Outdoors
Walk, jog, bike, swim, boat—Concord’s great for all of them.
The Town of Concord maintains a system of footpaths through beautiful scenery. Minute Man National Historical Park has its own network of paths and sites for walkers and bikers.
Walden Pond State Reservation is perhaps Concord’s favorite walking area (no bikes).
For longer-distance hiking, the Bay Circuit Trail traces an arc through the towns of Massachusetts Bay. The Bruce Freeman Rail Trail and Minuteman Bike Path/Reformatory Branch are organized routes for bikers and walkers.
South Bridge Boat House has canoes and kayaks for rent on Concord’s rivers.
Birding is good in all these places, but Concord’s primary birding location is Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge.
The Natural Resources Division of the Town of Concord maintains nearly two dozen walking trails in the town that take you to its prime sites of history and naturan beauty.
Minute Man National Historical Park offers numerous sites for walking and some for biking in its 967 acres (391 hectares). You can tour the park on foot, by bike or by car.
Many visitors go to Walden Pond for its history, but locals go to swim, fish, boat, look for birds, and to enjoy walks on its many trails. It’s Concord’s prime outdoors destination.
The Bay Circuit Trail & Greenway connects 37 towns surrounding Massachusetts Bay for hikers and, in some sections, for bikers. The trail wanders by Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge and Concord Center, then the Emerson-Thoreau Amble to WAlden Pond and on to Pine Hill in Lincoln and beyond.
The 10-mile-long (16-km) Minuteman Commuter Bikeway connects Cambridge and Bedford with a paved, serviced bike path that is often heavily used. The unpaved Reformatory Branch Trail connects the Bedford terminus with Concord.
You can rent bikes for the day at ATA Cycle, 93 Thoreau Street, right across from the Concord Depot (MBTA Commuter Rail train station).
There used to be a rack of rental shared bikes behind the Concord Visitor Center at 58 Main Street, but in June 2020, the bike rental company, Zagster, went out of business, no doubt due to COVID-19. Perhaps when health safety allows, another bike rental company will be granted permission to rent shared bikes here.
From April through October you can walk from the center of Concord to the boat house, rent a canoe or kayak, and paddle along the Concord, Sudbury and Assabet rivers to such sights as Egg Rock, Old North Bridge, and Fairhaven Bay.
Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge is a 3800-acre (1538-hectare) expanse of marsh, forest, river and pond which hosts up to 220 species of birds. It’s reachable on foot, by bike and by car.