Lily Bay 2012

Lily Bay is one of those special places where you hear loons calling to each other. Granted, most lakes and streams in Maine have loons and the sounds are the same, but in Lily Bay, there is no other sound in competition.  No street or highway sounds, no honking of horns, nothing to interfere with your ability to focus on just this sound if you choose. A haunting sound that echoes first across the lake and later in your mind.  We don't get here every year, in fact, this was only our second time so it retains much of the initial allure.  Lily Bay is on Moosehead Lake near Greenville for those who are from away.

We'd never driven up Route 150 from Skowhegan before, but we did so on Monday on our way here.  What a wonderful road. We passed through Harmony where the town's annual fair was underway and saw many old cars and trucks heading south a result of either an old car show or parade for the fair!  There sure wasn't any parking near the fairgrounds and it tickled and surprised us to find pass through this little town with all the excitement that the annual fairs create in the autumn.

The four of us on Wednesday's hike

Soon after Harmony came Abbott.  This town boasts that it is Maine's First Town (first letter "A" with the next letter "b"); here we stopped at the Abbott Bakery which boasts that it is the home of Skidder donuts!  What a find.  Not only did they have lots of yummy pastries but also boasted some 40 flavors of soft-serve.  We got coffee, a snack, and sat on the deck in front to enjoy the sunshine.  We also acquired some "skidder tire donuts."  Pray tell, what might those be?  Well, they are double thickness raised glazed donuts the size of a tiny skidder's tire.

We're camping with Dee and Paul and are in lakeside sites with access to the water so our kayaks are stowed on the shore so we can easily get our fill of paddling when we want.  The lake is filled with loons and we've seen them as singles, triples, and even as Paul calls it…..a raft of loons.  We have the resident red squirrels who scold us and have raided food left only briefly on the table.  Little chipmunks also scurry about the trees and check out the camp sites.

On Monday we were watching the ducks and then spotted the merganser group not that far off shore.  There was also a loon fishing in the area.  Suddenly the mergansers were going full bore toward the shore nearly running on top of the water (the young ones don't have enough feathers for flight yet) and then they saw the ducks and scooted off in the other direction.  What had started them so much was the loon coming back up to the surface. 

One very friendly duck!

The best loon action, however, was during Tuesday's paddle when we came across a pair with their one youngster.  The parents were keeping an eye on us and when the young one got to far away from them one of them would start calling or just swim over and then we heard soft gentle "loon talk" between parent and child.  It was one of those special events in nature one doesn't usually get to witness.  Along with the loons we've seen a mother merganser and six little ones swimming near our camp sites.  They gracefully dive down and then pop up some distance away.  So much fun to watch.

Merganser family

Another treat has been seeing two Pileated woodpeckers.  First one than a second landed in the trees in Dee and Paul's campsite.  We watched as they moved from tree to tree down to the water's edge.  They are spectacular birds!  Brilliant red crests and stunning black and white feathers.  They are the biggest of the woodpecker family. Finally after years of thinking about getting good photos of these birds, Marty did manage to get several.

Pileated woodpecker

Crossing a stream during Wednesday's hike.

Our evenings incorporate a social time when we sit by the lake and absorb the sound of the waves and wind in the trees and watch the birds on the lake.  Mostly we think they are watching us!  There have been up to five ducks just off shore waiting for some random treats from us.  On Tuesday two very brave ducks came right up among our chairs and ate from our hands.  (I know, we shouldn't do that.)  After we left to go cook dinner, the two ducks followed Paul from the lake right up to the camper.  Don't tell me that we're the first ones to give these guys treats if they are willing to do that!

Paul and Dee as we circumnavigate Sugar Island (Kineo in the background)

Thursday's decision was to paddle around Sugar Island.  Of course, we made some assumptions which were way off track.  Sugar Island wasn't a two hour-paddle around a smallish island, it was a four-hour paddle!  We estimate that it was close 12 miles.  For us that involved the inflatable tandem kayak which is more prone to influence by wind and waves and for Paul and Dee the ability to glide through the choppier water.  Needless to say we all got a great workout.  The island is where we were told the bears live!  We didn't see any by the shore.  There were some private camps of which many were for sale.  And there are three public camp sites on the more sheltered side of the island all with their own little beaches plus picnic tables.  The lake was quite empty except for about three boats and us.  What a treat to be on the lake nearly having it all to ourselves!

When socializing on Thursday we spent nearly 30 minutes watching and listening to a group of loons.  First we saw only three then it was five and eventually there were eight.  They swam together very closely and communicated with short low sounds.  making our last evening on the lake was memorable.

An HDR photo taken Friday am with the clouds/mist lifting from the lake. 

Friday morning found us packing up for the return to our homes.  It was just a little sad leaving this beautiful spot.  We all could have stayed longer.