Robin's Outdoors

I finally took my Vapor 10XT kayak from Old Town Canoe on its maiden paddle yesterday. We went to Patten Pond. The kayak is very comfortable and I felt secure in it even as a new fairly new paddler. I’m 5′ 4″ and the yak is wide so it’s a little awkward for me to carry. I’ll do some paddling on remote ponds where I’ll have to carry it over narrow trails through the woods, and with experience, I’ll figure out the best way.

I live in the middle of no where. Our town has two dead end paved roads and one Yield sign. We have a lot of lakes to fish, paddle and swim.

We loaded the kayaks onto the truck at the first glimpse of blue sky around 4:30 pm. We ice fished on Patten Pond last winter and have been looking forward to paddling it this summer. We followed the dirt road to a narrow, grassy, wet, sometimes muddy road that cuts through the woods. You can drive within 150 yards of the water. I dragged my yak to the pond on a soft path.

I was a little nervous about getting in without something sturdy to wedge my paddle into for stability the way I do the dock at camp. It wasn’t difficult. I stepped into the water, into the kayak, sunk into my seat and dipped the paddle into the water. Easy enough. Steve followed a few minutes behind me. He was on the water quickly but stopped paddling to get his lure in the water. He fished most of the time we were on the pond.

I turned to the east, into the breeze with the thought that if the wind picked up again I’d be paddling into it while I had the most energy, and with it on the way back if I were tired. The American bald eagles we left pickerel on the ice for last winter came to mind. I looked up into the tall pine tree where they spent most of their time and was happy to see one of them perched there. I paddled over, careful to not get so close that I made the bird nervous. Closer. It glanced at me and continued to survey the ground and water. I paddled almost to shore, stopping before I had to crane my neck to see him or her. High bush blueberry plants hang out over the water as Nature’s drive-thru snack bar. Not wanting to over stay my welcome and disturb the big eagle, I paddled on. A lone loon popped up nearby and stayed with me for five or six minutes before disappearing beneath the surface. I’m intrigued by their…I don’t know if friendliness is the right word…by the way loons seem to be attracted to us when we’re kayaking. A male at camp stayed with us each time we were out while his mate was on the nest. We give them a respectable distance but they don’t hesitate to come close to us.

Patten Pond, Washington County, Maine

The shoreline is pretty. From a distance I tried to turn big, dark root masses of fallen trees into moose along the shore but no, no moose yesterday. At the far end of the pond, I turned right to head back along the opposite shore. There were two loons together.  think there are two loons on the pond, and that it was the male that we saw so often. I looked carefully on their backs for chicks. None. And none in the water, or so I thought. The third look revealed a chick bobbing along side its mother. It’s the first loon chick I’ve seen in years. We have so many bald eagles now that the chicks are often picked off as food before they get to be very old. Watching and listening to the screaming, diving loons while a bald eagle dive bombs them, trying to steal the chick, is sickening. I veered away from shore to avoid getting close to the chick but they also moved away from shore. By the time I passed them I was almost to the  middle of the pond. I think I made them nervous and don’t understand why she slowed when I did and moved away from shore with me. She constantly turned her head back and forth to watch me and look for other threats until I passed.

I crossed the opening to a cove and headed back toward our landing spot. Steve was still fishing so I drifted into the cove on the west end of the pond (bottom of picture), rested the paddle in its built-in spot and watched a field for deer. It was too early to expect deer to step out into the clearing but hey, you never know. I didn’t expect two bull moose in the middle of Sandy Stream Pond at 2 pm last summer.

Steve yelled across the water to ask if I was ready to go home. Not even close. We paddled half the length of the pond while fished jumped close to shore. He started to cast in a small cove while I paddled back to see the eagle again, turned back, and paddled enough to pick up speed. My paddle went to rest across the yak as I drifted back to the cove. I stayed far enough back to not disturb the fish as Steve cast to shore, reeled in, cast again. A loon popped up 20′ from his kayak, seemingly surprised to see us there and immediately dove. He reappeared behind me and stayed nearby. Fish continued to jump for bugs on the water. I giggled when a big bass jumped a few feet from Steve, startling him. We should have had fly rods. Next time.

It was good to sit and drift, giving my biceps a break. When Steve asked if I wanted to paddle across to the last cove (right side of picture) I said yes in spite of knowing it was going to hurt. I spotted two Canada geese swimming along the shore toward the center of the pond. I shifted direction to get closer. A little extra paddling to see them probably wouldn’t extend the ache I knew I’d be feeling today. When they changed directions to swim away from me I changed my direction to move away from them. Unlike the loons, 300 feet was too close for their comfort. I wondered why they don’t have offspring. I was almost to shore, paddling over rocks on a sand bar and underwater grasses (which freaks me out a little, what if I flip and get tangled in it), when I realized I didn’t hear Steve’s paddle cutting into the water. He’d turned back. Being a glutton for pain and punishment, I turned and raced to catch up to him, biceps screaming and a twinge starting in my ribs. We spent another 15 minutes drifting, taking in the scenery and waiting for deer in that field again.

We were getting hungry and the sun was getting low. Time to go home. I hated for it to end and can’t wait to get back there again.

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