PHOTOS ARE ZOOMABLE

I began leg 19 on the shore of Whitmore Pond just opposite the juncture of Brown's Head Light and Crockett River Roads and headed south along the western shore of Crockett Cove. Before leaving the Pond I climbed to this little bluff at the northern end of the VLT trail to look back up the cove. From this same spot Elaine and I watched an anxious deer, who'd spotted us and had no where else to go, swim across to the western shore a few years ago.

This was an early morning walk and the sun was so bright from across the cove it was blinding to even look in that direction making it easy to concentrate on where I was going. This was my first look at Tip Toe Mountain just after rounding the little peninsula at the entrance to Whitmore Pond. The owners of this little spit of land just below the mountain have made the most of its charms without compromising its integrity.

The little mountain looked somewhat more formidable once I'd come abreast of it and I thought it might be necessary to forego sticking to the shore and walk on up to the road to travel around. When I got up to it though I could see a foothold here and there and so stayed down near the water. I alluded in an earlier entry, when I first saw Tip Toe after walking through Leadbetter Narrows, to having dimly recalled a romantic interlude on the mountain. The object of those interests has since come forward to edit my recollection, reminding me that if there was anything romantic about my inclinations that night it certainly escaped her. At any rate we are each content with the outcome.

There were places, beyond Tip Toe, where it was impossible to stay below the high tide mark and I had to climb up to find the ever present animal trail. The westerly shore had taken a real pounding in recent storms and blow downs were across the path everywhere making it necessary to crawl under or over fallen one fallen Spruce after another. I can't imagine how they manage it but the deer tracks lead right through the jumble of trunks and branches. Theirs is certainly a tougher hide than my own. Here the trail, uncharacteristically clear of debris, leads by the beginnings of a treehouse, albeit the builders were not looking for much altitude. Perhaps it was a fort to monitor the comings and goings in the narrows leading into Crockett Cove.

A last look back up Crockett River taken from the end of a long dock belonging to someone I know I know but can't remember.

Of all the secluded places along the way where deer might have rolled around on the ground for a good back scratch I can't imagine why they chose this place in full view of several homes. Maybe they knew they were seasonal.

I left my bike at the far end of Crockett's Point and biked back out over this icy road. I had told Elaine I thought this could be done safely. In fact it could not and ultimately I only pedalled along little patches of exposed dirt or over crusty snow but one near miss on the ice convinced me that (for once) she was right and I walked the bike along those stretches from that point on. Passing through the gut at Big Tip Toe I turned around to look back at these ice formations.

Next week I'll round Crockett Point and get my first look at Crabtree Point on North Haven. May by week's end I'll be on the Thorofare