Enchanted Pond (Maine)
| Enchanted Pond | |
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View of Enchanted Pond from the north
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| Location | Somerset County, Maine, US |
| Coordinates | 45°26′02″N 70°11′06″W / 45.43394°N 70.18495°WCoordinates: 45°26′02″N 70°11′06″W / 45.43394°N 70.18495°W |
| Type | oligotrophic |
| Primary inflows | Little Enchanted |
| Primary outflows | Enchanted Stream (Dead River) |
| Catchment area | 35 square miles (91 km2) |
| Basin countries | United States |
| Max. length | 2 miles (3.2 km) |
| Max. width | 0.5 miles (0.80 km) |
| Surface area | 334 acres (135 ha) |
| Average depth | 185 feet (56 m) |
| Max. depth | 202 feet (62 m) |
| Water volume | 25,391 acre·ft (31,319,000 m3) |
| Residence time | 1 month |
| Shore length1 | 5 miles (8.0 km) |
| Surface elevation | 1,443 feet (440 m) |
| Islands | None |
| Settlements | Bulldog Camps |
| 1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure. | |
Enchanted Pond is a mountain pond in the U.S. state of Maine. Situated in the Western Maine Mountains in the Northwest Somerset Region, the pond is located in a deep mountain valley between Coburn Mountain (to the east) and Shutdown Mountain (to the west). Near its southern end, the pond is distinguished by two rockslides from the exposed cliffs of these mountains that extend down into the water along both shores. Enchanted Pond is fed by mountain springs and Little Enchanted Pond, and is the primary source of Enchanted Stream which flows into the Dead River, a tributary of the Kennebec River. Development on the pond is limited to a small set of sporting camps at the northern end of the pond and one remote camp on the southwest shore, both a part of Bulldog Camps. There are no islands in the pond.
Enchanted Pond is exceptionally deep, and has only a very narrow area of shallow water along its shoreline. Rock and gravel make up the majority of its shores with many large boulders in the rockslide areas and a few sandy beaches, one on the east side directly across from another on the west side, and one on the south shore near the outlet. There is very little aquatic vegetation, resulting in excellent water clarity and oligotrophic conditions. The pond was last surveyed by the State of Maine Inland Fisheries and Wildlife in August, 1979 when the water temperature was determined to be 66 °F at the surface and 41 °F at a depth of 100 feet.
Shutdown Mountain, with 800-foot (244 m) cliffs rising up abruptly from Enchanted Pond, gave the pond its alternative name "Bulldog Pond" sometime in the mid to late 1800s. Its shale face, along with the rocky cliff that forms the western side of Coburn Mountain resembled the profile of two bulldogs looking across the pond at one other. Since there were other ponds with the name Enchanted, it seemed a good way to uniquely identify this pond in particular.
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Wikipedia