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Go Wild! Skating, Skiing on Muskrat Pond

January 09, 2008 - SANDY POINT -- Muskrat Pond is well named. It is home to dozens of muskrat, whose little piled cattail homes dot the northwest end of the pond. The pond is part of Sandy Point Wildlife Management Area, operated by the state. Skaters and skiers should make sure the ice is safe before attempting this venture.

The pond's proximity to the ocean makes it more likely to get rain when snow falls farther inland. A good freeze after rain offers ice skating when most ponds in the area are snow-covered.

Directions: Drive north on Route 1 from Belfast to Stockton Springs and Sandy Point. Staying on Route 1, about three miles north of the U.S. 1A junction, just after the railroad overpass, turn left onto Muskrat Farm Road. Go a quarter mile and you'll see Game Preserve Road on the right, the driveway to the pond. In winter, you may want to park on the side of the road. It's a short walk in to the dam at the south end of the pond.

The five rules for ice skating are: Make sure the ice is firm, don't skate alone, make sure the ice is firm, carry ice picks or some type of self-rescue device, and make sure the ice is firm.

At a safe distance from the dam, pick your way down the bank and onto the ice, making sure it is firm. The ice is thinnest near the dam where water flows to the outlet.

Muskrat house of cattails on Muskrat Pond. With snow cover, use skis to explore not only the pond but also around the edges, getting up into the trees on the west side of the pond. Muskrat houses are scattered around the edges of the pond in the cattails, the majority at the northwest end. They are not showy, but once you begin to see them, you will see more.

Three large beaver lodges can be seen in a perimeter sweep. Keep an eye on the sky for osprey and bald eagle. Mt. Waldo is the beautiful hill to the northwest.

The pond is only half a mile long, but on a fine winter day with good ice, you can skate around for miles, in and out of the cattails. A couple dozen wood duck boxes have been placed around the pond for nesting in spring and summer.

When you come back in spring and summer, you will see, from shore or a boat, pied-billed grebe, ring-necked duck, hooded merganser, common loon, mallard, wood duck, black duck, Canada goose, sora and Virginia rails, marsh hen, American bittern and least bittern. Tree and barn swallows zoom over the water, and a sand pit nearby is a nesting area for bank swallows.

Any time of year is a pleasure at Muskrat Pond. You can paddle, watch birds, set up an easel by the dam, ski, skate, snowshoe or just stop by to eat your lunch. Muskrat Brook, the outlet, flows from the dam and meanders down through Sandy Point village into the Penobscot River where it broadens into Penobscot Bay at Mill Cove, a picturesque place.

SOURCE: Waldo Village Soup

DATE: 01-08-2008


Lakes:
Regions: Mid Coast, Downeast


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