walden pond

I made my first trip to Walden Pond this weekend. This is rather surprising because I am a Massachusetts native and I've been living in Cambridge for the past few years, just a short ride from this fabulous, famous swimming hole.

I'm not the strongest swimming: I know a few strokes but can't make it very far free-style. If I go slow with a breast stroke then I'm ok. I like to be in control. I wear contacts and goggles so I can see underwater and always know exactly where the surface is. Most of the swimming I do is in pools where the side and the ends are never far away, where I always have the option of taking a break at any moment. So when I find myself in the middle of a murky pond where I can't touch the bottom and its a long way to shore, I get nervous.

Last summer, Ellie and I went to Summersville Lake, near the New River Gorge in West Virginia. The lake is a dammed river that fills up to the cliffs around it. These cliffs are loaded with excellent, overhanging climbing routes and during the summer, when the lake is full, you can free solo the routes (no rope) and then (safely) fall or jump into the deep water. Normally free soloing is something that scares me (see, for example, this post). But I was much more comfortable hanging on the rock then swimming in the deep, deep lake around those cliffs.

So, on Saturday, my first swim across (the short length of) Walden Pond had me hyperventilating a bit. Then I decided to relax and the swim back and later swims to the middle were relaxing and fun. I think I like this.