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Paddling Prong Pond Near Greenville

September 10, 2008 - GREENVILLE -- The Moosehead Lake area is a popular destination for summer vacationers and, this time of year, weekend leaf-peepers. But if you want to avoid the crowds, there are many easy-to-reach ponds near Maine’s largest lake that offer surprising solitude and unparalleled wilderness beauty.

One of the true delights is Prong Pond, in the community of Beaver Cove, a few miles south of Lily Bay State Park. Three convoluted fingers of water provide 10 miles of paddling if you follow along the complete shoreline of the pond. Plan for a leisurely four-hour paddle if you explore up and around each prong.

Follow the Lily Bay Road north out of downtown Greenville for six miles. About one mile beyond the large sign for Beaver Cove Marina, turn right onto the gravel Prong Pond Road, marked by a small brown street sign.

In 20 yards, take another right onto a narrow lane that leads a few hundred yards down to the boat launch site. For help in getting to Prong Pond, consult DeLorme’s Maine Atlas and Gazetteer (No. 41).

Nuthatch calls mixed with the resonant chorus of bullfrogs as we placed the canoe in the water. As you start out along the northern shoreline, you will paddle along a green wall of fragrant cedars, eventually coming to a knoll of red pine that makes for a great spot to relax and snooze on the soft, needled carpet. The obligatory pair of loons out front goes without saying.

The shoreline weaves in and out. One minute you are staring out at a mountain, and in a few paddle strokes it disappears, only to reappear later.

The large mountain 10 miles to the southwest is Big Moose Mountain. In the morning sun, you can easily spot the emerald green ski trails cut into the flanks of the mountain. When you eventually return from exploring the outer reaches of the pond, you will be looking at the unmistakable monolithic profile of Little Spencer Mountain, 17 miles to the north.

As you enter into the easterly prong you gain a view of aptly named Elephant Mountain, five miles to the east. You can easily figure out how it got its name. The top half of the head of the elephant rests on the ground, with its trunk reaching over toward Blue Ridge. Just to your south lies the long barrier of Scammon Ridge.

One of the highlights of an outing on Prong Pond is the opportunity to paddle in a boreal bog environment. As you explore the narrow confines of the eastern prong, paddle right along the edge.

Pitcher plant stalks stick up out of the spongy mat of mosses, sedges and heath, looking like foot-high purplish-red periscopes. Their shiny heads look waxy, and their cupped leaves at the base of the long stalk are a vibrant mosaic of greens and reds. Soon they will dry out and turn light brown.

Where you find pitcher plants you will find tiny sundews. Look for hairy miniature tennis racket-shaped stems and leaves positioned handle end to handle end close to the ground.

If you visit during July you will see a number of colorful flowers and orchids in bloom, including delicate rose pogonia and grass pink. Yellow water lilies dot the edges of protected coves, along with dense mats of white fragrant water lilies and green stands of pickerelweed.

On the southern side of the eastern prong, the white balls of bog cotton wave in the wind against a backdrop of stands of dead cedar trees. The soft and delicate greenish-blue needles of the larch tree will soon be turning yellow.

Except for two small cottages just to the east of the boat launch, there is little development on the pond. However, judging by the recent construction of five log homes along the southern edge of the middle prong, that could be changing. The time to explore Prong is now.

The middle prong offers majestic views north to nearby Prong Pond Mountain. Note with binoculars the remnants of logging operations and the cut of a logging road angling up the slope to the north. Logging is going on low on the mountain, and you may hear some of the activity as you paddle. Behind Prong Pond Mountain, depending on where you are in the cove, you will see the impressive upper profiles of Baker Mountain and Lily Bay Mountain dominating the wild and rugged high country east of Moosehead Lake.

The third prong is a narrow finger of water known as Beaver Creek that eventually flows under the Lily Bay Road and into Beaver Cove.

We were tired and ready to get back to the launch site but decided to paddle the one mile in and see what surprises might await. We had yet to see a moose, and this cove might have one. It didn’t on our visit – perhaps it will on yours.

But we did enjoy the antics of a pair of belted kingfishers. One sat still as a statue on the top of a dead cedar, its crest of hair crazily askew.

Its mate hovered in place 20 feet above the water, madly flapping its wings to maintain its vantage point. (Interestingly, the kingfisher female is more brilliantly colored than the male, an uncommon event in nature known as “reverse sexual dimorphism.”)

This slender prong ends at a beaver dam a mile in from the main lake. You can see from here the power lines along the Lily Bay Road. This prong is a good spot to watch for ducks.

The pond is popular with local anglers, judging by the number of skiffs and canoes stored at the launch site. During our midweek visit we encountered only one boat on the pond: a husband-and-wife team fishing for white perch.

A number of tiny forested islets dot the pond, as well as a few larger islands. Chock-full of trees and lined by ledges and cliffs, none offers easy landing spots to stop and enjoy a swim.

However, if you look carefully, you will find a few good spots along the pond to pull out and swim. Imagine doing the backstroke on a warm, sunny day, and turning slowly in the water to admire the ring of mountains towering all around you.

You know you are in the north country when you hear the occasional whine of a floatplane engine, and another liftoff into the wild beyond takes place from nearby Beaver Cove.

The big lake next door is stunning, yes, but save some time for little Prong Pond – it has a little of everything, and sometimes that is all you need.

MICHAEL PERRY, Portland Press Herald, September 4, 2008


Lakes: Moosehead Lake, Prong Pond
Regions: Moosehead


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