Be Brave Not Safe

Cindy and I have returned from an awesome 9-days at Moosehead Lake, in Maine.

We shared the experience with 3 of the 4 boys, for a few days early in the week. During that time we rented a pontoon boat, which we affectionately referred to as: the garbage truck. We did so for 2 reasons: 1) The inside of the watercraft was well worn and dirty. 2) When going across the lake it was barge-like slow. So, garbage truck was quite fitting.

Just the same, we had a great time swimming, fishing and visiting one of the most beautiful spots on the planet: Pebble Beach, which provides an unbelievable view of Mt. Kineo (partial photo below). Since this spot is most easily reached by boat, there is typically few carbon units (I mean people) to contend with 🙂

After the boys left, Cindy and I had a couple days of solitude and viewing of wildlife. This included seeing more deer than squirrels on the property, a pileated woodpecker tearing at a tree (sounded like a sledgehammer), a bald eagle, ducks, a moose and, my personal favorite: loons. Cindy wanted to make sure I mentioned the crows. Not that they are rare: the ones we saw were HUGE. We agreed that they must eat well in this territory 🙂

Then, we had a chance to spend a quality 2-days with my parents, and their real, nice, FAST boat (a 19′ Bayliner).

Here is a shot of the 4 of us at Pebble Beach. Mt. Kineo, with 700′ cliffs rising straight-up from the lake, is in the background.

Notice the beach. It is made-up entirely of small rocks that have been worn smooth by nature. Many of these “pebbles” are of skipping quality. We had an unfortunate incident here several years ago when one of our boys was playfully skipping rocks while Cindy was floating on an inner-tube. A rock caught her squarely in the mouth, splitting her lip open and breaking off a tooth. Being in the middle of God’s country, the nearest hospital was quite a distance away. After nearly 2 hours travel time (partly by water, partly by land) we got her all fixed-up (several stitches). Thankfully, after healing, there is no discernible scar!

Another interesting point about this crystal clear lake is that it has some very deep spots, the maximum of which (254′) is directly behind us in the above photo. In fact, after taking only a few steps into the water at Pebble Beach you are over your head!

Not only are there beautiful rock formations above water, there are some amazing sites to view below: while snorkeling. It is actually quite eery when viewing the gargantuan slabs of rock below the surface which literally descend out of site, beyond the reach of a snorkeler.

Earlier in the week I had been corresponding with the owners’ of the house we were staying in, about questions and providing updates on our time there. In one of his responses he made mention of a rope swing that I should try. I let him know that we had already tried the rope swing at Pebble Beach, to which he responded: “This rope swing dwarfs the one at Pebble Beach.”

OK then, I have GOT to give this a try.

In my commenting to this effect, the owner responded with: “No photo – It didn’t happen.”

He had laid down the challenge 😎

And now I’m thinking: this is probably much bigger than I imagine.

During the 2nd day of boating with my parents we decided to try and find the rope swing. First, you must realize that Moosehead Lake is MASSIVE (120 square miles). In fact, you must watch the weather because if the wind or a thunderstorm comes up it can be ocean-like dangerous.

Once we found the southern end of Deer Island, on which the rope swing was located, we began the search for the next challenge 😎

Within 15-20 minutes Cindy spotted it, with her eagle eyes. I had been using binoculars, to no avail.

As we approached the swing, the dwarfing comment became clear.

The rope (at least 25′ long) was tied very high in a pine tree. We wondered how they got it up there. But, really, who cares 🙂

My dad stopped the boat nearby…I did my customary backflip into the lake and swam for shore.

I grabbed the rope and began the climb up the cliff. It wasn’t too hard, but not easy, either. Someone had constructed a climbing rope to assist thrill-seekers up the first part of the rock cliff which was quite steep.

I had reached stage one. You see, there was another stage several feet further above: we’ll call that stage 2. I figured I’d do a test run from the lower segment of the cliff. I was NOT disappointed and decided I was ready for stage 2.

You cannot imagine what it “might” feel like to swing from the trees like Tarzan, until you have tried something like this. Once you make the leap and begin the swing, time seems to slow down as you fly through the air. Then, you must pick the spot, at the far end of the pendulum swing, to release, and begin your decent into the lake.

AMAZING!!! (Click on the image to zoom in)

I emailed the above photo to the lake house owners, as “proof of leap”, shortly there-after.

During our next visit to Moosehead Lake, this will be one of our first stops with the boys. I’m sure we’ll spend hours in this one spot, trying to out-do each other 🙂

After the “leap of faith” challenge was conquered, we boated to Greenville, a small town at the southern-most end of the lake. Here we had ice cream and then returned to the lake house, completing our journey for the day.

In closing, we had an awesome time, at a place we will return to again and again (this being our 6th visit to the area).

All the best!