Songo River/Brandy Pond/Sebago Lake

Body of Water: Songo River/Sebago Lake/Brandy Pond, Casaco/Naples, ME [Maine Gazetteer Map 5, Between B & C almost in the crease of the gazetteer.]

Directions (from Portland, ME): Take Rt. 302 North.  Go through Windham and Raymond.  You will come into Casco.  On your left you will see a sign for Point Sebago, a golf course/resort.  That means you are close to your turning spot.  You will be turning LEFT onto State Park Road.  (There is a Brown State Park sign indicating where to turn)

Boat Launch: The launch is beautiful.  Easily Accessible and plenty of room.

Parking: The parking area near the boat launch is pretty big.  Since I was here in October there was plenty of parking available.  I hear in the summer it is a lot harder to find a place to park.

Fees: There are fees to enter Sebago State Park.  I am unsure if the rates go by person or by vehicle.  Click HERE to access the Sebago State Park site for more information.  If you want to go through the locks (which I highly recommend, it is very cool!)  The cost is $6 per boat, round trip.  When I went I was with four other kayakers.  We asked if we could do a group rate and the ranger charged us $6.00 for our group!  It never hurts to ask!  I usually do not go places where I have to pay, but this was worth it!

Wildlife: Ducks, loons, &  Blue Heron.  I am sure there are also lots of turtles in the summer.


Notes: This is a GREAT paddle.  You can spend a lot of time kayaking around this area.  My friends and I spent over 5 hours on the water.  We paddled, following the Songo River up to Brandy Pond and back.  We also paddled out to Sebago Lake.  In all, we figured we paddled about 10.5 miles.  This is a lot for someone not used to kayaking.  There are lots of places to stop along the way.  I would suggest packing snacks of a picnic lunch and make a day of it.  In the summer you could swim in Sebago Lake, the sandbar is a great place to swim.  This was my first trip in this area in a kayak.  In the summer time I heard that it is not a relaxing trip because the boat traffic is so high.  The fumes from the boats make it less beautiful.  I will do this trip again, but will do so before or after tourist season.(Memorial Day-Labor Day.)
Here are some pictures... enjoy!

These are some pictures of going into the locks, that get us from this low part of the river to the higher part.

After going through the locks, we head to Brandy Pond.

Then back to the river...

And back to the locks...

Notice how high we are...

Now look how low we are...

A GREAT place to spend the day.  

To view a video of the blue heron click below:  

Play Video Here

The video is sideways, but.. worth viewing.