Things Aren't Going So Swimmingly at Walden Pond

One of the reasons I was so excited to move back to the Boston area was the opportunity to renew acquaintances with Walden Pond in Concord. 

I first started going to Walden Pond almost 20 years ago and it is my go to place when I want to get away from city life for a few hours. When I first went to Walden Pond, it was to walk around the pond. My favorite spot is a clearing very near where Henry David Thoreau built his cabin. As time passed, I went to Walden Pond to swim rather than to walk. In recent years, I would swim its width which is a good mile each way. 

Now that I live in Cambridge it is much easier to get there by train by virtue of being situated near Porter Square. On June 18th, I went to Walden Pond for the first time in nearly four years. I did not swim it's width as this was the first I had done swimming of any kind since the pandemic began in earnest in March 2020. But I got a taste of the good life and was looking forward to more.

But at the beginning of the month, the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) abruptly banned open water swimming at Walden Pond following several drownings - none of which occurred at Walden Pond. Swimmers are restricted to a single roped off area which is very tiny and not conducive to swimming laps. On top of this move, Governor Charlie Baker is seeking to impose fines of $500 to swimmers who violate the new law. 

As my landlady put it, "People are more likely to die because of a heatwave than because of drowning while swimming." She told me that she had signed an online petition to reverse the ban which I have done as well. While I realize there is an inherent risk in swimming, Walden Pond should never be confused with Lake Lanier in Georgia. 

There are few things more serene and spiritual than swimming in the fresh waters of Walden Pond. Swimmers have been flocking to Walden Pond for decades for that very reason. Why deter people from visiting?

But if they want to deter people from visiting then they have succeeded. Oh, I'll go back in the fall to walk around the pond. But if I want to swim in fresh water during the summer I'll have to go elsewhere. Which means I will most likely swim at Crystal Lake in Newton. That is, unless, Massachusetts DCR has the good sense to reverse course and once again make our lives go a little more swimmingly.