Finally, 46 Years Later , A Return Visit To Iconic Walden Pond In Concord Massachusetts

It was an easy to  remember the exact day of  my first,  and last visit  to Walden Pond, in Concord Massachusetts. It was the day Mount Saint Helen’s erupted on May 18 1980. This 65 acre  “kettle hole:” pond was  made famous by author, naturalist and conservationist Henry Thoreau. I drove a friend to Boston to visit a girlfriend. On my drive back home I stopped for a brief visit to Walden Pond. I was reading Walden or Life in the Woods at the time.  I related to  Thoreau’s love of nature and the simple life he wrote about in this famous book. . I was sure I would read more of his works and return to Walden Pond often. Well, law school and a busy life happened and  46 years passed in a blink of an eye. I finally returned to Walden Pond  last Thursday.

It was a long 5 1/2 hour drive from my home in Northeastern Pennsylvania. I left early , my first drive with my new eyes after recent cataract surgery  was a nice drive through Pennsylvania  but I drove into a lot of rain  in  New York and Connecticut. I arrived at Walden Pond around 12:30  p.m.  The skies were cloudy with a light drizzle.  I drove ahead of  the rains  but they were forecast to arrive soon. I did not stop to eat, I hiked 2 mile at my home before I left, and  I was hungry . I decided not to eat  and explore Walden Pond before the rains arrived.

I parked  on the lot along Route 126 and walked  started my walk down to Walden Pond through the lush green trees and Spring flowers blooming  along the path.    The Spring season was more advanced at the lower elevations of Concord than at the higher elevations of the mountains of Northeastern Pennsylvania. Along the path I came upon a replica of the  simple one-room cabin built by Thoreau  where he lived for a little over two years from 1845 to 1847.  The site of the original  cabin was located on the north side of Walden Pond.

Although Thoreau lived alone in the modest cabin on a remote tract of land owned by his friend, the famous poet, essayist, and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson, he often had visitors where they would discuss politics, nature, life and philosophy.  His book Walden was written here as a journal on his pursuit of a simple life during his two years living in the woods on the outskirts of Concord.

I reflected on his life here as I walked down the path to Walden Pond in a light drizzle. The pond is now surrounded by a second growth forest of mostly eastern white pine, oak and maple trees. However when Thoreau lived here the forests was mostly cut for lumber and firewood. And he was not the only one living along Waleden Pond, located about 1 1/2 miles from Concord. Many  impoverished freed African slaves who escaped from the southern states on the underground railroad lived here too. 

I walked to the shore of the pond where I stood 46 years ago and reflected on the passage of time. I didn’t  look at any maps as I began my hike along the shores of the lake.   Since I acquired a camera about 15 years ago I have taken photos of the plants and animals I find on my hikes and share them here on my blog and on my social media accounts.  It is a balance between taking photos and getting my hiking in, I try and do 5 to 7 miles a day, so I can only spend a limited amount of time trying to capture a photograph a bird, a snake or a bear and still getting my miles in. On this hike it was the approaching rain that kept me from taking a lot of photos.

But I did the best I could and the first wildlife I saw was this  bird, a spotted sandpiper foraging along the pond shore.

I also saw this black-capped chickadee  foraging  in a tree. I wasn’t expecting to see much bird activity in the mid-day cloudy and rainy conditions.

I walked on the Pond Path and did see a lot of familiar trees and plants.  High bush blueberries were everywhere  along the trail,

as were hazel alder trees. Both of these plants are common in the woods near my home in Northeastern Pennsylvania. I saw a few more black-capped chickadees feeding on the  hazel alder catkins.

Native bog white violets,

and invasive common wintercress flowers bloomed along path.

After I had walked about one mile I approached Little Cove. Here I met a fisherman and we talked about the wildlife near the pond. He told me about a couple of Beaver Ponds on the other side of the ridge  above Walden Pond.

I followed the Pond Path to Esker Trail and followed it up a ridge and came to an active railroad track. I love railroad tracks.  As a boy I would hike on the active tracks near my home  for many miles and hours in all seasons, many time with friends, but  often with my dog corky or alone. I wondered to myself if the tracks were there when Thoreau lived in his cabin. I did some research and learned the railroad track did exist when Thoreau lived in his cabin. The Fitchburg Line, contacting Fitchburg to Concord  was completed in June of 1844. I am certain Thoreau walked the rails and heard the steam engines passing from his cabin.

I left the railroad tracks and followed the Esker, and then Fire Road South Trails down a steep trail to the meadow where the beaver lodges were located. In my  younger days I would run down this steep trail like a mountain goat. I am not young anymore, and had a couple of serious falls while trying to run down steep trails, so took my time on this one.

The trail took me  to what is known as Heywood’s Meadow, a small pond surrounded by mostly eastern white pine woodlands.

I saw a common grackle feeding on dragonflies on the ponds,

and heard, then saw a colorful scarlet tanager singing in the trees. The common grackle is a year long resident here but the scarlet tanager migrates to South America for the winter. I always find  think of this amazing journey when I see these birds in our woodlands.

And,  as I walked along the pond under the large eastern  white pines,

I realized how much of the flora and fauna here in Massachusetts , 334 miles north-east of my home in Pennsylvania, is similar to the  flora and fauna in the woodlands at my home. When I travel to Florida, Europe, Africa or other remote destinations I know little of the local flora and fauna. I try and learn the different plants and animals but I  often forget what I learned. My memory is not what it used to be either. Here in Concord I was familiar with much of the plants,  such as skunk cabbages along the pond. They were some of the largest skunk cabbages I have ever seen.

Cinnamon ferns grew near the pond next to the skunk cabbage,

and bracken fern grew all along the trail.

Tree clubmoss, another plant I see  on most of my hike in Northeastern Pennsylvania grew along the trail.

I followed the trail along the pond and saw the first of the two beaver lodges. Unfortunately I didn’t see any beavers.

I did see a few painted turtles in the ponds.

And two birds I am very familiar with from the wetlands near my home,  red winged blackbirds,and,

Canada geese were  on the pond, this one feeding on some vegetation in the pond.  Both of these birds will migrate south in the fall.Here is a link to a gallery on my blog web-site with some more photos of the birds  I saw on my hike around Walden Pond.  Concord Massachusetts Walden Pond  birds   May 14 2026.

I continued on the trail, past a second beaver lodge,

and saw many familiar native wildflowers  plants blooming along the trail, including, common blue violets,

small white violets,

star flowers, 

dwarf cinquefoil,

Canada mayflower,

wild sarsaparilla,

and  my dad’s favorite, now my one of my favorite, pink lady slipper. My dad called them “duck flowers”.   He would take me and my 4 siblings into the woods every Spring looking for them. He would also look for    pink azaleas, he  called them ” honeysuckles” .  And, in late Summer he would  take me and my brothers into the woods and taught us  to pickwild  mushrooms,  “red tops”. They were birch and aspen scaber boletes. I was only three or four years old  when first took  me on my first mushroom hunt. ( He only knew this species of mushroom. He instilled in me a life long love of mushroom foraging and I now gather over 75 edible species)   Dad  instilled in me my love of nature. He would always tell us  to “keep our eyes peeled” when he would see some mushrooms, a duck flower or something else of  interest and wanted us to “find” it.  We lost dad in 2013. I miss himevery day.   I dedicated this humble blog  “keepyouryeyespeeled” to my dad.

As I was enjoying the beauty of Heywood.s Meadow the sky darkened and a light  rain began to fall. I  quickly began my hike back to the parking lot.  I followed the Emerson’s Cliff Trail back to Walden Pond. At first I walked up a ridge to the area I think was Emerson’s Cliff. Emerson  purchased this land too, and spent time here. I am thinking the were not as many large trees than and there was a view of the pond.

I continued my hike, now down the ridge,

and saw a few choke berry flowers.  As a child I spent many day picking high and low bush blueberries. We called them “huckleberries”.  We were always told choke berries were poinsonous.   I have learned they are not but in fact were used by many Native American tribes as a major source of food.  Here is a link to a gallery on my blog web-site with some more photos of the many wildflowers and plants I saw on my hike around Walden Pond.  Concord Massachusetts Walden Pond  plants  May 14 2026.

I walked back down to Walden Pond just as the rain got heavier.

I finished my 3 mile hike and stopped in the Visitor Center and gift shop. It was here I meet this world renowned naturalist, lecturer, ecotourism guide  and birder, Peter Alden.    I had a wonderful, but much too short, converstion with this amazing man..  After purchsing  this book,

 (and  Thoreau’s Walden) I learned  so much more about his interesting life of sharing his love of nature and his efforts of protect it. I wish I could have talked with him for a few more hours.  Reading about his 8 decades of adventure I have learned so much  about not only Thoreau,  Walden Pond and Concord,  but so much more about the international environmental and converstion  movements. It was a great way to end my  return visit to Walden Pond, 46 years too late. I am now inspired to return. And to continue this humble blog sharing my adventures and observations of nature.  I was convinced my last minute decision to return to Walden Pond was where I had to be at this time in my life.

I left Walden Pond and forgot the restaruant that  Mr. Alden recommended to me. I was starving now, it was after 3 p.m. and so I decided to eat at the Karma Asian Fusion restaurant in Concord. It was another good decision. As has been  my  custom for over 10 years now, I also share my food photos on my travels.  On Thursday in Concord I had delicious spicy seafood miso soup,

and kung pao shrimp.  It was now late afternoon and I soon found out how the almost 400 year old roads of Concord were not built for modern vehicles. I  encountered the rush hour traffic on my way to my hotel,  the Residence Inn by Marriott. It was raining hard and the  roads were congested. I arrived at my hotel around 5 p.m.   It was a long drive and I had walked over  5 miles so I decided to remain in my room.  I had a bag of pistachios  from the lobby for dinner, edited some photos and retired early, looking forward to exploring more of the Concord area in the morning.   Here is a link to a gallery on my blog web-site with some more photos from my 5 mile  hike around Walden Pond.  Concord Massachusetts Walden Pond    May 14 2026.

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. ” Henry David Thoreau.