| Description | One of the most popular and well known areas in all of Massachusetts: Thoreau's Walden Pond. Beautiful pond/lake area that has a great beach. Perfect for swimming. there are also a large network of trails that go around Walden as well as other trails that connect from/to this area. The three trail areas are Hapgood Write Forrest (Tuttle-Thoreau Loop Trail), Pine Hill, and Adams Woods. This is great place fora trail run. The area is also part of the Bay Circuit Trail, so this is another good entry point for that trail.
One note: being here is bittersweet. Even though this is an athlete's haven, there are many restrictions which makes the experience not as enjoyable as one would think with all the hype surrounded by it. Even though this is a public state park, it seems they really limit the number of people that are allowed to enter the park. The park shuts down if it get's too crowded and there are many rangers blocking ALL entrances to prevent more people coming into the parking lots and beach area. For example: when I went on the day I posted this, the park was closed until 1:30pm because there were too many people on the lake. Parking fills up FAST (and is $5) and there is NO other place to park unless you are a resident of the town of Concord, MA. And it's VERY VERY busy. So, the best way to enjoy this park is 1) you get there REALLY EARLY 2) you bike there with all your stuff (be careful, no shoulder on road and there are a lot of cars), or 3) you have awesome friends who live just down the road so you can park and walk from their house. ;) Because of it's restrictions even though it's a public state park, I gave it three stars. :( |
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