The distance from our boundary along Annabessacook Lake to the base of our septic field is easily 275 feet. The slope to the water is significant – perhaps running at a 45 degree angle – and it is strewn with trees, brush, loose dirt and decaying leaves that are incredibly slippery both wet and dry. Finally, there is a an old rock wall that runs the length of the property, dividing our 5.6 acre lot into an upper lot where our house sits in a mowed field, and the lower half, this wooded slope that we take to get down to the lake.
I mention these details because I find it remarkable how many turtles are trekking up the slope this month (and last June, and the June before) to lay their eggs. Last night I got home from work to find this little lady busy at work. By the time I had taken the dogs out and back in again, she had finished laying her eggs and was making her way toward the rock wall. I grabbed my camera, excited to have the opportunity to find out where exactly the turtles are climbing over the rock wall. I found that at least some of them are making their way over the wall in a low-lying section about two feet wide, a spot where a rock has either fallen aside or was never placed to begin with. The prospect of poison ivy prevented me from researching this point further.
The Nature of Maine 