Kayaking Great Long Pond

In our quest to experience everything Acadia, today we rented kayaks and paddled the entire length of Long Pond.  From North to South, the "pond" is four miles long. However, that's the direct route. We decided to poke into every inlet and cove on the way down. We had the kayaks for six hours, so we figured we'd have plenty of time to explore. The east side of the pond is private homes and the west side is part of Acadia National Park. We decided to visit the park side first.

As we paddled into the first cove, we could here an eagle calling. A couple other kayakers had binoculars and were able to spot the nest in the trees. We continued around the top of the cove and parked next to the shore for a quick in-boat break. The water was so clear, Dave could see lake trout hanging out under some overhanging trees. We then paddled our way down the cove toward a boat launch. Playing around the launch were a couple of kids taking lessons on how to use a paddle board. While it looked like fun, we decided we prefer to do our paddling sitting down.

Long Pond is situated between two mountains. Beech Mountain is on the east side and Mansell Mountain is on the west side.  Here is Dave looking back up the length of the pond. Beech is on the right and Mansell on the left.

Here are the mountains from the opposite side - Beech on the left and Mansell on the right. This photo was taken from a rock outcropping into the lake where we stopped and ate lunch.

While the water looks calm and peaceful in these photos, there is one point where the pond narrows between the two mountains and the wind whips up the pond creating waves and whitecaps in the narrows. While it wasn't as challenging as the ocean kayak, with its tides and currents and three foot swells, it was still exercise.

It took us four hours to paddle our way to the other end of the lake. That left us with two hours to get back. With the wind now at our backs, we put the kayaks on cruise control and just followed the east shore back up to the launch site. There were a number of cute little cottages dotting the shore, along with the occasional yuppie mansion. We saw every type of water toy you could image - motor boats, jet skis, canoes, kayaks and a water tricycle with giant yellow inflated wheels. We actually got back with a 1/2 hour to spare. Which is good, because we're not sure we had another half hour worth of paddling in our arms.

Good thing we are planning a hike for tomorrow.