Best Tent Camping near Carrabassett Valley, ME

I tent camped at site 6 for two nights in early September for a trail volunteer event for the Cohos Trail I and had an awesome stay.

For facilities, there is a camp office (though hours were not consistent), basic camp store, coin op showers, coin op laundry, a big dish cleaning station, and clean bathrooms.

For activities, this site is awesome for fly fishing folks since it’s a short walk from one of the best spots in NH.

I saw lots of folks kayaking and canoeing and there’s a public boat ramp a short walk from the campground. There was a sign for rentals but I didn’t see any available. This may be for earlier in the season.

The sites vary in terms of privacy. The lakefront sites were spectacular but you are close to your neighbors. I was in site 6, in one of the small loops off the waterfront drive. These spots were close together but were separated by some brush to make them feel more secluded. The tent sites in the outer loops looked to offer more privacy.

This campsite was full the weekend I was there and very lively during the day but very quiet and peaceful in the evening.

Lake Francis is way up in NH so this does feel remote. The main activities are hiking, fishing (both fly and from the boat), and I saw a host of folks ATVing.

I would definitely come back on account of the great fishing and peacefulness at night.

Round barn campsites offers a dozen or so tent sites with two big group sites. It will pretty consistently have some campers, but I've never seen all the sites full before. It is right next to the stafford brook trail to hike to the top of Bigelow and you can easily hike from your campsite to the top of the mountain and back within a day. Multiple sites including both group sites are right on the water and there is a nice beach area big enough to accomodate however many people you bring. The best tent site is on the island just offshore accessible by sandbar which is usually just knee deep. The cove makes for safe swimming away from the wind and waves offshore. Great secluded spot where you won't feel crowded like at Baxter or Grafton notch areas.

Basically this is a small independent RV park split between season RV campers and regular RV campers. The only reason for a tent camper to go is to take advantage of the laundry room and the nicely scrubbed showers. It’s 5 minutes from Skowhegan and a short 2 minutes from Kennebec Banks rest area on route 2.

There are about 5 tent sites– two of which are on a small point stretching into the confluence of the great Kennebec River and the small Wesserunsett River. 

The only two tent sites I would recommend are #50 & #51 on the point with # 51 being most desirable. I absolutely would not recommend any of the other tent sites for various reasons. I used site #51 and pitched my tent about 20ft from the Kennebec. At 6:45am  I saw two bald eagles patrolling the Kennebec. 

The RV sites that are interesting are the ones directly along the Kennebec. They are sites 39-45; 47A; 47B; 47C; 48; and, they park parallel to the river. Otherwise, it’s a very tight center filled with RV’s and very large motor homes. Sites # 52– 58 may look like they are water sites… but the water feature on the map is only a brushy swamp. 

The 2 showers are very good, clean and include a bench. There are 2 flush toilets also sparkling clean; but, they are some distance from The Point. The 24hour self-operated laundry is housed in a small, dedicated bungalow. There are 2-3 docks and canoes to use. 

At night, one can clearly hear the noise from route 2 just at the edge of the campground. The river amplifies the sound of cars passing by.

This place is amazing!! Nice tent sites. Rv sites. There are electric and water hook ups. Nice pool and clean bathrooms with showers!! Playground for the kids and a rec hall with games and TV. There is a volleyball net as well. They have tiny home rentals also through airbnb. My family loves this place!! They even have a small restaurant/store on site!! Amazing staff!!!!

We went tent camping and seemed to be one of the few tenters. We stayed at base camp 1C. It was a very nice site near the water with water and electric. However not a lot (any) privacy. The bathrooms were very nice and there were showers, though not a lot of water pressure. The camp office folk were very nice. The site was large enough for my 10x12 tent and an ez up and to park the van. Site also had a picnic table and fire ring with Cook rack on it. Gorgeous view of the lake, just wished for more privacy

This campground was small and quiet with majority of sites for tents only. The river was super calm so we were able to take our paddle board out and explore the waters. They have a small camp store and vault toilets but they were pretty clean. Overall a great campground in the northern area of NH! We stayed at site 18 which was next to a large field with tent sites on the river. Luckily no one was camping around us this weekend and it felt like we had the place to ourselves

I've stayed here a number of times and have enjoyed my stays.  This is a good campground to use as a base location when doing other things.  It is a small campground, but the tent sites are nicely dispersed in a small field.  In the late summer the grass will be 4' tall, it's a fun location. 

The RV sites are stacked about as tight as I've ever seen them though.  Facilities are dated, but there are outhouses at the tent group sites.

If you stay here check out the suspension bridge and the island.

My wife and I went up during Columbus Day weekend for some fall fishing and leaf peeping. We had a tent site that had tons of room. Camp store was great. Camp is just outside of Greenville so it’s super easy to go into town if you forgot anything. The only thing I wasn’t a fan of was I could hear the road noise from rt.6. In my opinion if I’m headed up to moosehead I would want to camp in the middle of the woods. But overall we had a great time.

We have tent camped in several of the sites 4X in the past 3 years.  10/28/23 was last visit for the year.  We never see many trucks or people.  The sites are quiet, peaceful, very clean and outhouses are always in excellent condition.  We thank the folks who care so well for the sites.  We got there in a compact SUV 3 years ago, but go by truck now.  The road in off the Capital Road has deteriorated a fair amount in past year, due to rains, we believe.  Don't make the trip if you expect good roads, but if you like logging roads, this area is wonderful.

Stopped in to try and camp here, all the spots were taken.  There were even people camping in their rooftop tents.

Sites that I saw looked great, trails need some maintenance though, and some of the sites need clean up.

The Road is rough, but with care you can get there, just go slow.

There are pit toilets, but no running water or electricity.

All of the sites are walk-in sites.

Bussy place!

While this is close to the road, there is a good buffer of vegetation between the road and the campsites. I've camped here multiple times and never hear the road. Most sites are right on the Androscoggin River and the serenity is priceless. There are many grassy tent sites that can also accommodate small campers, like pop ups. There are a few lean-tos (2) and a few sites with wooden platforms. 

The gentleman working the office was super kind and helpful. There was good signage indicating how to proceed for various needs in his absence, including how to purchase firewood and checking in/out. There is recycling available near most sites next to the various pit toilets. At this time, there are no showers or flush toilets but according to park staff, a facility for these items will be built in the near future.

Most sites are grassy but a few are hard packed dirt and a few had newly dispersed wood chips. Bathrooms were clean, water spigots are readily available as well. Sites are well maintained and some are closer together than others. Many have direct access to the river. There's really not a bad site.

This little campground is tucked just off of Route 16 as you travel north from Berlin, NH to Errol, NH. The drive is also quite scenic! The campground is small and sits sandwhiched between the road and the Androscoggin River. I was worried that the road noise would impeded my serene camping experience but I have to admit, I didn't hear much. However, I camped here in October just before the final camping weekend of the season so traffic was perhaps less than normal.

There is a small campground office staffed with a friendly host who is attentive and more than happy to chat. There are several tent sites and two sites with nicely built lean-tos. We stayed in one of the lean-tos during this particular visit. The sites are well maintained with picninc tables and fire rings. Many of the sites are on the grassy bank of the river with a few a bit further away. Most are shaded at some point in the day. There are several pit toilets, all well maintained during the season. 

You can fish right from your site, too!

Small campground with 36 RV and tent sites located just a couple of miles from downtown Greenville. The owners are very nice and helpful and are always busy working in the campground. The campground has lots of large trees and narrow roads which make it very difficult for big rigs. In fact, there was only one of two sites in the front section that would fit our 45’ motorhome. The back section of the park was way too tight for us to navigate. 

Our site (#25) was a long pull thru that sloped down in the front and took a bit for us to get level and our front steps were pretty high off the ground. We had 50-amp electric which worked fine and a water hookup. Since we had a clear view to the sky, we were able to use our satellite television. Due to the campground’s location in a remote part of Maine, I’m sure our over-the-air antenna would not have worked. They did have wifi which worked great at out site. The tent sites are located off to themselves in a wooded area not too far from the bathrooms. The back section of the campground is heavily treed with nice amounts of shade. Most of the sites have good separation from the neighboring site and privacy. The fire pits have grates next to them so you can cook over the fire. There are garbage cans scattered about the campground which makes it easy to dump your trash. No sewer at any sites but there is a dump station and they offer a pump out service for$20. We contemplated using the dump station but the roads were so tight that it would have been difficult for us to pull into it and our RV would have scrapped lots of trees. There are apple trees everywhere in the campground. The owner said he does rake them but so apparently it was a banner year, so there were tons of apples which meant that you did get a smell from the rotting ones. The bathrooms were old and pretty nasty and we didn’t want to use the toilet, much less shower there. Despite having a pull thru site, we had to back out because we would have had to go thru the back part of the park and because of the low hanging trees without scraping our RV. Also, the turn into the campground from the main road (Route 6) is very tight and we ended up having to go into the other lane and take up the whole road in order to make the turn in. 

We did like the proximity of this campground to downtown Greenville. The area is beautiful with great hiking, boating, and fishing. Just a short drive away is the east outlet of the Kennebec River which is renowned for its fly fishing. Some touristy things to do are a boat ride on the Katahdin (an old steam ship), ferry ride over to Mt. Kineo for hiking with a great view, and a drive out to the B-52 crash site.

We chose to stay at this campground because it was close to downtown Bethel, had river access, and had a full hook-up site for our 45’ RV. Campsites vary from full hook-up pull through to grassy shaded private sites perfect for tent camping. The sites are pretty close together and ours was a buddy site which meant our patio faced our neighbor’s patio. Since the sites were so close, we were practically sitting next to them. Luckily, they were nice people and we enjoyed talking to them. 

Not all sites are level and we found it difficult to get into because of the tight roads and dangling tree limbs. Some of the best sites are unfortunately reserved for work campers. These are pull-ins with a view of a grassy field. The wifi at our site (#21) was horrible and we never used it. There is no cable and we were not able to pick up any over-the-air television channels. The campground is pretty wooded which was nice for the shade but meant we were not able to get satellite reception with our dome mounted receiver. We ended up using our portable receiver and after two days of moving the unit we were finally able to lock into the satellites. 

We selected a 50-amp full hookup pull through site which was $46/night. Our sewer was uphill at our site which is a big pet peeve of ours and super annoying when it comes to empty the tanks. The 50-amp worked well and it was well-placed in the site as was the water. The roads and campsites are gravel and the patios are a mix of gravel and grass. Each site has a picnic table and fire pit. The campground is adjacent to a paved walking/biking path that leads to downtown Bethel. We used the path to walk over to the farmers market and found it very convenient to walk our dog. There is also a mowed path through a field that we also liked for walking our dog. 

The best aspect of this campground is the access to the Androscoggin River. The park rents kayaks, canoes, and tubes and has a shuttle service that will take you up river for so you can float back to the campground. We used the campgrounds shuttle livery service to take our kayak and paddleboard up river for a leisurely float down the river so we could enjoy the scenery, have a picnic, and fish. (Since we used our own boats, the coast was cheaper.) The campground offers this service to non-campers which meant there were a lot of people walking through the campground. The bathroom in the campground was old and tired and heavily used by people floating the river which and was pretty dirty. They also have a sluice on the property, where (for a fee) you can get a bucket of mined material and get to sort through it looking for minerals and gems. Whatever you find, you keep. 

The campground is located off Route 2 which is fairly convenient but the road noise was pretty loud as this is a heavily trafficed road. Downtown Bethel is just a few minutes away and has a brewery, grocery, restaurants, shops, and the Maine Mineral and Gem Museum. About five miles away is Sunday River which is a ski area. We took the chair lift up the mountain so we could hike around and take in the beautiful views.  On the way, we stopped at Sunday River Brewery and had a delicious meal and great beer.

Very small campground with small sites for tents. Very close to other sites. The lake is very pretty but there’s not much else to do on the grounds. You can rent canoes and kayaks. The campground is right off a main road and you hear a lot cars and trucks. Our site was near the main entrance.

We took our camper and camped with another family who had just tents. Our camp sites were next to each other but also very private. No water or electricity except at the main bathrooms where there are showers, toilets and a dish wash station. Beautiful lake! We had to walk a few mins from our site to get to the lake. Overall very peaceful!

Mount Blue is an awesome Maine State Park about 2 hrs. north-west of Portland, 1hr from the White Mts. in NH and 1.5 hours from the Quebec border. 

Chock full of activities from lakefront lounging, swimming, dark sky stargazing, fishing, biking, hiking, paddling and boating all from your campsite or nearby within the park. 

Our group had the South Shelter group camping area, lakefront with small beachfront where you can have a decent sized bonfire and keep kayaks, SUPs, etc. 

View is amazing, looking out across lake to Mount Blue and Tumbledown. Took the quick but steep hike up to the fire tower at Mount Blue's summit, about 3.5 miles RT. 

Also really liked: 

new and clean showers (individual shower rooms with hot water, are free!)

trails that link all campsites to the lake

super friendly staff

log cabin shelter at lake with a huge stone fireplace - didn't use it but this would be great for a group dinner

group site was spacious and slopes up from lake with plenty of shaded tent areas - we had about 8 tents and didn't feel crowded in the least

group site also has a spacious shelter and fire pit area at the top of the slope, with 4 picnic tables - cool for the showers we experienced when several people could fit inside under the roof, play games and wait out the storms. 

Of note: 

The shower house is located a good ways off from the group sites, over in the tent and RV/trailer site area. Some of us walked ands others biked or drove over. 

At the group site there is a decent outhouse but no running water - so plan for that. 

Showers were diagonal from site 9 in the camping area. 

Def. check this beautiful state park out, and you can support Maine State Parks by purchasing an annual pass for around $105.

I stopped here along a Cohos Trail thru-hike with a reservation. I had pre-booked campsite 41 and it did not disappoint, with a tent platform right off the water with great views, and a short walk up to the facilities. The campground was busy but things were quiet early.

Facilities in the main office were clean. Amazing fishing was also a short hike away up the Connecticut River up to the River Road covered bridge.

Spent three nights at Mollidgewock State Park recently. Absolutely beautiful positioning next to a river. Clean sites - many covered in grass with wildflowers which were stunning. Ours had gravel which I ended up being pleased about after finding a tick crawling on our tent. The owner/manager was extremely friendly and helpful. The pit toilet was very clean, well-ventilated, and stocked with toilet paper and hand sanitizer. The main bummer was the proximity to a road -- the road noise was pretty significant (you could also hear ATVs behind the road). I think it would have been less noisy further in the campground (higher-numbered sites) where the river noises were louder. I would definitely recommend a campsite further in (avoid sites #1-5 ish that are directly next to the road - car lights will shine in your tent at night as cars drive in). This wasn't a huge deal, but the sites further down were more private and further from the driveway. 

Errol does not have much in the way of grocery stores and there are apparently two restaurants but we didn't check those out. Excellent outdoor gear/supply store! 

They rent kayaks/canoes on the property which was fun (saw a bald eagle). Awesome hikes nearby - we did Dunn Falls in Maine. 

Overall, great campground but would probably choose a different site next time as I prefer a more private set up.