60 Hikes Within 60 Miles: Boston. Lafe Low
Boston, MA
COMMENTS: Memorial Drive from Western Avenue to Mount Auburn Street in Cambridge is off-limits to cars 11 a.m.–7 p.m. on Sundays from the last Sunday in April to the second Sunday in November.
The views from along the banks of the Charles River are all classic Boston.
TO REALLY GET TO KNOW Boston, one of the best places to start is the Charles River basin. Once a sprawling tidal river with winding estuaries and thousands of acres of salt marsh, the lower Charles today takes you on a tour of the Esplanade and Cambridge on the other side of the river. You’ll pass Harvard University and loop back to Boston over a scenic footbridge.
DESCRIPTION
The Charles River is an urban oasis—a true treasure. To start this tour of the lower Charles, cross at the foot of the Charles Street MBTA station onto Charles Street. Cross over to the south bank of the Charles River via the pedestrian footbridge ahead. As you rise above the rush of traffic, the pace of the city eases.
You come to the rippling waters of the Charles and, to the right, the silhouette of the Longfellow Bridge, renamed in 1927 to honor poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, who professed his love for the river in his poem “To the River Charles.” At the foot of the pedestrian bridge, head left on the paved walkway in the shade of willows and Norway maples, past the Community Boating center to a cove protected by a breakwater. Immediately after the cove, the path arrives at the Hatch Shell, made famous by Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops orchestra. Bear right to cross an impressively sculpted footbridge guarded by snarling granite lions.
This is downtown Boston. You will not be alone as you walk along the Charles. You’ll be joined by runners, walkers, bicyclists, skateboarders, parents pushing strollers, and all manner of humanity enjoying the serene banks of the river. As you move along, out in the inlet to the right you’ll be able to spot a couple of dragon boats resting at their mooring in between races. Arching around two more lagoons, the path crosses another picturesque footbridge and arrives at a junction. To keep clear of bicyclists and others on wheels, stay with the path beside the water.
A thick grove of trees shades a playground gracefully integrated into the park. Looking diagonally west across the water, you can see the dome of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) resting on the horizon, looking like the bald head of a scientist pondering some obscure concept of theoretical physics.
Mount the stairs of the Harvard Bridge directly ahead and, once at the top, bear right to cross the river to Cambridge. Familiar sights on the skyline include the famous Citgo sign lighting the sky above Kenmore Square and Fenway Park.
As you move along the bridge, you’ll be able to note your distance in “Smoots.” The distance between each Smoot is exactly 5 feet 7 inches—the height of Oliver Smoot, MIT class of 1962. In 1958, MIT’s Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity conceived a prank, or hack, as they call it, to determine the distance from the MIT dorms in Boston to the MIT campus. To serve as a measuring unit, Lambda Chi Alpha’s pledge master chose Smoot, who was a handy height and carried a name that “sounded scientific.” So they laid Smoot down end-to-end again and again from Boston to Cambridge and found the distance to be 364.4 Smoots and one ear. And so it was that Oliver Smoot found his calling, for he went on to become president of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and chairman of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).
On the Charles’s northern bank, bear left to hike west toward Harvard University, either on the paved bicycle route or on the winding footpath closer to the water. Across traffic whooshing by on Memorial Drive sits the MIT campus. This mile-long stretch to the Boston University (BU) Bridge is quiet and focused, with few distractions besides the teams of rowers skimming up and down the river. After passing the BU boathouse on the left and the funky architecture of the Hyatt, stay close to the river to navigate the BU Bridge.
Once past the soccer field and fitness station, bear left on a paved drive to enter the park and reunite with the riverbank, following the path as it curves back to meet Memorial Drive. Bending north, the path crosses into Cambridgeport. Before the first bridge to Cambridge was built, this tract of land was a marshy tidal zone with Pelham’s Island at its epicenter. Once made accessible, the marsh was drained and filled, and in 1805 the port was officially opened.
Approaching Harvard, the path along the embankment crosses streets at two more bridges, River Street and Western Avenue. Piebald-trunked sycamore trees planted in 1900 by landscape architect Charles Eliot lend grace and shade to Memorial Drive from here on up the river.
In 1974, a Cambridge woman named Isabella Halsted struck upon the idea of a riverfront park that would see Memorial Drive closed to cars. Halsted garnered popular support then sealed victory by attending a charity auction and placing the winning bid for a lunch date with Senator Edward Kennedy. To this day, the road is closed on Sundays April–November.
Shortly after Western Avenue, where the river winds west opposite Harvard’s handsome redbrick campus, the path leads to the lovely John W. Weeks footbridge. Built in 1926 for the benefit of students at Harvard Business School, it is the only footbridge across the Charles. Having reached the hike’s halfway point, bear left to make the river crossing.
On arriving at the Charles’s south side, on the edge of a Boston neighborhood named for the 19th-century painter Washington Allston, turn left to loop back east. For approximately 1.2 miles, the path is quite narrow and exposed to the rush of traffic on Storrow Drive, but in a dramatic return to peace, the path swings away from the riverbank at the BU Bridge. A boardwalk runs under a railroad trestle, taking the path through the realm of nursery-tale ogres before reemerging at the BU boathouse.
Stay left when the path splits to hike beside the river. Over the past few decades, efforts by the Charles River Watershed Association and other groups have restored the health of the Charles to such an extent that the 20-member Charles River Swimming Club held its first 1-mile race on the Charles on July 21, 2007.
On arriving back at the Harvard Bridge, continue east and bear left at the first footbridge to retrace your steps to the chain of lagoons. Then, to vary the return route, turn off at the next footbridge to switch to the south side of the Esplanade, and make your way to the inner lagoon adorned with an exuberant fountain. On a summer evening with the moon rising in the warm light of the setting sun, there is no place more transcendently beautiful. Beyond this poetic pool is another lagoon of equal charm and intrigue. The Hatch Shell lies directly ahead, and farther south, the docks and boathouse of Community Boating Boston. Follow the path past these familiar sites, meandering on whim to reach the pedestrian bridge that leads back to Charles Street.
NEARBY ATTRACTIONS
Besides the countless things to do and places to see in Boston, Cambridge, and Charlestown, the Charles River itself offers several notable attractions, especially for those itching to get out on the water. Arrange canoe and kayak rentals with Charles River Canoe and Kayak (open Thursday–Sunday; 617-965-5110), riverboat sightseeing tours with the Charles Riverboat Company (100 Cambridgeside Place, Ste. 320, Cambridge; 617-621-3001), and romantic gondola cruises courtesy of Gondola di Venezia (Tuesday–Friday, 7–11 a.m., and Wednesday–Sunday, 2 p.m.–midnight; 800-979-3370; bostongondolas.com).
GPS TRAILHEAD COORDINATES N42° 21.650' W71° 04.250'
DIRECTIONS The Charles River is best reached by foot, bicycle, or public transportation. To ride the T, take the Red line to the Charles Street station. Exit the station, cross onto Charles Street via the crosswalk, then cross over the pedestrian bridge to the banks of the Charles River.
2 JAMAICA POND
DISTANCE & CONFIGURATION: 1.45-mile loop