We have two hard-fast rules for visiting wildly popular Walden Pond:
- Never go on a weekend.
- Always arrive early — at least before 9 a.m.
Henry and houseguests
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Better yet, get to the park by 7 a.m. and you'll get a glimpse of what
inspired Henry David Thoreau: morning mist rising off the tranquil glacial pond, towering pines and mighty oaks casting shadows on its shimmering
surface.
Don't abide by those rules and you'll find throngs of tourists and a less-than-desirable outdoor experience. On busy summer and fall days, the park reaches capacity and may close its gates four to five times a day
— sometimes before 9 a.m.
Walk the short hard-packed trails (each under two miles) skirting the pond. Our kids love to watch scurrying chipmunks and rabbits and are always on the lookout for deer. After, we'll take an early morning swim. (Okay, the kids
swim; we walk in from the sandy beach up to our waists — refreshing enough.)
Other mornings, we'll launch canoes for a gentle paddle around the 64-acre pond, or bob fishing flies to entice the pond's hungry rainbow trout.
The Walden Pond State Reservation is less than an hour west of Boston, off Rte. 126 in Concord, MA: (978) 369-3254. Parking, $2, is limited. There's a
visitor center, canoe/rowboat launch, swimming beach, picnic area, visitor center, walking trails, and guided walks and programs. Open daily, 7 a.m. to about a half hour after sunset.
In Thoreau's Footsteps
"Is this the beach where they had the MTV beach party?" our enquiring tykes wanted to know."Not likely," I responded. "However . . . " Sensing an opening, I launched into the story of Henry David Thoreau ("a really famous guy") who
decided to walk the whole 25-mile Cape Cod seashore in 1849. Thoreau called
Cape Cod "a wild, rank place," where one encounters "naked nature, nibbling
at the cliffy shore," I said. Of course, "naked nature" cracked 'em up.
So we began our trek along the Cape Cod National Seashore. Henry D. took three days to do it, during which time he bunked with oystermen and lighthouse-keepers and ate what he caught (including a very bad clam.) We opted for Day One of Thoreau's hike, a six-mile jaunt from Coast Guard Beach in Eastham to LeCount Hollow in Wellfleet.
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| Directions to the Cape Cod Seashore
From Boston, follow I-93 south to the Sagamore Bridge over Cape Cod Canal,
then follow Route 6 east to Eastham. Visit Salt Pond Visitor Center
(508-255-6860) for maps and information.
This hike begins at Coast Guard Beach. There's a parking lot at the
National Seashore's Little Creek Staging Area on Doane Rd., a half-mile from
the start.
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Amazingly, little has changed in the intervening century and a half. This
hike is a minimalist's dream, an endless vista of sky-meets-sea. You'll
wander a string of pristine beaches along the windswept Atlantic side of the
cape, on the peninsula's eastern shore. Heading north, you'll pass an old
Coast Guard station; just beyond, rippling sea cliffs sport tufts of grass
and scarlet tumbles of rosa rugosa. Foamy waves deposit an assortment of
treasures at one's feet: mermaid's purses (skate egg cases); snarls of
seaweed, entangled in fishnet; myriad tiny shells, smooth and rosy as baby's
lips.
from Away.com
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