Maine has a long tradition of catering to those who love the outdoors. In the coming weeks, we’ll be publishing guides to the state’s most popular outdoor recreation destinations. This first one shares the highlights of the Moosehead region, the gateway to the North Maine Woods.
You can send your suggestions and feedback to BDN Outdoors editor Julie Harris at jharris@bangordailynews.com.
Getting to know Moosehead
Moosehead Lake has been the lifeblood of its surrounding towns, including Greenville and Greenville Junction, Rockwood, Shirley, Monson, Kokadjo, Beaver Cove, Lily Bay, Abbot and several numbered townships, for generations. It is adjacent to the 100-Mile Wilderness and the Central Highlands.
Before there were roads, steamboats moved people, animals, supplies, mail and equipment. The first steamboat was launched in 1836 and the number grew to about 50. The lake was a playground for society’s elite from other places — cities like Boston and New York — to summer in private houses on islands or stay at the Mt. Kineo House or one of the cottages nearby. Resorts like this, plus hunting camps and villages, relied on the steamboats.
Today, Oak Lodge remains open to business, the grand hotel is gone and the rest of the buildings are private homes on Kineo. A small ferry moves visitors between Kineo and the Rockwood landing to hike the mountain or to play golf at its unique nine-hole course.
Only the Katahdin remains of all of the steamboats, and it still moves people for tours and on-water events. The Kate, which can be seen docked in Greenville, moved booms of logs until the last log drive in 1975. The remains of other steamboats lie at the bottom of the lake.
Moosehead now attracts a variety of people to its diverse recreational offerings, including the beach at Lily Bay, various popular fishing holes, ATV and snowmobile trails and its 75,000 acres of water for pleasure boaters, kayakers and swimmers, plus its surrounding trails.
As Maine’s largest lake at approximately 40 miles long, Moosehead has room for everyone, and activity associated with the lake has created a $13 million regional economy. Moose River, which feeds into Moosehead Lake, has its own charm and history as home of many longtime resort cottages and a famous sporting camp.
For many, time at Moosehead is a family tradition that goes back multiple generations.
Where to stay
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Lodges
Several of the lodges in the Moosehead Lake region are steeped in history. Misty Morning Cottages (formerly Sunrise Cabins), Gray Ghost Camps and Rockwood Cottages all have seen thousands of fishermen and outdoor recreation enthusiasts from individuals to entire families come through their doors. Staying in them is like having your own camp on the water, only someone else is responsible for its upkeep. Bring your own food supplies or dine in one of the nearby eateries to expand your experience. Some have basic toiletries and other conveniences, just like a hotel. All are well-maintained.
Resorts and Sporting Camps
You have to cross a bridge that spans the Moose River to reach The Birches Resort, which has several lakeside cottages as well as yurts and other alternatives on its 11,000 acres of nature preserve in Rockwood. It was built as a hunting and fishing lodge in the 1930s. There are snowmobile, hiking and cross-country skiing trails. As with many of the cottages and other lodging businesses on the water, you can rent boats and kayaks or other equipment you might need.
Maynards-in-Maine in Rockwood was built in 1919, and by 2020, was employing its sixth generation of family members. It has most of its original cabins and offers equipment rental. The cooks will even fry up your fishing catch at the end of the day if you ask. Wilsons on Moosehead Lake, located on the west side in the mouth of the Kennebec River’s East Outlet, was started in 1865. It boasts being Maine’s oldest continuously operating camp. The original lodge is gone, but the 150 years of tradition remain.
Remote Pittston Farm at the confluence of the north and south branches of the Penobscot River in Rockwood has it all, offering hunting, fishing, camping, gas for snowmobilers and ATVers and other amenities. Established in 1907 as the home of Great Northern Pulp and Paper Co., it sits in a 329,000-acre conservation easem*nt and is a unique experience that brings you close to the natural world. Most of these camps offer guide services, restaurant dining regardless of whether you are lodging there and moose safaris or other tours. All of them are Maine institutions and worth the visit.
There are also Tomhegan Wilderness Cabins and Wilson Pond Cabins, among others.
Campgrounds
The 925-acre Lily Bay State Park located 9 miles north of Greenville, has some of the most popular camping in the region, plus day use. There is a $4 fee for residents and $6 for nonresidents to enter the park, but it offers swimming, hiking, camping, picnicking and a playground.
There are commercial campgrounds in the area too. Moose Creek RV Resort is an 88-acre campground in Greenville with an on-site trout pond, pool and many other family-friendly amenities. Spacious Skies Balsam Woods in Abbot has a playground, pool and can accommodate tents or RVs and has cabin rentals, plus it has its own trails and is near the Appalachian Trail.
Moosehead Family Campground, just a mile from Greenville off Route 15, is a more rustic experience, but still offers conveniences such as showers, a camp store and a dump station and honey wagon for sewage. Chewonki Big Eddy Cabins and Campground in Greenville has RV and tent sites, plus cabins.
Hotels and Motels
There are several hotels and motels in the area, including The Lodge at Moosehead Lake, Moose Mountain Inn, Chalet Moosehead, Kineo View Lodge and Mountain Village and Golf.
Where to eat
There are several popular eateries, plus stores where you can purchase your own supplies to cook. In Greenville Village, The Dockside Inn and Tavern has outdoor seating overlooking the lake and Stress Free Moose also has outdoor seating and live entertainment. Jamo’s Pizza and food trucks among other places to eat are also in Greenville. In Greenville Junction, the popular Kelly’s Landing is lakeside with outdoor seating and is a popular breakfast spot.
The Rockwood Bar and Grill in Rockwood offers pub fare and atmosphere. It also has an adjacent store and gas pumps. Don’t forget you can eat at The Birches, Maynard’s and Pittston Farm as well in that area. A great farm-to-table takeout place is The Farm at Moosehead, across from Moosehead Cottage Resort on Route 15.
If a picnic is more your style, there are literally thousands of places where you can have one, with so many back roads and off-the-beaten path places near the many ponds and woods around Moosehead. You may want to arrange your fare with Northwoods Gourmet Girl in Greenville so that you don’t have to prepare the food yourself. Lily Bay State Park has a picnic area with grills.
Trails to hike
There are so many places to hike. There are access points to the Appalachian Trail and the 100-Mile Wilderness, which has Borestone Mountain.
Appalachian Trail Access Points
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On Mount Kineo, you can go up the mountain and climb the fire tower for an amazing view or stay low and hike around its base. Little Kineo trail is a moderate and short hike accessed through Kokadjo.
Try Little Spencer or Big Spencer Mountain trails near Rockwood. Both are considered challenging hikes. If you want another challenging hike, try Number 4 Mountain’s 4.2-mile trail or Big Moose Mountain’s 2.1-mile trail. A couple of more moderate trails are Gulf Hagas Rim Trail and Little Moose Mountain and Little Moose Pond trails.
Hiking Trail Access Points
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There are easier trails. Try Moxie Falls, Rowell Cove and Dunn Point in Lily Bay State Park and the 2-mile Prong Pond Trail. And there are miles of logging roads, just be careful about trucks and other vehicles.
Fishing and Hunting
Where to go
Fishermen have lots of favorite spots on Moosehead Lake, including Spencer and Cowan coves, around Mount Kineo, off the Rockwood boat launch area, near The Birches and at the mouth of and on Moose River. Expect to catch several species of fish, the most prized of which are landlocked salmon, brook trout, lake trout or togue in cold water and smallmouth bass in warmer and shallower water accessed from Lily Bay State Park.
Public boat access points to Moosehead for trailers are: Lily Bay Road, Route 6 in Greenville and Rockwood, Seboomook Dam Road, Ross Farm Road at Northeast Cary and Lily Bay State Park. Carry-in boat access is on Northeast Carry Road at Northeast Carry, Hardwood Valley Road in Spencer Bay Township and Lily Bay State Park, according to the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.
Fly fishermen flock to the East and West Outlets of the Kennebec River, with parking visible from routes 6 and 15 that takes you from Greenville to Rockwood, for brook trout and salmon. There are also Roach River and Caucomgomoc Stream. There is good fishing with boat access at lakes and ponds near Moosehead as well, including Mountain View, Indian, Prong, Shadow, Spectacle, Big Otter, Sawyer and Wilson ponds, plus First, Second and Third Roach ponds, many with stocked trout and some with salmon.
Brassua Lake just north of Moosehead has landlocked salmon and trout. Walk-in ponds with wild or stocked brook trout include Salmon, Secret, Rum, Brown, Little Otter, First and Second West Branch and Big Lyford ponds.
Know the rules
A word of caution: make sure to look up the water you are fishing in under the state fishing laws. You can get a one-, three-, seven- or 15-day or a seasonal fishing license. Although there are general fishing rules, some lakes, ponds, rivers and streams have special exceptions on the numbers and sizes of fish you can keep. And some bodies are catch and release only or have bait or lure restrictions. Also be sure to know the boating laws.
Maine has strict requirements to protect its lakes and ponds from invasive plant species. Make sure you have enough personal flotation devices or life jackets and an air horn in your boat. Knowing this information ahead of time can make encounters with the Maine Warden Service a pleasant experience.
Where to buy bait
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Many convenience and grocery stores in fishing country carry live worms, but bait shops can provide you with live or fresh frozen bait fish. In Maine, bait shops often are on the honor system, where you get your bait and leave the correct money in a lockbox.
They also can be at private houses with a small “Bait” sign near the road. Others are more obvious, like Rockwood Bait and Tackle in Rockwood and Moosehead Bait and Tackle and Lucky’s Bait and Tackle in Greenville.
Guides
If figuring out where to fish and what kind of bait, rod and reel you need or dealing with your own watercraft is too much, there are several reputable guide services in the Moosehead Lake region. Maine has lots of registered Maine guides who are trained in various areas of expertise, such as hunting, fishing and hiking.
Other guides are specific to fishing and have developed their expertise over a lifetime of fishing the same lakes and ponds. Several hunting and fishing guide services in the area are Reel Moosehead Guide Service, Young’s Guide Service, S&L Guide Service, Moosehead Fishing Guide, Holbrook’s Guide Service, plus many of the cottages and sportsmen’s camps employ or contract with guides.
Some guide services also offer tours such as Moosehead Area Guide Service. Moose tours are popular offerings by lodges and guides alike and by businesses like Northwoods Outfitters.
Where to hunt
If you don’t want a guide and have the itch to hunt during bird, deer or an appropriate moose week if you get a permit, there are many woods roads, plus Moosehead is the gateway to the North Maine Woods for hunting and hiking. Make sure you have the appropriate license for what you are hunting and you are in the correct season, and bring your Delorme Maine Atlas and Gazetteer because cell phone signals are spotty. Also pay attention to signage because it is mostly private landowners who give the public access to their land for hunting, fishing and recreation. Roads may be off limits based on damage done by people or storms or logging operations.
Things to do
Golfing
There are two 9-hole golf courses. Mountain Village is a condominium complex with a golf course around it in Greenville. You pay greens fees and can rent equipment in the clubhouse, but it’s on the honor system. Sign in and pay your money in a lock box. Reservations are not necessary.
You can’t beat the views you get at Mt. Kineo Golf Course in Rockwood, even if your game is off kilter. Take the ferry from Rockwood landing and walk to the clubhouse where you pay greens fees and can rent equipment. You can stop after your round for refreshments. It’s recommended to call ahead to schedule a tee time and to manage it around the ferry schedule.
Beaches
There are a couple of public beaches at Lily Bay State Park in Beaver Cove and Red Cross Beach in downtown Greenville. Red Cross has a lifeguard on a summer schedule and restoration efforts have been underway. There is a pebble beach with a rope swing and swimming area behind Mount Kineo, reached by boat.
The Greenville Junction Wharf, next door to Kelly’s Landing restaurant, has a lakeside playground and beach. Monson Public Beach on Blanchard Road is sandy and has floats to swim to and jump off.
If you want something a little different, Little Wilson Falls in Monson, which is part of the Appalachian Trail, has pools of water where you can swim. The rocks can be slippery though, so be careful.
Bicycling
There are plenty of places to bicycle in the Moosehead region. Just be careful on the main roads and make sure trails allow that activity.
History
If you are into history, you have some options in the Moosehead area. One of the most striking is the wreckage of a B-52 bomber that crashed into the woods on Elephant Mountain. The wreckage has become an outdoor museum display, with plane parts strewn throughout the woods and some dangling from trees as they were found. There were only two survivors. It is worth the drive up the mountain. The survivors’ ejection seats are on display at another Greenville gem, the Moosehead Historical Society & Museums complex.
The campus consists of a museum of logging artifacts, the Eveleth-Crafts-Sheridan historic house from the late 1800s that was donated to the society intact, and Moosehead Cultural Heritage Center with steamship history, a room dedicated to the 1963 B52 wreckage, and a room on flying service history in the area. It’s a great way to spend a rainy afternoon.
If the steamboat history on the lake fascinates you, visit the Moosehead Marine Museum in downtown Greenville and see the Katahdin — or The Kate as she is called locally — the lake’s last functioning vessel from the steamboat era.
The Kate offers cruise tours throughout the summer starting in late June, and also books private events. There are sunken steamboats in the lake as well that divers have explored. The local group is Moosehead Lake Divers.
Plane tours
Greenville has two flying services that give tours of the area: Currier’s Flying Service founded in 1982 and Jack’s Air Service. Greenville also is home to the annual International SeaPlane Fly-In, which draws thousands of people to the Moosehead area. This will be the fly-in’s 50th year, and will be held Sept. 5-8.
Shopping
There are some unique places to shop in the Moosehead area, too, some with their own histories. Indian Hill Trading Post and Shop ‘n Save describes its history in its name, but today it is half grocery store and half everything else you might need from shoes, clothing and toys to fishing and hunting gear to greeting cards and gifts to tools and equipment — basically anything non-grocery. It’s a long way from Greenville to larger stores, so Indian Hill has kept its trading post inventory, only modernized. Go to downtown Greenville and visit the historic building that houses Moosehead Lake Indian Store at Kamp Kamp, a store specializing in indigenous art and culture.
You also could visit the Kokadjo Trading Post, which is the last stop before Roach ponds and river. The convenience store and trading post also offers cabins, tours, a restaurant and last-stop essentials like gas. The pavement stops just a few feet beyond the trading post. It caters to all manner of outdoors enthusiasts including hunters, fishermen, ATVers, snowmobilers and hikers.
Skiing
In winter, the nonprofit group Friends of the Mountain run the Moose Mountain Ski Resort for anyone who wants to do a little downhill skiing.
Snowmobiling and ATVing
Moosehead region is known for its extensive snowmobiling and ATVing opportunities. Several businesses, including suppliers, lodging, restaurants and others encourage their business. The best sources for up-to-date information on ATV and snowmobile riding trails are the social media pages or websites of the local clubs that maintain them.
They usually post which trails are closed, why and for how long, and their administrators are really prompt with answering inquiries through Facebook messaging. Here are some of the clubs, their territories and links to their Facebook pages: Blue Ridge Riders in Rockwood, Rockwood Blue Ridge Riders ATV Club,
Kokadjo Roach Riders snowmobile club, Moosehead Riders Snowmobile Club and Shirley Bog Trail Busters snowmobile club.
