Hello again! I haven't been on this site in ages -- mostly because I've been out paddling!
My wife and I are headed to Waldoboro, ME this weekend, and because we haven't had time to plan a saltwater trip we thought we'd check out some inland water in the form of lakes and ponds.
Can anyone recommend any lakes/ponds in the Waldoboro area, and recommended launch areas on said lake or pond? The only one I'm aware of is Damariscotta Lake. Are there others that might be smaller but equally/more scenic?
Lot’s of Nice Lakes Pemaquid Pond (aka Lake Pemaquid) is a favorite of mine. It’s several miles long and I prefer the southern end where there is quite a bit of undeveloped rocky shoreline and numerous islands. My favorite access is to put in at a small public beach at the far North end of Biscay Pond, then paddle south 1/4 mile or so and take the Pemaquid River (more of creek really) to Pemaquid Pond. The river is just a short piece, no more than 1/4 mile. You may need to push through some branches and debris that builds up upstream of a small bridge at Damariscotta Road, but kayakers regularly go through there. There’s another launch on Pemaquid Pond at the North end off of Rt. 1 that’s wide open but I haven’t paddled that section.
If you’re willing to drive a half hour, definitely go to Megunticook Lake just inland from Camden. It’s a real gem - very large, rocky shore, surrounded by mountains, very scenic. There are a couple of good launches plus a third that accesses the northern part from Norton Pond.
If you don’t have one yet, the Delorme’s Maine Atlas is excellent for locating the launches I mentioned, plus many other’s. The atlas shows a little boat symbol right on the map at each launch. There are a lot of nice lakes around there.
River OK? We haven’t gotten over there but have heard good things about the St George River. I can’t give you any pointers on launch points into it, but I susupect that a phone call to the town clerk of the bordering municipalities will get you that.
There’s also the Medomak, but it has never looked real appealing to us in July. Mayhaps it would be prettier this time of year.
In all these rivers you do need to be alert to where the river will start being affected strongly by tidal behavior, but that is usually fairly close to the point at which the ocean is in sight. The Wesqueag (sp?) can be a real handful by the time it goes under the bridge in South Thomaston, but from there you can pretty much see it dumping out. The Medomak isn’t a noticeable issue until way down, by the north end of Hungry Island.
If you’d like to let someone else do the planning to get onto salt water, you might contact Ray at Water Walker Kayaking in Belfast or Bill Michaud at the Outside Inn in Friendship. threThere are two outfitters in the
Another Outfitter Mitch at Midcoast Kayak in Damariscotta also seems like decent guy if you want local advice. The website is midcoastkayak dot com. If you want to consider salt water, the trip from Colonial Fort Pemaquid in New Harbor, around Rutherford Island, Christmas Cove, South Bristol back to Fort Pemaquid is very nice and you’re never far from shore. You get a lot of protection from rocks and ledges just offshore if you time it to hit low tide when you reach the tip of Rutherford Island. It’s 12-14 miles depending on how much exploring you do.
We’re back Well, it rained all day Saturday. Since my wife is a “fair weather paddler” we found other ways to keep ourselves entertained – antiquing, lunching, sight seeing. On Sunday, we packed up, drive to Damaraiscotta Lake and put in for a few hours of paddling before driving home. Very nice, scenic, cool, quiet and relaxing. Definitely worth a return trip.
Glad to hear Glad to hear you have a good time. It is a lovely area, not as touristy as more south but with a wider array of restaurants etc than you’ll find further north that time of year.
If you want to go for a week and try salt water, I can give you launch locations into very well protected coves in the town of Friendship.
