Thank you again for enabling us to have one of the best vacations we’ve ever had, this past summer. Tim Pond Camps is the perfect place for someone seeking peace, tranquility, Nature at it’s best, while being pampered with hearty meals, attentive staff that always makes you feel

 like “part of the family,” while living in cabins that perfectly capture the right combination of rusticity and homey comfort really added frosting to the cake.

The fact that we had blueberries growing at our front door, no other camps on the lake, we were 9 miles from the nearest paved road and the cookie jar was always full didn’t hurt either…

Tim Pond Camps is just on the Earth side of paradise. We look forward to the day we can return!

Alan & Susan MacMillan
42 Mt. Pleasant Street
Rockport, MA 01966-1713
978-546-2419

This is a fan letter! In our three-day stay at Tim Pond, we concluded that yours is a class operation. We only wanted to have a “good time”. But we had more—much more. And I think it all has to do with a kind of feeling of home away from home that you and your staff makes real. I confess to a sort of “homesickness” upon  leaving. Perhaps the most complimentary thing I could say is that Tim Pond Camps is unique—exuding a refreshing warmth in an age of cynical expectation.

I want to speak of the amenities: the cookie jar on the organ (piano); always—the wood; a waitress, who even in marital distress, seems awfully interested in making people feel welcome; your brother Carroll, (and his brother—whose name I’m embarrassed to forget), who didn’t walk, but ran, to greet and service we incoming fishermen. And the absolute cleanliness of the cabins. And “Brutus”, who, upon invitation, joined us for a walk to the New Dam. He isn’t a dog; he’s a human being in a dog suit.

The fishing: very impressive. There are the experts who catch more-and one season is always better than the last—but for Kim and me, we caught quite enough. And, as we had hoped, the moose were there to be seen and photographed.

Harvey is the complete gentleman—a quiet, but ingratiating man—whose success in business is easy to understand. You, Betty have marvelous talents for the business you operate so efficiently. Please guard your health. And hold to the discipline, which is so admirable.

We shall return next year—probably in September. I like the foliage.

Warm Regards,
Kim Coombs
27 Champlain Avenue
Lewiston, Maine 04240

We "discovered" Tim Pond through our good friend, who is also Bill's fishing buddy.  Gerard had helped us finish the interior of our house so we could be married in it on 11/29/85.  He wouldn't take money for his time, so Bill asked him to pick a place to go fishing, expenses paid.  After some research, he selected Tim Pond.

Gerard and Bill made that first trip during September 1986.  It was typical Tim Pond weather, 60 one day and 20 the next.  Windy one day and very windy the next.  They caught less than 10 fish between them but still had a great time between the relaxation, food, and cribbage games.

The following year, we spent our first full week together at Tim Pond and we have been going every year since, sometimes twice a year.  We have covered all the seasons, from late May to late September.  All of our children, grandchildren, and some of our friends have been at Tim Pond with us over the years and our oldest daughter and family are fast becoming regulars.

During our working years (1987-2000) it was difficult to determine whether we were going to Tim Pond to escape or to fish.  The escape was probably more important - no TV, no radio, no newspapers, and strict orders left at work that we were unavailable unless the world was about to end.  We needed the time to unwind and our visits stretched to 10 days for the initial visit and 4-7 days later if we needed more!  Whether walking or driving the logging roads and not seeing another human or sitting on the porch reading or snoozing, we did relax!

The most impressive thing about Tim Pond as Bill enters his 20th consecutive year and Carol enters her 19th is the consistency of the total operation.  We started with Betty and Harvey and have spent the last years with Bill, Darcie, and Candy and nothing has substantially changed.  The small changes have been for the better, both in the operation of the camp and the fishery.  Bill actually caught his largest Tim Pond trout ever in 2005.

For $145 a day, which includes lodging (they make the beds), great meals, boat, motor, gas, etc., it's still a bargain.  The personal service is important to us.  We feel that the staff appreciates our consistency as much as we appreciate theirs!  We hope our relationship will continue for many more years and that the Calden family will continue to be stewards of the Maine wilderness.

Regards to All, Bill & Carol

Reflections on Tim Pond Camps

I first came to Tim Pond Camps in 1995.  My deer hunting partners and I had been hunting in the western region of Maine for the previous nine years and enjoyed the area very much.  The camp we were staying at was sold, we were not satisfied with the new owner’s philosophy on camp management and we all decided that it was time for a change. My partners put me in charge of finding a new camp that would meet our standards.

We contacted a number of the camps in the area via mail asking for information on the camp and the hunting in the general area.  Betty called back on New Year’s Day of 1995. From the first time I spoke with her I knew that she and Harvey ran a first class operation at Tim Pond and that the camp met our standards.  The decision was made to call Tim Pond Camps home during the third week in November and we have never been disappointed in that decision.

I arrived at camp for the first time on a Sunday morning, called the camp from the Pines Market and was given a list of items to pick up for Betty and the camp.  When I arrived in camp there was the normal hustle as once crew of hunters were leaving at a leisurely pace and Betty and her staff were busy making the cabins ready for the next group of hunters.  The cabin that I was staying in was spotless. 

That year my partners were not able to join me for various reasons.  I was the “new” guy at camp in an area that was not familiar to me.  Harvey made sure that I was able to navigate the area; the “regulars” in camp accepted me and made sure that I have a good idea of the lay of the land.  The area was being actively logged then and it was a challenge to avoid the logging trucks.  I saw a lot of moose (30) and deer (6) that year and had a delightful stay.

My partners (Cliff Libby and John Rust)  and I  have been back every year since then, sometimes not all of us, and sometimes not for the full week as business pressures always seem to increase and not decrease during the third week of November.  Every trip has been enjoyable.

Service is always at a top priority with the staff, food is excellent and plentiful and the accommodations in excellent order.  The original character of the peeled cedar log cabins is preserved from year to year and this adds an additional level of charm to the whole experience. The transition in management from Harvey and Betty to Bill and Darcie has been seamless.  The quality of the food under Candy’s vigilant eye and culinary skill is constant year to year and excellent.

I hope to find time to visit the camp in the fall and get some hiking in.  The area offers some excellent trails near the camp and the Appalachian Trail can be accessed in Stratton if you are so inclined.

Richard Laudenat

Dottie and I have been coming to Tim Pond since 1987, usually two or three times a year.

I first came to Tim Pond Camps, in 1985 or 1986, when a trout-fishing friend, with whom I had fished many of the ponds of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, wanted to hunt at Tim. Since I grew up in southern Maine, he thought I would be able to help him find his way around in the woods. Anxious to rekindle my interest in deer hunting, I agreed to give it a shot.

At first we were both a little overwhelmed by the size of the Tim Pond lease, but over the years we gained our bearings and I haven’t missed a deer season at Tim Pond since.

In the spring of 1987, Dottie and I decided to try the fishing at Tim Pond. Since the pond was all booked up for the early season, the only way we could get reservations was to enroll in the Fly-Fishing School that they run each year, early in May. It was great! The school is effective and well-run by a very capable young lady—Bonnie Holding, registered Maine guide—and her staff. The course moves right along and, most important, the students get to fish the pond...before the Memorial Day crowd.

After that episode, Dottie and I, with our son, Ed, fished Tim Pond each spring and fall. As Ed completed his schooling and started working, he stopped making the trip. Then along the way, one of the lady guests reminded Dottie that she didn’t really have to go out in the boat and fish, if she didn’t want to.

Nowadays I relish fishing alone in the early morning, when I can usually manage to catch a couple of sassy, colorful brookies for breakfast. That’s when there are just a few boats on the pond and I may be privileged to see some wonderful things happening in the dim light. It might be moose or deer at the water’s edge or it might be Buffleheads or Loons tracing lines across the pond. And if I ease the boat in to stand off a little way from Alder Inlet, and just sit still for awhile, it’s about as quiet a spot as you will ever find. Add to that a blazing sunrise brightening the foliage on a fall morning and it just doesn’t get much better than that.

We hope you’ll try it,

Dot and Will Barnes.