A beautiful place to take the plunge

By TOM BELL, Portland Press Herald Writer

Copyright © 2006 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.

E-mail this story to a friend

	Staff photo by John Patriquin Angie Gagnon of Lewiston pans for gold in the Swift River. "We think it's gold," she said, "and we are happy with it."
	Staff photo by John Patriquin Nelson Girard of Jamestown, R.I., does a back flip from the rocks more than 30 feet above the Swift River at Coos Canyon. Diving isn't the only popular activity at the canyon.
	ABOUT OUR SERIES Think you've seen all the sights of Maine? Maybe not. . . .This week we'll take you to some of the state's more remarkable - and sometimes overlooked - wonders. Here's an itinerary: Sunday: Machias Seal Island Monday: Old Sow Whirlpool Tuesday: Swan Island Wednesday: Pineland Today: Coos Canyon Friday: L.C. Bates Museum Saturday: Moxie Falls To top of story

BYRON — From the moment her feet left the ledge to the instant her body sliced through the water, Elizabeth Fontaine screamed at the top of her lungs. A crowd of young adults cheered when the 15-year-old from North Carolina bobbed to the surface.

"I didn't think I was going to make it to the water," she said after jump. "It was such a long drop."

This is Coos Canyon, where the Swift River tumbles though a bedrock gorge. The gorge walls rise about 32 feet above the water, which in some places is more than 20 feet deep.

There are no brochures about the canyon. The only advertising campaign is word of mouth.

It's a state picnic area on Route 17 about 14 miles north of Mexico, a two-hour drive from Portland. There are some tables. An outhouse. Some walking trails. There are no fees.

The upper part of the canyon is public. The lower part is privately owned but people are allowed to swim there if they get permission from the owner, Coos Canyon Cabins and Campground.

The canyon is a great place to relax and read while listening to the rush of the river. After all, the town was named after Lord Byron, the flamboyant British poet.

But it's an even better place to hurl yourself off a cliff.

On a recent August afternoon, a group of young men dove, somersaulted and twisted in an awesome display of athletic skill and bravado. Onlookers gasped.

"That's crazy, just crazy, " said Bill Smith, 68, of Gardiner. "I'm not jumping. I have my foolish years behind me."

Rex Auger, 71, still dives off the cliffs, just as he did as a young man growing up in nearby Rumford.

He said injuries are more likely to occur during the climb up or down the cliffs.

His advice: If you feel you're about to fall, just jump as far away from the rocks as you can.

Besides jumping and swimming, the other big activity here is searching for gold.

The Swift River is one of more than a half-dozen streams and rivers in Maine known to contain deposits of gold in the sediment created when glaciers eroded the bedrock.

Upstream in a shallow area, Angie Gagnon, 33, of Lewiston panned for gold with other members of her extended family. She held up some golden flakes.

"We think it's gold, and we are happy with it," she said. "We're having fun, anyway."

The rules here: Don't disturb any vegetation, and dig only in the riverbed, not on the banks.

Coos Canyon Rock & Gift, across the street from the rest stop, rents gold panning equipment.

You can rent a plastic pan for $2 a day, and a sluice box, which uses the river's current to separate the gold from sand, for $20.

The shop, which opened in 1956, displays some of the gold found in the river, including a 41.5-gram nugget worth $413.

The shop's proprietors are Mary White and her daughter, Rosey White-Susbury, who is also the town clerk.

"Gold - bought, sold and lied about here!" says a sign outside the shop.

At the doorway, there's display about the local legend Carl Shilling, a gold-mining hermit who until his death at age 89 in 1977 lived near the East Branch of the Swift River, in a remote cabin with no electricity or plumbing. His rusty steel pan hangs on the wall.

The name "Coos" is derived from the word "Cohos," the Abenaki word for "pine." Some visitors are uncertain how to pronounce "Coos."

New Hampshire's most northern county is Coos County. There, the word has two syllables and is pronounced "Co-oss."

But when describing the canyon in Maine, it's "Cooz," said White-Susbury.

A small bridge near the parking lot spans the gorge. The town of Byron recently bought the section of the gorge upstream from the bridge. The prior owner was MeadWestvaco, the company that runs the paper mill in Rumford.

The land downstream of the bridge is still privately owned.

The tallest cliffs and the deepest pools are about 1,000 feet downstream from the bridge.

On a warm day recently, a couple dozen jumpers congregated there.

This is the section owned by Coos Canyon Cabins and Campground. The campground doesn't allow glass containers, underage drinking or bad language.

"We don't mind people swimming there as long as they respect the land," said the campground's co-owner Judy Boucher, who as a child was cut seriously by broken glass after jumping into the river.

She said landowners work hard to keep the gorge free of litter, graffiti and broken glass.

Besides swimming, there are plenty of other things to do in the area, including some great hikes.

Angel Falls, a mountain brook that plunges 90 feet, can be reached in a 30-minute hike.

The trailhead is on Houghton Road, which connects with Route 17 about four miles north of Coos Canyon.

The trailhead for Tumbledown Mountain is less than five miles east of Coos Canyon. It takes about four hours to climb up and down the 3,068-foot tall mountain.

Many people who hike the mountain like to end the day with a giant leap into the canyon's cold water.

And a good scream.

Tom Bell can be contacted at 791-6369 or at: