Before us, the river bulges like a snake swallowing a meadow vole, its banks retreating around the pond known as Fairhaven.
Small birds chirp loudly, darting over the calm, brown water.
Marsh grasses form a dense thicket around the pond s perimeter, backed by a forest lush with summer green. We can hear the drone of traffic in the distance, and a couple of stately homes peek through the trees. Still, I wonder how different this scene looks today than it did to the eyes of a man whose travels along this same river a century and a half ago inspired him to alter the way we all see the natural world. Henry David Thoreau spent a lifetime exploring this waterway from his home here in Concord, Mass., and the river was in many ways the central fact of Thoreau s experiences, the noted Thoreau scholar Thomas Blanding told our small group during a talk that preceded today s guided trip down the Concord River. Four of us, along with guides Jay Monahan and Matt Leone from the Charlemont, Mass.-based outfitter Zoar Outdoor, are passing a few decidedly lazy hours on the Concord River in eastern Massachusetts.