Fortunately, not everyone uses the same decorator.
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| Looking west from Davis Pond |
Exploring new ponds is wonderful, but it's even nicer if the pond is especially beautiful. That's what I found on this trip.
We started from the launch, just a bare dirt patch off Rooks Rd in Eddington. The launch is at a narrow cove on Davis Pond, but even from there I could see how well suited Davis Pond is for kayaks. There are no wide barren crossings. Instead, Davis has a variety of inlets and islands, many with camps (cottages) on them. Providing a scenic backdrop to the south were Black Cap and Big Hill Mountains.
We started from the launch, just a bare dirt patch off Rooks Rd in Eddington. The launch is at a narrow cove on Davis Pond, but even from there I could see how well suited Davis Pond is for kayaks. There are no wide barren crossings. Instead, Davis has a variety of inlets and islands, many with camps (cottages) on them. Providing a scenic backdrop to the south were Black Cap and Big Hill Mountains.
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| Along the boat trail |
At the south end of Davis is the boat trail to Holbrook. About a mile in length the trail wanders through a marshy area which looked like the perfect habitat for moose. Unfortunately we didn’t spot any moose, but we did see some muskrat homes.
High above, gray gave way first to dappled clouds, and eventually to blue skies. And though the leaves were mostly down, there was still a wide range of colors on display, especially along the boat trail. Pines were forest green, grasses were all shades of green through tan, twigs and smaller leaves were red, and lily pads yellow with maroon bottoms. November uses far a wider palette than mid summer.
We faced a fair amount of wind. Not enough for a small craft advisory, but enough to make the day feel colder than the morning weather report had advertised. What I’d heard was, “A beautiful day, lots of sunshine, maybe a shower over Madawaska or Fort Kent. For the rest of the state, warm, temperatures in the high 50’s, 60’s in the south part of the state.” What I'd visualized was a warm autumn day on the water. What I had was wind in my face and gloves on my hands.
We faced a fair amount of wind. Not enough for a small craft advisory, but enough to make the day feel colder than the morning weather report had advertised. What I’d heard was, “A beautiful day, lots of sunshine, maybe a shower over Madawaska or Fort Kent. For the rest of the state, warm, temperatures in the high 50’s, 60’s in the south part of the state.” What I'd visualized was a warm autumn day on the water. What I had was wind in my face and gloves on my hands.
Not that wind is all bad; it encourages strong, steady paddling, it demonstrates the effectiveness of Mark's Greenland Paddle and, at least on a pond, there is a finite distance to paddle into the wind. With each stroke I knew I was getting closer to turning around and having the wind swap from being a hindrance to a boost.
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| A leaning tree in a quiet inlet |
It’s about four miles altogether from the launch on Davis to the end of Holbrook, eight miles 'round trip. Flying back through the marsh, I tried to capture the deep maroon color on the bottom of lily pads, with no success. I had better luck capturing the designs autumn had created on their tops.
Also I hoped to get a nice picture of the southern mountains, but the low hanging sun got in the way. Oh well, it gives me a good reason to go back.
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| Launch site |
Summary: Launch: Off Rooks Road in Eddington. Dirt launch, not much space, no facilities. About 8 miles to the end of Holbrook and back. Our GPS routed us down Bagaduce Road to Clark Hill Road on our way to Davis Pond. That’s not the way I would have chosen, but I do recommend it. Clark Hill Road had lovely long views to Clifton and beyond.
The Launch site is no longer available, The Texas owner has chained it off and put up signs
ReplyDeleteI live in Rooks Road, and the chained off launch is very disheartening. There is now no public access to either Davis or Holbrook Pond.
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