By Colin Holme

Executive Director

Lakes Environmental Association

With everyone going a little stir crazy and limited options for interaction, our family opted for a hike at Holt Pond last Saturday. It was a cool but gloriously sunny day and perfect for early spring exploring. South of our house and at a lower elevation, Holt Pond would no doubt seem like a tropical paradise compared to the tundra of Deer Hill.

So, following a hearty lunch of last night’s dinner, we packed up two thermoses of hot chocolate and grabbed a couple cameras. While the kids put on boots, I surreptitiously snuck in four of my daughter’s homemade chocolate chip bars in the backpack.  

Passing few cars and multiple signs of “take out only,” there were constant reminders of the worry and anxiety that everyone is facing right now. A nice hike would do us all good. In fact, one study that came out this week said that regular exercise combined with a healthy dose of vitamin D is the most effective way to stay virus-free.  Because mud season is upon us, we decided to approach Holt Pond from the Naples side and pulled into the small parking lot on the corner of Chaplins Hill and Grist Mill Roads.  To begin our hike, we started over the “Emerald Field,” which LEA had mowed last fall and was completely snow-free. We walked south through this pastoral landscape, paralleling Chaplins Hill Road, until we came to the Adam Perron-Muddy River Trail.  Once in the woods, we immediately came to the Muddy River, which despite its name, was crystal clear. This river is the outlet of Holt Pond and one of the headwaters of Sebago Lake. Standing alongside its gurgling waters, a Pileated woodpecker flew overhead with its distinct, undulating flight pattern. These striking, red-crested birds have already begun the intensive process of excavating large nesting cavities for the upcoming breeding season and they are easy to spot flying in the leafless forest. 

Chewing on wintergreen, our son noted that the maroon leaves, which are found in sunnier locations, have more flavor. Following the river upstream toward Holt Pond, we passed through several large patches of this evergreen groundcover, which at times filled the air with its sweet toothpaste-like scent. In one location, young beech trees had been chewed off by beavers almost four feet above the ground. While these mammals spend much of the winter in a lodge, they are active year-round and adventure out above and below the ice for forage. While we will never know for sure, we surmised that these beeches were felled by beavers sitting on top of a foot or two of snow. As the trail approached the pond, we saw our first fellow hikers, who were checking out the canoe by the boat launch. This is a hot spot in the summer as people routinely borrow the old, orange Coleman to ply the waters for bass, pickerel or hornpout. 

Although the water was high, the boardwalks were clear and after passing through the preserve’s main parking lot, it was a quick journey out to the Muddy River lookout and then to the pond itself. Still iced over, it was serene and peaceful. Out on the bog, I pointed out the one building you can see in the near hills, which is the Five Fields Farm barn in South Bridgton. We spent ample time absorbing precious vitamin D on this section of boardwalk, which LEA raised and leveled last year thanks to a grant from the Fields Pond Foundation. Coming off the pond, we ran into our second group of hikers. They were looking for the Holt Pond geocache but it was nowhere to be found. I came to the same conclusion last summer. Who steals a geocache?  Next time, I will have to put a new one out. I am not sure if that is proper geocache etiquette, but I am going to do it anyway. Stopping in a sunny spot under an old hemlock, the first group of hikers came back around and eyed us enviously as we sipped our hot chocolate. Good thing they didn’t know about those homemade chocolate chip bars… After walking Grist Mill Road back, we rounded out our hike by returning through the emerald field and exploring the split-stone foundation of an old farmhouse tucked into a copse of trees. As we were getting in the car, we noticed the pussy willows in front of us. There was no way we were going home without a few of those. So, a quick spring bouquet was made using the willows and some speckled alder catkins. Now, it sits on our countertop as a reminder of both the beauty of spring and our adventure at Holt Pond.