Concord, Massachusetts
Great Meadows Refuge — Concord Unit
Two big man-made pools with a dike trail between them, a lookout tower by the parking lot, and a refuge bird list of over 220 species. No dogs allowed.
Written for ages 3–12.
Researched from this park's own sources. Nobody's walked it yet.
Read this bit out
These two big ponds were not always here. People built walls to hold the water in on purpose, to make somewhere for birds to stop and rest on their way past. More than two hundred different kinds have turned up. The path we are walking on is the wall.
One of your three free places, or the Explorer Pass. What that costs
Before you go
- Time there
- Plan on about an hour and a half at the park.
- Parking
- Take Route 62 east from Concord Center for about a mile and turn left onto Monsen Road. There's an entrance fee, paid at a self-pay station in the lot. Open sunrise to sunset, year round.
- Underfoot
- Four trails making 2.7 miles, almost no elevation change. The observation tower is right by the parking lot and the Dike Trail runs between the two impoundments.
- Stroller
- A stroller works on some of it.
- Food
- No picnic areas and no fires. Carry out any trash.
22 challenges written for this place
A game deals seven to fifteen of them, so no two visits are alike.
4 ways to find your bearings, 3 things to work out and 3 creatures to look for.
Every game includes this one
The Lookout Tower
Find the big lookout tower near the parking lot, and get as high up it as you can.
A few of the others
What Happened Here
Find something that looks like something happened, and make up the story.
Remember The Turns
Remember the next three turns we make, then say them back in order.
Halfway There
Pick something to walk to, then say when we're exactly halfway there.
Carried By Water
Find a piece of wood the water carried here from somewhere else.
Growing On Stone
Find something green or gray growing on stone, brick or wood.
Somebody Noticed You
Find an animal that looks right back at you.
The rest are a surprise — that's the whole point.
Also around Concord
Walden Pond
Concord
A 102-foot-deep pond a glacier left behind, a path all the way around it, and the spot where Thoreau built his one-room house and lived for two years.
The North Bridge
Concord
The rebuilt wooden bridge where militia were first ordered to fire on British soldiers, with the Minute Man statue on one bank and an obelisk on the other.
Play this at Great Meadows Refuge — Concord Unit
Free. Works with no signal once you're there.