Outdoor Activities In Concord MA
Walk, jog, hike, bike, swim, boat, kayak, canoe—Concord’s great for all of them.
Canoers on the Concord River.
Swimming
Walden Pond is the place for that! Swim in its pure water from sandy beaches watched by lifeguards. Changing rooms, showers and toilets are available. Note: Walden fills to capacity and closes early on hot summer days. More...
The beach at Walden Pond
Hiking & Biking
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, chief of which is the Battle Road Trail.
Walden Pond State Reservation is perhaps Concord’s favorite walking area (no bikes). You can hike there from Concord along the Emerson-Thoreau Amble.
For longer-distance hiking, the Bay Circuit Trail traces a 230-mile (370-km) arc through the towns of Massachusetts Bay. The Bruce Freeman Rail Trail and Reformatory Branch Trail are organized routes for bikers and walkers.
Battle Road Trail marker
Boats, Kayaks & Canoes
South Bridge Boat House rents canoes and kayaks on Concord’s rivers—the Assabet and the Sudbury, which join to form the Concord River.
You can also boat, canoe and kayak on Walden Pond, but you'll have to bring your own watercraft. No internal-combustion engines allowed.
South Bridge Boathouse: rent canoes & kayaks.
Birding
Birding is good in all of Concord's forests and fields, but best at Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, reachable by car, bike or on foot.
Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge.
More easily accessible is Mill Brook Marsh right next to Millbrook Farm (215 Cambridge Turnpike), less than 10 minutes' walk southeast (toward Boston) along Cambridge Turnpike from the Concord Museum and the Emerson House, and less than a mile southeast of Monument Square. There's limited parking on Cambridge Turnpike and none on Lexington Road, but plenty of space on Hawthorne Lane.
Mill Brook Marsh, less than a 10-minute walk southeast of the Concord Museum along Cambridge Turnpike.
The bird-sightings board at Great Meadows.