Hike of the Week: Walden Pond

This author learns a thing or two from Thoreau at Walden Pond

Walden Pond

A place to reflect during the Holiday Season





by Craig Romano
photo by Craig Romano
produced by Michael Fagin

December 23, 2005

Quick Facts
Location: Concord, Massachusetts
Land Agencies: Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation
Roundtrip: 1.5 miles
Elevation gain: None
Access: From Sea-Tac-fly to Boston’s Logan Airport. Follow SR 2 for 20 miles west to the Walden Pond State Reservation.


"After a still winter night I awoke with the impression that some question had been put to me, which I had been endeavoring in vain to answer in my sleep, as what -how -when -where? But there was dawning Nature, in whom all creatures live, looking in at my broad windows with serene and satisfied face, and no question on her lips. I awoke to an answered question, to Nature and daylight."
-Walden
-Henry David Thoreau

I grew up in a small town in New Hampshire, not more than 40 miles from Walden Pond, where Henry David Thoreau took refuge from an increasingly urbanizing society. I was first introduced to the works of the great naturalist-philosopher-writer in high school. Thoreau's essays have had a profound effect on me. They’ve helped me find peace and beauty in the world.
I ended up in the Pacific Northwest over sixteen years ago. The allure of the Cascades, Olympics and the ancient forests of the region held me captive. Thoreau's philosophy continued to guide me as I pursued new interests in my new home. A dog-eared copy of Walden Pond became a component in my backpack.
On many a Cascade peak and by many an alpine lake, I have looked to Walden for inspiration. Walden Pond has become more than a place to me; it has become a frame of mind.
I return to my native New England every Christmas. Occasionally I make a pilgrimage to Thoreau's and my Walden Pond. Like Jerusalem and Mecca, the Walden Pond State Reservation is a shrine. And like those sacred cities, Walden is a testimony to divinity.
Walden during the Christmas season is especially special. Frozen and ringed by snow, it is often silent. Many of her avian residents have taken refuge in Florida and South America. Sentinel white pines and leafless red oaks flank the small pond that Thoreau once took residence on. But, while nearly 160 years have passed since Henry David sat along these shores, his spirit is very much alive here.
A lone leaf rustling in the wind calls attention to listen to the voice of the forest. "Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth." Stop at the site of the cabin in which Thoreau lived for two years and two months.
Hiking in the Massachusetts countryside in the dead of winter has its advantages: the guarantee of solitude. Reflect upon the forest that now surrounds the site. The original canopy was cut down long ago to fuel the railroads. The tracks still run behind the cabin. Man's progress is inescapable. Nature's power however, is healing and renewing. Take one more look at the cabin plague which reads:
"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." -- Thoreau
I hope that you too will get the opportunity to experience Walden Pond-and not just the place-but the values that it represents.
Merry Christmas-Happy Hanukkah-and a joyous Winter Solstice!