Ice-Out

Walden Pond
Concord, Massachusetts

Predict This Year's Ice-out Date for Thoreau's Walden Pond

  • Make your prediction and submit to Journey North. We'll send news this spring when Walden Pond becomes ice-free.
About This Site
Famous naturalist Henry David Thoreau lived out in the woods in what is today Walden Pond State Reservation. A Concord Village resident of the 19th century, Thoreau wrote of simplicity, finding your own way in life, and watching the natural environment around you. He kept ice-out records for the pond--today an official Journey North Ice-out Observation Post-- in the mid-1800s and recorded them in his celebrated book, Walden. Compare Thoreau's ice-out records from the 1800s to those for the late 1900s and early 2000s, collected by Journey North students.

Collected in the 1800s by Henry David Thoreau:
  • 1845 April 1
  • 1846 March 25
  • 1847 April 8
  • 1851 March 28
  • 1853 March 23
  • 1854 April 7

.....and now by Journey North:

  • 1995 March 18
  • 1996 March 23
  • 1997 February 22
  • 1998 February 26
  • 1999 March 1
  • 2000 March 9
  • 2001 April 12
  • 2002 February 23
  • 2003 April 2
  • 2004 March 21
  • 2005 April 5
  • 2006 March 13
  • 2007 March 28
  • 2008 March 20
  • 2009 March 23
  • 2010 [No Record]
  • 2011 March 30
  • 2012 January 29
  • 2013 March 18
  • 2014 April 4
Then and Now: More About Walden Pond
Thoreau wrote in his book, Walden.

"Standing on the snow-covered plain, as if in a pasture amid the hills, I cut my way first through a foot of snow, and then a foot of ice, and open a window under my feet, where kneeling to drink, I look down into the quiet parlor of the fishes..." Henry David Thoreau, from Walden.

Almost one hunderd and fifty years later, naturalist Steve Carlin at Walden Pond State Reserve lets us know when the ice goes out. "We experienced a warmer than usual winter this year and as a result, though the pond froze over in mid-January, it was never very thick or safe enough for park visitors to walk on. It was a tough winter for those who like to ice fish or ice skate at Walden Pond," reports Steve.

"One of the best times to visit the ice on Walden is during the early morning when there is total silence except for the great creaking, cracking and thumping noises the ice on the pond makes. I have had the pleasure of listening to Walden's song many mornings and so did Thoreau. He wrote, 'The pond began to boom about an hour after sunrise, when it felt the influence of the sun's rays slanted upon it from over the hills; it stretched itself and yawned like a waking man with a gradually increasing tumult, which was kept up three to four hours.'"

Try This! Journaling Question
  • According to Thoreau's records, what was the average ice-out date during his time? What is the average date during our time, according to records kept by Journey North students? How might you explain the change?

 

 

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