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 2018 from May 23rd through August 29th, though it may keep going even longer.
Two-person-minimum.  Each week’s session is considered automatically canceled unless at least two people post in the “Trips / NSPN Events” forum that they plan to attend.  This is mainly to handle thunderstorms in the forecast, but also to coordinate things like the occasional dinner plans (usually at Comella’s).
Plan-B is White Pond.  Walden is wonderful but sometimes closes.  Find that and other information at https://twitter.com/waldenpondstate.  Plan-B is if Walden tweets they are closed, even if they plan to reopen that day, or if you find yourself locked out of Walden when you arrive, head to White Pond.  White Pond is an 8 minute (10 to 16 minutes at rush hour) drive from Walden.  It has very limited parking, so generally we drop kayaks, but park at a nearby school.  Google Maps describes the put-in as 5B Plainfield Rd, Concord, MA 01742, the school where we park is Willard Elementary. White Pond is rolling and rescue friendly.  Practice takes place right at the put-in so it is very nice for late arrivals.  AMC Boston’s White-Water paddlers have their pond social there on Wednesdays, and the leader knows White Pond is our Plan-B; Walden has been their Plan-B in the past.  We put-in right next to a PRIVATE members only swim beach. Technically non-members are not supposed to use the beach restrooms. Though I have heard of people getting permission from life-guards in the past.
You will need to sign an NSPN waiver ( https://www.nspn.org/waiver/ ).  Walden Pond sessions do not include a beach briefing, and often have staggered launches.  So to comply with NSPN policy, please print your own waiver copies and bring a signed copy to each pond session.  If you forget to bring a waiver, please sign the waiver of someone who remembered.
You will need a parking pass at Walden (White Pond is free).  If you are 62 or older and a MA resident, get a Senior ParksPass for $10.  If you live in MA and just want to try Walden the “borrow a ParksPass program” might work for you.  If you plan to be a regular consider a season pass. Otherwise pay the daily Walden parking fee (there is a kiosk by the boat ramp accepting debit/credit cards).
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 near the water.
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 between 5:00pm and 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 but within sight of “We usually practice here.”
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
Links:
My custom Walden map.
https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1u17Eky1Igua-v4LJRREH0pxbWM0&ll=42.439244671799266%2C-71.33892774999998&z=16
Latest Walden news including closings and time changes
https://twitter.com/waldenpondstate
Plan-B put-in 5B Plainfield Rd, Concord, MA 01742, park Willard Elementary School
https://www.google.com/maps/dir/42.430538,-71.381973/42.429502,-71.3860339/@42.4296506,-71.3862034,861m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!4m1!3e0?hl=en
When we eat out afterwards, it is usually at Comella’s
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Comella's/@42.4598123,-71.3519268,17z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x405c6f6c775def23:0x19ed21bd8b0df94e!8m2!3d42.4598123!4d-71.3497381?hl=en
AMC Boston Pond Socials and Pool Rolling
http://amcbostonpaddlers.org/pondsocials-poolrolling
Parking:
Senior ParksPass
https://www.mass.gov/how-to/get-a-senior-parkspass
Borrow a ParksPass
https://www.mass.gov/service-details/find-where-you-can-borrow-a-parkspass
Annual ParksPasses
https://www.reserveamerica.com/showPage.do?name=common&commonPath=/htm/MA_DCRParkPasses.html
Walden Pond info, including day pass info.
https://www.mass.gov/locations/walden-pond-state-reservation
 

Event details