falcons, northern harriers, and snowy owls.

Distance: 2.7-mile easy loop
Information: http://sachuestpoint.fws.gov; Discover Rhode Island (AMC Books)

Bluff Point Coastal Reserve
New London, Conn.
Considered the last critical parcel of coastal land still undeveloped in Con­necticut, this 802-acre reserve protruding into Long Island Sound is a patchwork of landscapes. The trail network passes along the shores of the Poquonnock River, an estuary community with thick pastures of eelgrass. Open views and pebbly beaches interrupt aspen, oak, and hickory stands. Look for osprey tending house on a wooden nesting platform. A mile-long barrier beach, rich in empty slipper shells, shelters a tidal pond edged by sea lavender flowers and inhabited by hundreds of small hermit crabs.

Distance: 3.5-mile easy loop
Information: Bluff Point State Park, 860-444-7591, www.ct.gov/dep; AMC's Best Day Hikes in Connecticut (AMCBooks) 

Island Beach State Park
Seaside Park, N.J.
Island Beach State Park, a 10-mile-long bar­rier island between the Atlantic and Barne­gat Bay, remains in many ways as pristine as when Henry Hudson first spied it in 1609. New Jersey's largest osprey colony resides here, and the sheltered bay attracts scores of shorebirds and wading birds. There are three nature walks on the island at three designated parking areas. Each traverses through dune ecosystems where some of the island's 400 plant species are on dis­play, like the prickly pear, a native cactus, and the state's largest expanses of beach heather.

Distance: 4.1 miles of trails, easy grade
Information: Island Beach State Park, 732-793-0506; Nature Walks in New Jersey (AMC Books) 

Cape May Point State Park
Cape May, N.J.
Beginning in August, this 300-acre pen­insula becomes a major pit stop for hun­dreds of thousands of migrating birds. As the last scrap of land before an arduous 13-mile open water crossing of Delaware Bay, it attracts 80,000 raptors and more than 200 species of songbirds. The travel­ers refuel on land that blends from woods and ponds to marsh and dune. In sum­mer, the trails are edged with beautiful wildflowers, including multiflora rosa and trumpet creeper, visited by scores of butterflies.

Distance: 2-mile easy loop
Information: Cape May Point State Park, 609-884-2159; Nature Walks in New Jersey (AMCBooks)