Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale...about kayaking, Islands and brooks.

I kind of fell in love with Kayaking a couple summers ago. I had never really done much it before. Now I love it, exploring, great exercise, and the great outdoors. One of the first places I started was Madagascal Pond In Burlington. My family has always owned a camp or camps there, so I have deep roots and did alot of exploring around the pond and the woods when I was younger. I always dreamed of exploring the Island, the brooks and waterways, but Kayaks weren’t as plentiful then and other boats weren’t an option. 

Now I’ve been out several times and by using google maps, explored, took pictures of the places I dreamed about when I was a kid. Here’s a few I’ve done this summer so far: 

Little Madagascal Pond : I never even knew this pond existed. I knew inlet was there, we had to go over it everytime we went to our camp. And it always looked cool and swampy up there. Exploring it, going past the beaver dam, was a blast and I can’t wait to go back. It is a very peaceful place. 

Coffin Brook runs into Little Madagascal and is an awesome brook, I plan on exploring that more in the future. Little small for a kayak, but I’ll walk it and take pictures/videos. Donate some blood to the local insect population. Another local famous stream is Bear Brook which runs directly into “Big” Madagascal. Another thing I’ve been thinking about: Is the names. Where did Coffin and Bear come from? In fact, I plan on researching the entire area’s history (whatever I can find). 

Speaking of names, that brings us the final place on Madagascal/Google Maps: The Island. I was sitting there in my kayak looking at Google Maps and noticed the Island didn’t have a name! Whaaaat! How can that be? So I randomly picked a name while looking at all the rocks around the Island and came up with Round Rock Island. Plus, at some point in my childhood, I heard that Madagascal was a man-made pond and they dug up all rocks and piled them where the Island is now. Thus creating the Island. I don’t know how true that is but since posting the listing on the Facebook page, I Love Madagascal, others have given their own stories and name ideas. Maybe the Island will get “officially” named after all. 

More stories to come with My Adventures with Google Maps!