Upper Charles River Reservation, Boston

A natural and wild quality pervades the Charles River’s banks upriver from the dam at Watertown Square. Unlike the riverbanks along the Charles River Basin—the well-known Boston and Cambridge Esplanades with their elegant, manicured walkways and skyline views—the Upper Charles is a narrow winding body of water bordered by a ribbon of lush vegetation. Small dams and arching bridges regularly punctuate this walk, and views of the water are short and focused, extending only to the next river bend, and frequently provided by wooden overlook decks. The rustic, overgrown appearance of MDC’s Upper Charles Reservation is intentional. The greenway is designed to be a self-sustaining natural environment. Even its narrowest sections evoke a wonderful wilderness-like feeling, making the tensions of city life fade. The pathways traverse important songbird habitat, particularly in the bordering wetlands. At the river’s edge, adjacent to shallow marshes, painted turtles can often be seen sunning themselves on logs. Forested floodplain wetland supports all this wildlife diversity: tall maple trees provide perch sites for birds such as cormorants, flycatchers, kingfishers, and hawks, which hunt along the river. The expansive tree canopy also provides roosting areas for many birds, including colonies of black-crowned night herons. This portion of the Charles wanders through Watertown, Waltham, and Newton. Along the river’s wooded edges, visitors can jog, picnic, hike, mountain bike, walk, and amble. In the wilder sections of the river corridor, nature observation and bird-watching are excellent. The solitude of some parts of the reservation encourages quiet observation of the water, birds, and gently moving foliage. In snowy winters, cross-country skiers can wind their way along the trails, as snow is never cleared. Upriver from Waltham Center is the “Lakes District,” with broad and placid water, undulating forested shorelines, small islands, and a series of intimate coves. The entire Upper Charles Reservation greenway project is a work in progress, with construction under way until 2004. It is becoming truly the people’s river—with something for everyone to discover throughout the year.