Somewhere in Hampden or Hermon or Glenburn, or maybe in nearby Levant, a lucky snowmobiler hopped out of the shower on Monday morning and headed for work or school.

Hopefully, that sledder is thankful. Hopefully, he or she realizes how close they came on Sunday night. Close to a swim. Close to disaster. Close to death.

Of course they know. Right?

The snowmobiler was the one who heard that sickening crack … or perhaps just felt it, as the ice gave way and the back end of their sled lurched a bit lower.

The snowmobiler was the one who thumbed the throttle a bit harder, as concern gave way to panic, and as the streambank 30 yards away began to look more like 30 miles.

The snowmobiler was the one who almost became Maine’s ninth snowmobile fatality sometime Sunday night. Instead, he or she made it to shore, continued, and likely spent Monday blissfully unaware of the commotion they’d caused.

This is what they missed:

A concerned passerby noticed a snowmobile track leading down the embankment from Vafiades Landing – that’s on Souadabscook Stream, about halfway between Hermon Pond and Hammond Pond in Hampden – on Monday morning.

The motorist saw the jagged hole in the ice, which had since refrozen. They saw the snowmobile track leading right up to the hole. And they called the police.

Hampden scrambled fire and police, and called the wardens. A dive team was also notified.

In all, 10 emergency personnel showed up, according to Hampden Police Chief Joe Rogers.

Not that Rogers was complaining.

That’s because when he and the rest of the professionals showed up, they didn’t find a snowmobile. They didn’t find a rider. They didn’t find anything except a hole in the ice of a peaceful stream.

“It did appear to the wardens that the sled had made it across,” Rogers said. “But we felt we needed to check it out, just to make sure.”

And that’s what they did.

Tim Campbell, a full-time firefighter-paramedic in Bangor, and the chief of the Penobscot County Dive Team, suited up and headed onto the ice.

As it turned out, he had to use an ax to rebreak the ice. Then he prodded around with a long pole and determined that nothing was resting on the bottom of Souadabscook Stream.

“There’s approximately two inches of ice there,” Campbell said, referring to the freshly refrozen area. “It’s probably a little bit more in the old ice.”

Campbell said the ice appeared pretty sturdy, for a man on foot.

“I could have walked across it,” he said, pausing before delivering a sobering punch line.

“Once.”

Campbell did walk across the ice once. But as he wielded the ax on his second pass, the ice gave way, and he broke through.

Of course, Campbell was ready for that. The snowmobiler? He or she wasn’t nearly as well prepared.

Maybe they’ll read this. Maybe someone else will, and it will make a difference.

Maybe they’d be interested to find out that directly beneath the hole their sled made, there is 10 feet of water.

Yes, the Souadabscook’s a small stream. Yes, there are some deep spots. And yes, your miscalculation could have killed you.

“There’s moving water there,” Campbell explained. “That’s not a real good spot for a trail.”

The water, he pointed out, erodes the ice from the bottom up. The flow is different in different spots on the stream. Six inches of ice on the banks may be four in the middle. Or two. Or one.

“The rule of thumb is, there is no safe ice,” said Campbell, who said he has spent plenty of enjoyable hours ice fishing over the years … and knows there are risks that many seem to ignore.

“[Scientists and engineers] have run railroad trains and large trucks on ice, and do all kinds of wild stuff with it,” Campbell said. “But there’s no guarantee. There’s no UL listing. There’s no guarantee of safety of any kind.”

Somewhere, one lucky snowmobiler may read those words this morning and give a little prayer of silent thanks.

The snowmobiler may drive by Vafiades Landing, look down from the bridge, notice the yellow “Police Line” tape and remember how hairy things got on Sunday night.

Eight people have already died on sleds this season. The year is only 14 days old. There’s plenty of winter left. And for some families – for the loved ones of those not-so-fortunate sledders – it’s going to be a cold, harsh winter indeed.

There is no turning back, of course. What’s done is done. But today, or tomorrow, or this weekend, you may fire up the sled. You may head out onto a trail you don’t know.

And you may want to remember what Campbell has to say. Don’t have time for him? Come on. Give him a minute. After all, he’s the guy who may have to swim around in a frozen pond if you make a tragic mistake.

And he may be the guy who has to drag your cold, lifeless body back to the surface.

There is a warning worth heeding here. You can listen. You won’t. But you can.

“You’re really on your own when you go out on the ice,” Campbell said.

Somewhere, one lucky snowmobiler should realize that fact.

Others may want to spend a minute thinking about it, too.

John Holyoke can be reached at jholyoke@bangordailynews.net or by calling 990-8214 or 1-800-310-8600.