50 IN THOREAU’S FOOTSTEPS

KEY AT-A-GLANCE INFORMATION

LENGTH: 8.67 miles

CONFIGURATION: Out-and-back with 2 loops

DIFFICULTY: Easy to moderate

SCENERY: The enormous and lovely Farrar Pond and a wooded landscape contoured by glacial ice

EXPOSURE: Mostly shaded

TRAFFIC: Moderate

TRAIL SURFACE: Widely varied, including packed earth, grassland, rocky terrain, and some pavement

HIKING TIME: 5 hours

SEASON: Year-round sunrise–sunset

ACCESS: Free

MAPS: Available through the Lincoln and Concord conservation commissions

FACILITIES: None

SPECIAL COMMENTS: If you hike with a canine friend, be sure to bring a leash. Dogs are not welcome at the Walden Pond State Reservation.

WHEELCHAIR TRAVERSABLE: No

DRIVING DISTANCE TO BOSTON COMMON: 25 miles

In Thoreau’s Footsteps

UTM Zone (WGS84) 19T

Easting: 306178

Northing: 4697833

Latitude: N 42° 24' 31"

Longitude: W 71° 21' 19"

Directions

From Boston, take Interstate 90 west 11.4 miles to I-95 via Exit 15. Bear left to merge onto I-95 north. Continue 1.9 miles to Exit 26/US 20. After 0.3 miles bear left onto Stow Street. After 0.3 miles turn left onto Main Street/MA 117. Continue 5.1 miles along MA 117 then turn left onto Concord Road. Travel 0.4 miles then turn right onto Farrar Road. Continue 0.4 miles then bear right onto Oxbow Road. There is a pulloff for parking on the left.

IN BRIEF

This hike links three popular hiking destinations, Mount Misery, Adams Woods, and Walden Pond.

DESCRIPTION

On Independence Day in 1845, Henry David Thoreau moved into a small cabin he had built at Walden Pond, Concord, on a woodlot belonging to Ralph Waldo Emerson. Thoreau explained, “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.” Each day for the two years he lived at Walden, Thoreau observed nature, wrote, and did a great deal of walking. For him, a daily walk of no less than four hours was a necessity of life. Of walking he wrote, “We should go forth on the shortest walk, perchance, in the spirit of undying adventure, never to return.” Although by and large, Thoreau’s compass sent him westward, it is likely that on occasion his needle spun south to Farrar Pond.

To find the trailhead, cross Oxbow Road and, bearing right, hike to a gap in evergreens framing a field. A post that may or may not be standing bears the insignia of the Lincoln Land Conservation Trust. From this corner head northeast along the edge of the field to reach a paved drive and woods beyond. Cross the pavement and resume the trail as it continues northward between two massive oaks marked with orange trail blazes.

In a rush of metaphors, one trumps all in describing what comes next. The best is Apollo’s Chariot—a roller-coaster ride. Starting where the trail bears left atop an esker nearly in the clouds, the trail swerves, dips, and lurches its way to the pond below. At ride’s end, a sign warning of “nuisance aquatic vegetation,” feet away from a weed-ridden pool, swings shut the floodgates of adrenalin, leaving the senses wide awake but calm.

Having landed on level ground, proceed left and follow the trail as it traces the pond’s perimeter. In August peaceful flotillas of Canada geese loitering in the year’s last warm days paddle among lily pads, and maples looking overdressed in reds and golds.

Stay with the trail as it continues northwest on its orbit around the pond passing several trails along the way. At one bend, a fleet of canoes and kayaks lies underside up by a landing. Heading directly north, the trail leads to a peninsula then makes a hairpin turn to continue southwest. Far off at the end of the pond, traffic streams across the horizon. Except for the condominium complex built on the cusp of the hill above, Farrar Pond is remarkably undeveloped, and the few houses that are visible integrate gracefully into the landscape.

Just before reaching a private home stained the color of redwood, the trail intersects another route jutting in from the left then appears to dead-end at a gushing outlet. Here, despite the sign reading “Private,” the route continues across the abbreviated bridge. A white Bay Circuit Trail marker attached to an oak indicates where the trail proceeds between a fenced-in meadow and a wispy wall of evergreens.

From a gateway with a birdhouse attached, the trail follows a driveway past a hedgerow of beach roses to a road at the foot of the hill. Aim for the Bay Circuit Trail marker next to a dirt pulloff across the road, then carefully continue around a blind curve to the right. Noting a white trail marker on a large pine, hike behind the parking area to a boat launch on the Sudbury River.

Mounting the wooded riverbank, the trail arcs back to the road where a pair of markers, one white and one yellow, indicates that the trail travels southeast alongside the road, dropping below the traffic as it skirts wetland thick with reeds. The cloven footprints of deer mark this passageway.

Emerging from the mire, the trail arrives at the solid base of Mount Misery. The Orange trail offers the option of climbing straight north. Take this route several yards to a split then ease off to the right, following a red arrow to descend back to street level. Across the parking lot in the northeast corner, the Bay Circuit Trail picks up again. Resuming this route momentarily, pass a pond then bear left on the Kettle Trail.

After shooting straight to the top of an esker, the trail darts through an intersection, then rims a kettle pond before plunging down the other side, banking a curve, then snaking the other way to climb again.

Reaching a plateau, the trail turns southeast and, a moment later, slices across the Bay Circuit Trail. Ahead a lovely broad corridor lit by sun filtering through hemlocks and luminous beech leads to another four-way intersection. Take the Yellow trail splitting left here to spiral to the top of Mount Misery. Though a peaceful spot to enjoy a snack, the peak affords little in the way of a view.

When ready to quit the top, descend on the Yellow trail along the edge of a tremendously steep slope. At the base of Mount Misery, bear right then continue straight to a cultivated field. Trace the field’s boundary to the left and enter the woods where a sign reads “Private Trail to Adams Woods.” This path is private in the sense that it crosses private property, but day-hikers are welcome.

Follow orange dots as they lead past houses across a paved drive. After dipping to wetland, bear left just short of a horse paddock. This turn is easy to miss, but if you find yourself face to face with a horse standing before a brown house on a hill, you’ve gone too far.

Traveling north between a stream on the left and the paddock, the trail continues across a wooden bridge to meet a driveway a short distance later and Adams Woods beyond. Locate the trail to the right, marked with a hiker symbol and an orange dot.

Departing from the stream, the trail crosses through one junction to reach another distinguished by a gate on the left. When the orange trail forks just ahead, stay on course to continue northwest over sandy ground above wetland. At the top of a slight grade near a kettle pond, a sign points south to Mount Misery. To press on toward Concord, round the bend to the left to another kettle pond and junction. Spurning the Andromeda Trail, hike left uphill to a fork and a sign marking the Lincoln–Concord border. Where the Fairhaven Trail breaks off to the left, veer right to continue northwest.

Having left Lincoln, be aware of a change in trail markers. The steward of these acres is the Concord Land Conservation Trust. Nonetheless, at each of the next intersections, stay to the right. On this brief stretch, the trail doubles as a steeplechase course.

Pines soften the trail’s edges as it carves an arc over and between wrinkles wrought by the relentless pressure of glacial ice. Spilling to a packed mound poised above a cavity engorged with greenery, the trail pauses beside a railroad line. Emerson’s Cliff at Walden Pond is just a stone’s throw away across the tracks.

This junction marks the hike’s halfway point. To return to Farrar Pond, continue on the orange trail to descend southward on a banking far above the outwash field. Many twists and turns lie ahead as the trail navigates all manner of ice-borne topography. Be alert for orange discs and the white medallions of the Concord Land Conservation Trust to stay on course. At a sprawling intersection where the orange trail appears to split in two, bear right.

Climbing a moraine, the trail rises above the fantastically pronounced depression left by a glacial finger and proceeds southwest on upland. After running due south through pines and oaks but nary a maple or hickory, the trail turns sharply northeast and reaches two junctions, one nearly on top of the other. Bear right at both. The second right sends the trail southwest once more.

On this downhill, fields become visible through the trees ahead, and in a moment the trail intersects another. Turn left here; this is the Orange trail you hiked earlier. Pass a sign confirming the way to retrace the route to Mount Misery.

Upon arriving at the mountain’s threshold, where the Bay Circuit Trail enters from across the field, hike left to circle the base of the great hill. Rising along wetland, the trail parts a stone wall then, at an expansive intersection, heads south, following yellow markers.

A small duckweed-green kettle pond lies ahead. Crossing the causeway that contains it, the trail arrives at an intersection marked “E.” Bear left here and trace the pond, traveling southeast. Where Wolf Pine Trail appears at the far bank, turn right and continue southwest, paralleling a stone wall. With yellow markers leading the way, the trail bends to the right just short of South Great Road (MA 117). Brush through ferns to reach a junction, and turn left here to meet the road.

Leaving wooded paths to temporarily join a paved bicycle route, cross to the other side and proceed 0.4 miles to Concord Road (MA 126). Make a right angle south at this intersection, and at 0.36 miles, between houses numbered 234 through 239, look for a sign marking a trail traveling east–west across Concord Road. Leave pavement and follow this well-hidden and lightly traveled path westward.

For 0.27 miles this delightful orange-marked path slips along the edges of private property to emerge at the southeastern end of bowtie-shaped Farrar Pond. On its final leg before it reaches Farrar’s wooded bank, the trail darts diagonally across a driveway, passing a sculpture of granite and steel.

Once beside the water, the trail picks its way over the root-tangled shore to arrive back to where it first approached the pond hours ago. At this, the third junction, bear left and make one last push to return to Oxbow Road.

NEARBY ATTRACTIONS

To see where the “shot heard round the world” was fired—the ground on which the American Revolution began on April 19, 1775—plan a trip to Concord’s Minute Man National Historical Park. Details can be found online at www.nps.gov/mima. Those with a taste for art will want to visit the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, also in Concord. The museum is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on select Monday holidays. Call (781) 259-8355 for updated information. Admission to the DeCordova Campus is $9 for adults, and $6 for seniors, students, and children 6 to 12; children 5 and under are admitted free.