Boston Outdoors
 

I am an exercise junkie who is headed to Boston for the 4th of July. Any suggestions on great places to jog? I am also interested in getting out on the St. Charles River in crew boat/kayak. Any suggestions on where to go for rental and/or if it is worth trying? Any suggestions on active things to do are appreciated. <BR><BR>

You can jog along the Charles River -- either the Boston side or the Cambridge side. For kayak/crew boat rentals, you should see what is available on the Cambridge side of the river. I don't know if the colleges do rentals, but you can check with the Harvard and BU sculling pavilions. By the way there is no "St." in Charles.

The Charles River is a beautiful place to row. <BR><BR>Keep in mind however, the 4th of July Pops concert and fireworks take place on the Charles River Esplanade so that section of the river becomes very, very crowded around that event.<BR><BR>You may be better off rowing/kayaking on the section of the river a little farther away from the city where there may be less water traffic. <BR><BR>Have a great time!

Thanks for the suggestions and the lesson on leaving "St." off when referring to the Charles River. I got a little ahead of myself in thinking that the Charles River had acheived sainthood.

To some Bostonians- it has indeed!<BR>Have a great time in our wonderful city!

Hi Andy. Undoubtedly the best place to run in Boston is along the Charles River. The bridges across the river separating Boston from Cambridge all have sidewalks so it's easy to run a loop and see different sites along the way. And the area along the Esplanade in Boston is lovely. One word of caution: the 4th of July brings many, many visitors to our fair city so my advice would be to get out there early so you don't have to weave in and out of pedestrian traffic. It's also safe. I've run along the Charles by myself many times in the early dark with no problems.

Andy, I've passed a place on the Charles River just upriver from Harvard Sq. but on the Boston side, which rents kayaks and canoes. You can also rent a canoe in Newton just beyond the Marriott hotel on Commonwealth Ave. Check the website for the MDC <BR><BR>http://www.state.ma.us/mdc/activ.htm#canoe<BR><BR>They have a listing of all the activities you can do in the greater Boston area. The two I mentioned are indeed listed here. As for renting a crew boat, try Community Boating in Brighton, but I think you have to be a member. YOu'd be better off in a kayak or sailing. There are lots of boathouses, but unless you have a connection I don't think they'll rent to a stranger. Good luck, and have a great visit.

If you don't mind going a little further afield, and want to try a different river than the Charles, you could go to Concord (about 20 miles northwest of Boston), and rent a canoe or kayak from the South Bridge Boat House. The Sudbury River and the Assabet River meet in the middle of Concord to become the Concord River, so you have a couple of different options for where to go. If you go upstream on the Sudbury, you go through some lovely marshy areas to a fairly wide spot called Fairhaven Bay, and beyond that you come to part of the Great Meadows Wildlife Preserve in Sudbury. If you go up the Assabet, it's narrower and quite wooded, you feel as if you are in a lovely wilderness area. Downstream from the boat house, you pass stately victorian homes with wide lawns along the riverbank, and farther down you pass under the North Bridge (site of the first battle of the American Revolution, now a National Historical Park), and even further down pass trhrough more of the Great Meadows Wildlife Preserve. I canoe and kayak on these rivers frequently, they are lovely. If you have a car, you can come straight out Route 2 to Route 62 East, the boathouse is about a half mile up on the right. Or, you can take the train to Concord; the boathouse is about a half mile walk from the Concord Center Depot. There's also a very nice bike/walking trail that runs for about 5 or 6 miles through the Minuteman National Park in Concord, Lincoln, and Lexington, which has a stone dust surface, and would be an interesting place to jog.