There are many enticing reasons to explore Maine waters by canoe. One that often gets overlooked is clarity of water. Add this parameter to your “where-to-go-paddling” criteria, and head to Trickey Pond in Naples. We were stunned by the translucence of the water. We felt we were paddling along the mythic north shore of Lake Superior.

As we left the boat launch at the southern end of the pond and headed north along the eastern shoreline, underwater white pipes led from the shallows up toward the shore. Plumbing pipes? No, they were fallen birch trees sitting on the bottom, their images magnified by the clear water, providing zebra stripes under our canoe. This was a first.

Why is the water so clear? The pond is spring-fed and there are no feeder streams coming into the lake bringing degrading nutrients and runoff from surrounding communities. The Maine Department of Environmental Protection gives Trickey Pond its highest water quality designation – amazing for a body of water located within the densely populated Portland-Bridgton corridor.

The pond is a mile-and-a-half long and a half-mile wide. Many towering white pines and spreading hemlocks lean out over the water providing cooling shade. Up ahead we spied the docks and inflatable water slides of Camp Skylemar, providing lasting summer memories for youngsters since 1948. It was delightful sitting in our canoe listening to the sounds of unbridled joy as one cannonball acrobat followed another. It brought us back decades to our own summer camp experiences. Without doubt I was the worst basketball player to ever attend Boston Celtics legend Bob Cousy’s Camp Graylag in Pittsfield, New Hampshire. Thank goodness they had an arts-and-crafts building where I could stay hidden for much of the time.

We spent three hours poking about in the early afternoon, with most of our time spent up in the peaceful northern end of the pond, just beyond the cluster of boats and campsites at Loon’s Haven Family Campground. This secluded northern lagoon features the only two islands on the pond, and offers delightful swimming from shoreside ledges and protected shallows. Two fellows were fly fishing from their kayaks between the islands, one excitedly landing a brook trout and letting the whole pond know of his good fortune.

We tied our canoe up to a snag and walked in the water along the shoreline taking pictures of artistic underwater rock mosaics and decaying stumps looking like small moose antlers. In the deeper water we could see many snails clinging to the rocks.

Clusters of ripening huckleberries dotted the shoreline, along with the just emerging round green seed nodules of buttonbush. A scattering of the blue flower heads of pickerelweed swayed gently in the slight southerly breeze. A loon call infiltrated the lagoon from the middle of the pond. Wispy clouds played with the treetops on the western edge of the pond.

The western shoreline of the pond is lined with cottages starting a quarter-mile below the outlet brook at the north end of the pond. There is an impressive cliff dotted with hardy pines just before the cottages start. It looks like a lot of kids find their way to this spot to swim in the deeper water off the cliffs. From here we paddled back over to the wilder eastern shoreline of the pond and headed back to the boat launch wrapping up a perfect summer afternoon of paddling and swimming.

Consult the DeLorme Maine Atlas and Gazetteer (map No. 4) for help in getting to the boat launch on Route 114 in Naples, a few miles south of Route 302 and the Songo River Queen. The pond sees a lot of boaters during the summer. If you can sneak away during the work week you will experience less activity. Sunday mornings are a good option as well.

Michael Perry is the former director of the L.L. Bean Outdoor Discovery Schools, and founder of Dreams Unlimited, specializing in inspiring outdoor slide programs for civic groups, businesses, and schools. Contact: michaelj_perry@comcast.net

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