Swim Meet

The pond that I so often fondly visit is formed by a beaver dam across a very small stream which is created by the natural drainage of the surrounding woods and meadows.  Once the pond attained the level of the dam the water continues to flow, through a spillway, in the small creek as it probably has for thousands of years.  The dam only temporarily stopped the flow while the pond filled.

This particular stream meanders southward for about a half mile until it crosses under the road I live near about a quarter of a mile from my home.  After crossing the road, a short distance away, there is another pond, once again formed by a dam made by beavers.  The wandering creek continues northeast until it crosses a county road about a half mile past this second dam.  This point is little more than a half mile from my home, the creek having made a half circle around my home and property.

I mention all of the above to bring you to this last point where the water crosses under the second road.  It is here where my friend Dean and I one fine spring day when we were about 14 years of age decided to go swimming.  The road was little traveled on a Sunday afternoon in those days, the sun was warm, and a swim seemed like just the right thing to do at the time.  The stream as it passed through under the road was about six feet wide and maybe three feet deep, running rather swiftly, but nothing that you might drown in.

The weather was a beautiful day, with a temperature in the high seventies, with that bright sun warming everything.  After a quick glance up and down the road to insure we were alone, we stripped naked and dove from the road edge into the water.  It was about the time we hit that water that we remembered the day was April first, and this was springtime in the northcountry.  There was no ice floating in that water, but there may as well have been.  Oh!  Was it ever cold?  Let me assure you it did not take us very long to decide we’d had enough swimming for one day.  We got our clothes back on far faster than we got them off a couple of minutes earlier.  So much for April Fool’s Day swimming in this area, we learned hurriedly who the April Fools were.

For those map lovers who might want to follow this the coordinates are:

Beaver pond behind my home is 44 40 56.80 N  75 22 16.27 W

Road crossing near my home is 44 40 23.36 N  75 22 08.70 W

Second beaver pond is 44 40 24.30 N  75 21 53.51 W

Swimming spot is 44 40 46.33 N  75 21 16.43 W