It is best to visit Walden Pond in the evening, an hour or two before closing (sunset), when the last swimmers are rolling up their beach mats and drying off. It is then, I believe, when the color of the pond is most like Thoreau described it: "it is of a yellowish tint next to the shore where you can see the sand, then a light green, which gradually deepens into a uniform dark green." A walk around the pond will take less than an hour. There is a narrow trail that leads hikers along the shore; in the few spots where the terrain is rugged, an easier alternate route always presents itself. On an embankment just above the pond, the Boston Commuter Rail passes by frequently. It whistles to break the silence just as it did in Thoreau’s time, reminding me of his warning: "We do not ride on the railroad; it rides upon us."

The site where Thoreau’s cabin once stood is now marked only by the archeological remains of the foundation. The reconstruction of the cabin has been erected on a plot adjacent to the parking lot, about 500 feet from the pond. While this spot does not recapture the atmosphere of seclusion in which Thoreau spent two years, two months, and two days, a walk inside will definitely give one the idea of the minimalist existence Thoreau relished. "Simplify, simplify, simplify." Indeed.

While it sees the largest number of visitors in the summer, Walden Pond is splendid during any season. Ice fishing is a popular recreation in the winter; the foliage draws hikers in autumn. Regardless of when you visit, refresh yourself with a bit of Thoreau. If Walden proves too cumbersome a task or Resistance to Civil Government too militant, a simple quote might do: "The morning wind forever blows, the poem of creation is uninterrupted; but few are the ears that hear it."