Kent Pond: Lowered Water exposes a Wonderland in Killington

Due to major damage to the runoff area at Kent Pond, the water level has been lowered for several months so that repairs made be made to the system. I, for one, think this has been totally awesome and hope they never raise the water level again. While the pond was beautiful before, it has now become a place that I cannot stand to be apart from.

Vespi and I paddle the pond jsut about every other day...but we have had to be creative. With the water level down, the public boat access now requires wading the boat for a few hundred feet before you can actually launch. While this might aggravate the more casual paddler, for me this has become an adventure...with the added plus that motorboats have had to find another lake to poison :)

But then I met with the Kayak King, who said I would be more than welcome to use Half Moon Cove on the other side of the lake - where he launches his tours from - just so long as I parked on the road and didn't block the access point. That was totally fine with me...I could either just unload and then move my car or practice portage from the road. But the cove is beautiful and the King himself has spent many hours removing rocks, regrading the launch site and creating an altogether lovely area for both paddlers and the general hanger outers.

But it's not really the paddling that has significantly altered. It is the adventures that have suddenly been revealed. A few weeks ago I spied a family making their way around Kent Pond - something that even I have painfully tried to do at some point with little success - and they were having a wonderful time walking the rocky shoreline. I believe they might have been the first people to ever actually enjoy walking the circumference of Kent Pond :)

In fact, the fishermen have been enjoying the ability to walk the shores as well. No need to finagle your fishing pole through tit woods and then dangle yourself out toward the shore. There is no plenty of room to cast your bait wherever you want to fish. No more worries. Ever the animal fishermen, the beavers, have found the lowered shores of Kent Pond to be a perfect location for their family.

But I am not a fisherman.
I am excited to have new exposed sandy beaches to walk along and relax, taking ithe beauty of water. Every morning before work (when I don't have time to paddle), I take my yoga mat down to the new beachy area in front of the boat access and soend twnety minutes or so doing sun salutations.
Could there be a better way to start the day?

And while I enjoy my morning routine, Vespi enjoys hers. She walks around the shoreline, sniffing at all the new smells that are now exposed, playing the run-off from Kent Pond Stream and generally having an absolutely wonderful time.

Did I mentn how wonderfully clear the water is? Tropical Storm Irene, while she brought much horror with her, also managed to clean out much of the muck that ahd been resting on the bottom of Kent Pond. Most of the dead leaves and algae have been swept away, leaving a clean, clear sandy bottom...a most wonderfully place to wade, to fish...or to raise an army of snails :)

But my most recent favorite?
The new YOGA ISLAND!!
A section of shallow water that was once a paddler's biggest nightmare has now become a wonderful place just big -and flat - enough to land your canoe and lay down your mat. As those of you who read the blog know, I am a huge fan of finding random and wonderful places to practice yoga...well, this one is right in my backyard and makes me just so very, very happy!! Hopefully, you too will get a chance to feel like floating amidst a wonderful pond of blue. Come and enjoy the new and improved version of Kent Pond before they raise the water level back up this fall.

May You Find the Spirit of the Mountains within You,
Merisa & Vespi