One of my many fantasies about Walden includes creating and leading a swimming tour of Walden.
Bring just your body, bathing suit and your brain. No watches, waterproof iPhones. No cameras and no baggage.
Ideally, twice a day. Plan for two hours total, but try not to schedule anything immediately afterwards. You may want to stay longer.
We'd meet inside the Thoreau replica. Always a good idea to get a sense of Henry's life. A cozy room, just enough. Especially good to contrast with the immensity of the water. Maybe recommend that people pick up a small stone (to be carried in their belly button).
We'd cross to the map, where I'd point out the shape of the pond. A one legged buffalo. Or a cathedral. I'd point out the bays, stuff that people had read in books.
Then we'd go down to the water.
Right at the bottom of the ramp, go down the steps, drop your towel & shoes on the stone wall. Vamp a little bit, maybe go around asking names while we all get a little used to the temperature of the water. Stand up to our waists for a few minutes.
Then dive in.
I'd encourage everyone to follow me a little past the view of the swimming ropes, out of earshot of the children's shouts. Discuss how the shoreline has changed, how the water ate the beach during the summer of 2011 (?). The renovation & retaining walls installed in 1986, the removal of a concrete pier & my memories of it. Learning to swim in these waters. Swimming there every summer of my life. An annual baptism.
Lifeguard Beach, although there are never any lifeguards there, and this is the first year they've installed swimming ropes there. It's preferable if you want to get away from the crowds at the main beach, but the stones make for difficulty walking or standing. Turtle nest there.
Further in, close to the middle, we'd stop and contemplate. I'd point out paths to Henry's Beanfield, his hut, the train tracks, direction of Fairhaven Bay (the forest fire), Emerson's Cliff, the Andromeda ponds.
But I wouldn't want to give it all away, just yet.
Mostly, we'd tread water, look around, and enjoy. This is my favorite place in the entire world. I've seen the pond frozen over. (And am too much of a chicken to walk to this spot even with thick ice) We'd discuss Henry's use of time. "A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers". The seasons of the year, even though he was there for 2 years, 2 months and 2 days in the book "Walden". How timeless it is for someone like me. Exactly the same as when I first swam across (the "Blue Skies" story), even though I might be a completely different person. How it will be the same when I step into it when I am 90. The funny quote about "never stepping into the same river twice", and this pond being a contrast.
We'd swim to Henry's Cove. Get out, see if people are comfortable walking up to the House Site. Moments for quiet contemplation and dropping off the bellybutton stones.
I'm a person who is hesitant to walk anywhere barefooted. Although I have walked around the whole pond barefoot, and once 3/4 of the way sharing a pair of flipflops with a friend when I was 12. BUt if we are feeling strong as a group, I may take them up the Fire Road.
The Moguls, my second favorite spot on the paths, third favorite on the property. Henry knew it as the Deep Cut. It's a 15 minute walk from the edge of the pond, Ice Fort Cove. The meeting of Rt 2 and the railroad tracks, the edge of the property. Huge pine trees and curving hills that would make any roller-coaster lover happy.
The pine trees make the trails soft to walk upon. Unbelievably soft. Suddenly Henry's barefoot lifestyle seems less difficult than you could have ever thought possible.
We'd dive in again at Ice Fort Cove. I'd explain about how the trees block the view from Emerson's Cliff. How Henry's view of the tree-lined shore as a child was similar to what we are looking at now. But when he was living here, the trees had been mostly cut down, for the railroad, for timber and for firewood.
I'd talk about the Irish workers who lived by the railroad tracks. And the 1/4 mile horsetrack on the other side of the tracks. And the amusement park, which welcomed thousands between 1866-1902. Today the crowds are limited to one thousand lucky people at one time. (I've always preferred popular places when they are deserted, and somehow the joy of the inner-city ghosts who once came still haunt the waters. Walden accommodates everyone and everything, and returns to itself)
There are trails to explore surrounding the pond, and I'd encourage hikers to go to Heywood's Meadow. I've seen beaver there, plus evidence of their hard work. Stumps carved into perfect cones, like something from a cartoon.
Somehow the return swim always seems shorter and quicker. I'd encourage everyone to do a bit of birding (or clouding, as per the crowd's tastes). I saw a Great Blue Heron while I was doing the backstroke & staring at some clouds yesterday. It is the time for serious contemplation and great thought. The shore comes up too quickly.
At the end, I'd also say that back when I was a youngster, the Ice Cream Truck was thankfully parked in the Boat Parking Lot. But now it lives across the street in the regular one. And it is a great place to sample another sense (taste). And to examine license plates and accents from different parts of the country & world.
Bring just your body, bathing suit and your brain. No watches, waterproof iPhones. No cameras and no baggage.
Ideally, twice a day. Plan for two hours total, but try not to schedule anything immediately afterwards. You may want to stay longer.
We'd meet inside the Thoreau replica. Always a good idea to get a sense of Henry's life. A cozy room, just enough. Especially good to contrast with the immensity of the water. Maybe recommend that people pick up a small stone (to be carried in their belly button).
We'd cross to the map, where I'd point out the shape of the pond. A one legged buffalo. Or a cathedral. I'd point out the bays, stuff that people had read in books.
Then we'd go down to the water.
Right at the bottom of the ramp, go down the steps, drop your towel & shoes on the stone wall. Vamp a little bit, maybe go around asking names while we all get a little used to the temperature of the water. Stand up to our waists for a few minutes.
Then dive in.
I'd encourage everyone to follow me a little past the view of the swimming ropes, out of earshot of the children's shouts. Discuss how the shoreline has changed, how the water ate the beach during the summer of 2011 (?). The renovation & retaining walls installed in 1986, the removal of a concrete pier & my memories of it. Learning to swim in these waters. Swimming there every summer of my life. An annual baptism.
Lifeguard Beach, although there are never any lifeguards there, and this is the first year they've installed swimming ropes there. It's preferable if you want to get away from the crowds at the main beach, but the stones make for difficulty walking or standing. Turtle nest there.
Further in, close to the middle, we'd stop and contemplate. I'd point out paths to Henry's Beanfield, his hut, the train tracks, direction of Fairhaven Bay (the forest fire), Emerson's Cliff, the Andromeda ponds.
But I wouldn't want to give it all away, just yet.
Mostly, we'd tread water, look around, and enjoy. This is my favorite place in the entire world. I've seen the pond frozen over. (And am too much of a chicken to walk to this spot even with thick ice) We'd discuss Henry's use of time. "A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers". The seasons of the year, even though he was there for 2 years, 2 months and 2 days in the book "Walden". How timeless it is for someone like me. Exactly the same as when I first swam across (the "Blue Skies" story), even though I might be a completely different person. How it will be the same when I step into it when I am 90. The funny quote about "never stepping into the same river twice", and this pond being a contrast.
We'd swim to Henry's Cove. Get out, see if people are comfortable walking up to the House Site. Moments for quiet contemplation and dropping off the bellybutton stones.
I'm a person who is hesitant to walk anywhere barefooted. Although I have walked around the whole pond barefoot, and once 3/4 of the way sharing a pair of flipflops with a friend when I was 12. BUt if we are feeling strong as a group, I may take them up the Fire Road.
The Moguls, my second favorite spot on the paths, third favorite on the property. Henry knew it as the Deep Cut. It's a 15 minute walk from the edge of the pond, Ice Fort Cove. The meeting of Rt 2 and the railroad tracks, the edge of the property. Huge pine trees and curving hills that would make any roller-coaster lover happy.
The pine trees make the trails soft to walk upon. Unbelievably soft. Suddenly Henry's barefoot lifestyle seems less difficult than you could have ever thought possible.
We'd dive in again at Ice Fort Cove. I'd explain about how the trees block the view from Emerson's Cliff. How Henry's view of the tree-lined shore as a child was similar to what we are looking at now. But when he was living here, the trees had been mostly cut down, for the railroad, for timber and for firewood.
I'd talk about the Irish workers who lived by the railroad tracks. And the 1/4 mile horsetrack on the other side of the tracks. And the amusement park, which welcomed thousands between 1866-1902. Today the crowds are limited to one thousand lucky people at one time. (I've always preferred popular places when they are deserted, and somehow the joy of the inner-city ghosts who once came still haunt the waters. Walden accommodates everyone and everything, and returns to itself)
There are trails to explore surrounding the pond, and I'd encourage hikers to go to Heywood's Meadow. I've seen beaver there, plus evidence of their hard work. Stumps carved into perfect cones, like something from a cartoon.
Somehow the return swim always seems shorter and quicker. I'd encourage everyone to do a bit of birding (or clouding, as per the crowd's tastes). I saw a Great Blue Heron while I was doing the backstroke & staring at some clouds yesterday. It is the time for serious contemplation and great thought. The shore comes up too quickly.
At the end, I'd also say that back when I was a youngster, the Ice Cream Truck was thankfully parked in the Boat Parking Lot. But now it lives across the street in the regular one. And it is a great place to sample another sense (taste). And to examine license plates and accents from different parts of the country & world.
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