I finally got around to visiting it last week with a friend of mine who had been there before. There is no fee to enter the pond and the entrance we used only had a little tiny sign and looked like this:
(I say “the entrance we used” because I am assuming that there are multiple entrances, but we couldn’t find where the other entrances were.)
We parked the car and walked up to a large grassy area where (mostly) college students were laying in the sun. There were trails going along both the left and right of the pond, however, I didn’t wear appropriate shoes for the trip so we didn’t walk very far.
The part of the pond that we happened to be at had no beach, just a little ledge. The water below looked to be about 3 feet deep and had some people walking around in it. We could see a small beach across the pond but we could NOT figure out how to get to it!!
After doing some research online, I found an article from the Daily Hampshire Gazette that state that the pond is slated to have $36K in renovations this year. It also read,
“Other people who use the pond’s two beaches and nearby walking trails may notice that the wooden cribbing, used to hold sand in place and stabilize the pathways, are sagging.”
Clearly, there were two beaches somewhere but we had no idea how to find them. I don’t feel as though I can give a fair review of this well-known swimming hole because I feel like there are many parts of it I didn’t get a chance to see. Perhaps I’ll take another adventure out there soon. Until then, enjoy a couple of images from my trip.
To learn more about Puffer’s Pond, visit: http://www.amherstma.gov/index.aspx?NID=1316.
