Pond Meadow (Braintree MA)

When We Went:

We went early in the morning (early for us) on a Friday in early July of 2005.

Details:

Pond Meadow Park, and Pond Meadow itself were a surprise to us. They are located in Braintree, MA on Liberty Street (also Liberty Street in Weymouth, MA). They are very close to our house, and very close to many places we go, but not quite on the main road.



Pond Meadow is a beautiful park. There are quite a few very nicely kept walking paths (and TONS of people walking). There is also a nice picnic area with benches. The lake itself is on the small side. We went around it's border in about an hour, definately at the 'taking our time' speed. The pond was filled with lilly pads and flowers from the lilly pady. We were a little concerned that we were damaging them, but tried to keep the impact to a minimum.

We constantly saw fish jumping out of the water. When we were about 3/4 of the way around the lake we noticed 3 turtles getting some sun on a rock. Two were quickly into the water, but one stayed as we paddled (quietly) past. We then noticed a few more rocks, and a few more turtles on each. On one rock there was a very large turtle (likely 2-3 times larger than the others). He didn't budge :). After we saw the turtles we saw a giant grey bird take off from a very high tree, swoop down closer to the water, do about a 1/2 lap of the lake and then flew over to top of the trees on the far side of the lake. We think it was a Osprey, but can't confirm it yet.

Needless to say Meadow pond is Teeming with life :) It was really fun.

Downsides were the "high Yick factor" of lots of seaweed and the lilly pads, and also the relatively small size of the pond. There was also quite a bit of road noise from Route 2.

Pond Meadow was definately the place to go if your trip included people who weren'g going to be kayaking, or if you wanted to get in a few trips around the pond before and after a picknic.

Put In / Hours:

There are a few different parking areas at the Park. We followed the road all the way in to a very nice put in area (just adter a picknic area). There was a wide traffic circle (at the end of the road) where we were able to unload the kayaks and leave the car. One issue that had been preventing us from getting there after work was that the roads inside the park close at 7pm. Not exactly after work friendly.

Link to Map:

http://tinyurl.com/7lajj