Me again, I was just looking at Walden pond via google maps. Are there other entries into the water that are not on the state park entrance/beach? Could you hike in and swim somewhere? And if you could, do it early in the morning.
So the pond down the road from me has a state boat lunch on the other side and no swimming is allowed over there. So basically the general public can’t swim in this particular pond unless they paddled out and swam from their boat. I swim from a landowner’s private property with permission. They own a good chunk of land around the pond. I sometimes bike to their house and walk down to their pier. Or I bike down to their camp on another point and swim from there. (very lucky)
I’m mentioning this because maybe you could find a body of water where you could swim from if you knew some land owners. Or even introduced yourself and explained your need to OWS (triathlon training) from their property.
It makes me sad and angry learning about your state officials taking away OWS from folks who are not the problem. (we are not the ones drowning, needing rescue, leaving garbage, dirty diapers…ok I’m digressing as I’ve seen what the general public can do to a beautiful place). If it happens in MA it could happen in other New England states 