Kayaking in Kokadjo
Jul 31
This past weekend was very nice; Saturday we had weather in the 90’s and Sunday was more of a warm autumn day- 80’s with a crisp sporadic breeze from the North. If I could choose one season to live in it would be autumn. Fortunately, most Maine’s fall weather consists of crisp breezy days with enough sunshine to keep the daylight hours warm.
For most of the day on Saturday I stayed inside trying to stay as cool as possible. I caught up on some Xbox 360 game time, after I worked on a client’s website. Later in the evening Nate and I went to Pushaw Lake to go swimming. The water was very warm and calm. As we swam the sun began to sit behind the horizon, its rays being absorbed by the atmosphere and reflecting in the mixture of clouds and humidity in the most brilliantly beautiful sunset that I’ve seen in a long time, unfortunately I did not bring my camera with me. To remedy this issue I plan to take my camera everywhere I go from now on. Speaking of cameras, I decided to keep my Canon S3 IS., I just need to purchase or find a tripod that has a removable bracket so I can easily attach / detach the camera.
I went to Church on Sunday and headed up to Kokadjo to spend some time with dad. After eating we decided to kayak on one of the nearby ponds. When we arrived we spotted a young bull moose about 20 feet from the shoreline eating Lilly roots. I ran back to the truck to get my camera and was able to snap a few photos; unfortunately I did not have enough time to adjust the settings so the moose wouldn’t be as dark. The moose soon darted off into the woods and I followed quickly behind to snap a candid photo of it looking curiously at me. When dad and I returned to the truck we found that in our haste the doors were locked with the keys inside. We walked about a half mile up the road to another pond where he knew a lady that had some tools to open a door. The walk was nice as the cool air was filled with the scent of raspberries and pine; the skyline had a backdrop of mountains and the clear sky that went from dark to light blue.
After getting the truck unlocked we headed out onto the pond. I wanted to take my camera out but was unsure of how stable I would be on the kayak, I found that I was stable and next time I’ll bring my camera out. As soon as we were on the water we spotted 4 other moose spread throughout the shoreline. I quietly drifted towards one of the moose and was roughly 25 feet from it until it started to walk towards me. I spotted a few loons and attempted to get close to them but they dove under and swam away. Loons are beautiful visually and audibly, I didn’t realize they could stay under water for so long.
I had a really good time kayaking; I’m highly considering purchasing my own kayak from Old Town Canoe. I never realized that Old Town was so popular throughout the US and worldwide. Now that I think of it, I’ve seen Old Town canoes and kayaks in Virginia, on TV, etc. The name Old Town is actually a name of a town in Maine that’s actually 15 miles from where I live. L.L. Bean is another popular, high quality company that was started and based in Maine.
I wanted to take a panoramic photo of Mount Katahdin and was able to take a perfectly aligned photo. Mt. Katahdin is 5,270 feet high and is the last mountain of the Appellation trail. On the way back to the camp we picked about a quart of raspberries, I had to fill my camera case. I plan on baking a raspberry pie very soon. I left shortly after returning to the camp as it was getting late and I wanted to leave in time to take photos of the sunset over Moosehead Lake in Greenville.
The following photos were taken in Greenville
: Candian Geese flying by, Almost there, So close, Tall shot, sunset and Sunset 2.
August 2nd, 2006 at 4:19 pm
I really enjoyed viewing your photos. Excellent job. I live in California and I’ve even seen Old Town Canoe / LL Bean. :)
I would love to visit Maine sometime, thanks to your entries.
August 2nd, 2006 at 6:44 pm
Yes, very nice pictures.
We have some sit-on-top kayaks that we use in the river that runs through the town I live in and it is always a lot of fun to take them out.
I like your new header as well!
August 3rd, 2006 at 11:42 am
Thank you, I took the photo of the clouds myself.
August 27th, 2006 at 12:45 pm
[...] An hour or so later we put our kayaks in the truck and headed for 1st West Roach pond which is west of Roach pond where the camp is. The pond is fairly small, quiet and out in the wilderness surrounded by a few small mountains, a perfect place for Moose to feed. As always, we were in the company of Moose, this time there were only a three. A couple of weeks ago I was able to take a photo of a young bull moose in the same area; you can read more about that in my Kayaking in Kokadjo entry. As you can see, a cow and calf are feeding near the shore. Unfortunately we did find the Bull Moose with full sized antlers that has been spotted in the vicinity that has drawn many of hunters’ attention. After taking a few photos we paddled around the rest of the pond enjoying the scenery, fresh air, calmness and the overall relaxation of being in the wilderness. [...]