By Marty Basch

Hikers are rewarded for their efforts with engaging panoramas from their chosen peak. From a lofty perch, they can peer out for miles across rolling hills, jagged mountains and pristine waterways.

But there is a lake called a pond where paddlers can peer up at a peak from a canoe or kayak.

Peek while paddling

The waterway is Moose Pond and the peak is Pleasant Mountain, home of the Shawnee Peak ski area in Bridgton, Maine, not all that far from the New Hampshire border near  Conway. The 2,006 foot peak stretches for about four miles in a north-south direction, contains several miles of hiking trails, a fire tower and is the highest peak in southern Maine. The mountain is protected by both the Nature Conservancy and the Loon Echo Land Trust with the volunteers, private land owners and the Appalachian Mountain Club maintaining the trails

.

One of the most impressive looks at Moose Pond comes from Route 302. A causeway cuts through a northern section of the water in front of the ski trails. There is a put-in on both sides of the road to explore the pond.

Moose Pond is a long, index finger shaped pond, thin at the north and south ends with a fat section in the middle. The nearly 1,700 acre waterway pierces the western Maine mountain towns of Denmark, Bridgton and Sweden.

Just lovely

The pond has some lovely islands in the north end like oblong  Sabatis Island and a dam at its southern end in the town of Denmark. There is no shortage of camps and trophy homes along its pine shores, docks and motorboats. But as Columbus Day soon passes, motorized activity is likely to fade plenty, and paddlers, depending on the day, can experience some quiet water.

The long pond is on the east side of the mountain and allows paddlers the chance to paddle its length, seeing its rounded knobs, open ledges and legions of colorful leaves before spotting those trails on the northern slope of Pleasant's north peak.

This is back road exploration season, where outdoor lovers go in search of splendid scenery. That was the idea with Moose Pond. There was also a put-in off Denmark Road in the town of Denmark. We figured to explore some of the pond in its southern end, return to the put-in, and then meander (no GPS, just a good old-fashioned weathered, dog-eared 10 year-old Atlas and Gazetteer as guide) the back roads to that causeway and explore the pond more from there.

The winding low-trafficked back roads led by rural landscapes of stone walls, fields, the White Mountains, worn cemeteries, lone churches and corn stands all more vibrant in autumn's glow.

Lazy day

There were still floating docks on the sandy public beach in Denmark where we launched the yellow tandem kayak. A rope swing hung unused across the way, and about the only sounds coming was the hammering from one of the homes. The turning leaves stole the show as the water pathway led by the mountain's rocky cliffs and lumps. Only one motorboat passed us. A stiff breeze was at our backs and we figured we'd better return and do some back road exploring to the north instead of paddling the pond's length.

The pond narrowed tremendously at one bridge at a spot aptly named "The Narrows", almost like it was wearing a corset. There was a tunnel under the road that looked like a snug fit for paddlers.

The northern end felt a bit more well-used. Maybe that was because of the roadway that slices through its breadth. Certainly there was the sound of engines out on the water, but there was also an inherent beauty of seeing the mountain with its alpine pathways. There are those who climb the same mountain again and again, only to experience a different journey each time whether it be the season or people met along the way.

There are those who have hiked up Pleasant Mountain. There are those who have taken a chair lift and skied down its trails. And there are those who have paddled by it in a canoe or kayak and seen how rugged and diverse a smallish mountain can be.

One Tank Away

Denmark is

*9 miles from Bridgton, Maine

*17 miles from Sweden, Maine

*12 miles from Fryeburg, Maine