As luck would have it Saturday I had the afternoon free. The weather was OK (deteriorating as has been the case this season) and I had the itch to do a little sightseeing – some paddling, actually, somewhere relatively close to home.

I drew a circle around Bangor representing a 15-minute drive and settled on Davis Pond in Eddington. It had been years since I last paddled there. I hoisted my Valley Argonaut onto the truck, grabbed a Nalgene of water, my camera and phone (everything else is ensconced in my truck) and headed out Route 9.

There’s a dirt launch ramp on Rooks Road just off Route 9 in Eddington. A couple of vehicles with empty boat trailers told me I’d have some company, but not much.

Temperatures were close to uncomfortably warm, but the resident mosquito population apparently was on vacation. Short-sleeves were in order. I stuffed the usual safety gear in my boat, donned my PFD, launched and headed south across the pond.

I’d checked the DeLorme map at home but I didn’t bring a copy with me in the kayak and for a minute or two I kicked myself. But half way across the pond the map mentally re-created itself, and with a little common sense I was able to pick my route between the correct islands and into the thoroughfare connecting to Holbrook Pond. The crossing took about 10 minutes or so.

Yellow and white pond lilies and purple pickerel weeds (I think that’s what you call ’em) lined the route. A king fisher scouted the way ahead with his roller coaster flight path, and two great blue herons jumped silently to flight as I made my way through the mile-long connector. About half way through an osprey flew over to check me out. Closer to Holbrook Pond a seaplane buzzed over, banked to the west and glided down to the surface out of sight and landed. Later I would paddle past it at the southwestern end of the pond.

This waterway is far from isolated, yet once afloat you can make believe you’re isolated.

Route 46 runs up the easterly side of these two ponds and the thoroughfare, but it is just far enough away that you’re not conscious of the traffic. And there is very little housing on the easterly shore. Once you get to the most southern end of Holbrook, the camps sprout up and the western shore of Holbrook is pretty much lined with camps.

Near the southern end I came across a pair of adult loons with a brown, fuzzy juvenile in tow. The young one was starting to show white feathers on its side and had developed into its loon shape (compared to a puffy ball of feathers). One of the adults drifted off while the other stuck close to junior, diving for a few seconds and checking back with a quick touch of beaks, perhaps sharing a morsel.

I snapped a few pictures, trying not to cause a disturbance, but I must have drifted a little too close at one point because the youngster dove under after looking around and seeing me and not its parents. I backed off and continued down the lake.

Some kids were playing on a personal watercraft and towing someone on an tube on a large cove near the southern end of the pond, shattering the solitude and putting me on alert so I wouldn’t get run over.

In contrast to the wooded, undeveloped eastern shore, the western side of Holbrook is lined with camps, and on Saturday afternoon, many were occupied. Folks were out enjoying their lakeside abodes, some partying, some just sitting on their docks enjoying the last dry minutes of the day. One group of four ventured out in their motor boat for a cruise of the pond. Their boat’s wake sloshing on the shore provided a momentary break in the otherwise stillness of the lake.

Back in the thoroughfare a man and his son were angling for bass and pickerel with mixed success, much to the youngster’s dismay.

Occasional raindrops didn’t deter me from doing a little exploring as I neared Davis Pond. I paddled into a heavily weeded area to get a closer look at lily pads and wound up high centered after a bit. A little back paddling got me free and on again track. Soon after re-entering Davis the local armada of six loons paddled by for inspection. We slowly circled each other and I was able to get off one picture before the batteries in my camera gave out.

Back at the launch ramp I waited for a couple to trailer their motorboat while the rain slowly picked up. There was just enough time for me to get the cockpit cover on and the boat secured atop my car before the heavens opened up. It was 6 p.m. After three hours on the water and 8.5 miles or so of paddling I was ready for a stretch and a break.

River adventure

I heard from fellow paddler Joe Slocum the other day. I met Slocum a few years ago when he was town manager in Castine, and we run into each other now and again. We last paddled together on the Baggaduce River a month or so ago with Karen Francoeur of Castine Kayak Adventures who was guiding a party to watch the annual horseshoe crab migration.

Slocum wanted to let me know about an adventure he’d had on the Middle Branch of the Union River on July 15 from Route 9 in Aurora to Osborne, a six- or seven-mile tour, as he described it.

I’ll let him tell you.

“Made the mistake of taking my plastic sea kayak on the prior representation that it was all open and deep enough water. Hit about 15 beaver dams (one [beaver] came right out of the top of the dam as I was going over it (appeared to be about 20-24 pounds.).

“Hit some white-water, some shallow water and was reminded why things over 17 feet do not belong in small branches of rivers. In the lead by 150 feet around a bend I came upon what I thought was a beaver with an odd shaped branch behind it. Beaver head turned out to be tip of moose nose and odd shaped branch part of felted antlers. He was sitting down under the water two boat lengths in front of me.

“I had just lifted my paddle to rest when the head rose straight up followed by the neck, chest and the body. He was in about 4-5 feet of water and watching all the water run off him was like watching one of those submarines that surface in the movies.

“He stood, calmly (fortunately), turned and meandered out of the water and disappeared into the adjoining growth. Only a wide wet trail left behind. Another stroke and I would have been on top of him followed shortly by being underneath him. It was pretty exciting!”

Slocum followed that tale up with a question about repairing dings in the hull of his kayak.

I suggested next time he take a canoe – you can bail out a lot quicker when the moose surfaces.

Sea Kayaking Symposium

Carpe Diem Kayaking and Aquaterra Adventures in Bar Harbor are combining forces to put together the Downeast Sea Kayaking Symposium Sept. 8-11 in Bar Harbor.

They have rounded up some top coaches from all over the country, including Steve Maynard, the highest rated British Canoe Union coach in the country.

During the four days there will be a full slate of BCU training and assessments – 2, 3 and 4 Star, as well as canoe safety, Coach 2 Training and Assessment and Coach 3 Training. There will be rolling clinics, an introduction to traditional skills such as Greenland strokes and rolling, rescue, navigation, rock gardening, a special forward stroke clinic and tidal current clinics.

The evenings will afford time to mingle with the coaches and attend slide shows. And what symposium on the coast wouldn’t be complete without a lobster bake. This will be at Hadley Point on Sunday evening.

Dave Legere of Aquaterra hired Mark Schoon and Mel Rice, owners of Carpe Diem Kayaking, to provide instruction and work as guides for him and the partnership has been a good one to put together this symposium.

They plan to make it a yearly event.

You need not attend the four days to take advantage of the many offerings. The cost for four days is $425 while a single day will run you $135 or $70 for a half-day. The Saturday evening meal at Poor Boy’s Gourmet is $18.95 and the lobster bake is $20.

You can get more information by calling Aquaterra at 288-1151.

Jeff Strout’s column on outdoor recreation is published each Saturday. He can be reached at 990-8202 or by e-mail at jstrout@bangordailynews.net.