Corrie connected me with an informal “Ladies That Paddle” group of women in environmental work here in Vermont so this was my first night to get out with them on Shelburne Pond.    It’s an undeveloped, relatively small body of water, but it was great for a relaxing after-work paddle.  There is a short hiking trail leading off from the boat access too, which I’ll have to check out another time.

It was actually pouring rain all day so I wasn’t sure if we’d be able to get on the water, but it cleared up right before we all got out of work.  By the time I got to the pond, the sun was shining and the clouds were mostly gone.

Everyone started popping beers open before we even had all the boats in the water, so I could see this was going to be more of a float than a paddle.  Perfect.

We made our way over to some limestone ledges on the eastern side of the pond and floated there for a while, watching a juvenile bald eagle watching us.

With some more occasional paddling, we made it around the northern end of the pond and near some marshy areas on the west.

More floating, occasional paddling, and lots of conversation later, we made it back to the boat launch just in time for sunset.

Photo by Katie

What a beautiful, quiet spot!  We saw one other person the whole time.