Paddling: Walden Pond Skills & Stupid Kayak Tricks
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Group: North Shore Paddle Network
When: Wednesday, June 21, 5 to 7 pm
Where: Walden Pond State Reservation, Concord, MA
Cost: $10 parking pass
Details: Greenland rolling, euro-paddle rolling, goose-decoy rolling, norsaq rolling, hand rolling, rescue practice, standing up in a kayak and juggling, sitting in kayaks talking without ever getting wet, strokes practice, stupid kayak tricks, Walden Pond on Wednesday evenings has something for nearly every kayaker. Come join us. It is on the calendar for 2017 from May 31st through August 30th, though some people may keep going even longer.
For those new to Walden, I played around with Google Maps and created this custom map showing the following places.
Main Parking Entrance: We rarely park in the main parking lot unless we arrive late, or need the bathroom facilities in the main parking area.
Boat Ramp Entrance: There is a gravel driveway on the other side of the road just a bit south of the main parking lot which leads to the boat ramp. We can now purchase parking passes from a machine at the Boat Ramp.
Boat Ramp: Only cars with boats or handicapped tags are supposed to use the limited boat ramp parking. Be nice to the rangers, most of whom will react by being quite nice. Though a few are very “by the book” grumpy types. The rangers announce the boat ramp will be closing usually 20 to 30 minutes before it closes. The rangers close both the boat ramp parking lot and the in-gate for main parking half an hour before the main parking lot’s out-gate closes.
Beach Bathhouse: There are also larger bathroom/changing facilities at the main beach, a short walk from the boat ramp, though with more limited days and hours.
We usually practice here: An initial pod of kayaks usually launches around 5:30pm. If you get there late, no problem, just paddle to the other end of the pond from the boat ramp where you will usually find us practicing out of sight from the boat ramp.
There is no leader, but I hope to be a Walden Pond regular again this year. I also hope to see lots of new and old faces this year!
-Bill Voss
