Best RV Parks & Resorts near Danforth, ME

Shin Pond is this sprawling mix of campground, cabins, restaurant, event space, gas station, convenient store, and off-road vehicle rentals. The campground has about 30 campsites and is separated into two sections bisected by Route 159 (which is busy with loud logging trucks and UTV’s). One side has 50-amp campsites and cabins and the other side is 30-amp. There is a separate area for tents that is really pretty and sits along a brook that divides north and south Shin Ponds. 

Sites are grass with very little gravel and, as we found out, they can be very soft. We pulled into our site (#21) and before we knew it our 45’ (47,000 lbs) RV was stuck. Unbeknownst to us, three inches of rain had recently fallen and our site which was downhill was saturated. The campground owner had to pull us out with his huge tractor which as we found out was not the first time a camper had to be pulled out of a soft site in that campground. Luckily, it was a pull-in site so he could attach a chain to the hitch on the back of our RV as there is no way to pull from the front without causing damage. 

All sites have water, picnic table, and fire pit. There is no sewer but there is a dump station and a “blue boy” for you to use and dump your own tanks. They do not have a pump-out service. The dump station is easy to access and has a hose for you to flush your tanks and a dedicated potable water spigot. The dump station is at the back of a busy parking lot that serves the restaurant, laundry, bath/shower house, and the fuel pump so it can be quite busy and congested. We didn’t eat at the restaurant but others said it was very good. There is also a well-stocked store which sells a variety of souvenirs, food, beer, ice cream, and camping necessities. 

No cell or internet reception with our Verizon phone. The campground does have wifi but the signal was not strong enough to get reception reliably at our site. You pretty much have to be at the office in order to get it but that’s ok because they have lots of picnic tables and places to sit. 

Shin Pond rents Polaris UTV and snowmobiles, canoes, and kayaks in the summer and snowmobiles in the winter. We went on a UTV ride one day and were treated to some beautiful views. Just a few miles down the road is a short hiking trail leading to Shin Pond Falls and another trail that runs along the Seboeis river which is a beautiful hike. The campground is close to the northern entrances to Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument and Baxter State Park which is the major reason why we stayed there. We loved exploring these parks where you have access to beautiful hiking trails and lakes and ponds and is not as crowded as the southern areas. Note that dogs are not allowed in Baxter State Park and there are restrictions on vehicle sizes. The nearest town is Patten (about 15 minutes away) and has a hardware store, gift shop, full-service grocery, fuel, restaurants, and the Lumberman’s Museum.

I had hoped this campground would be amazing. It was our first camping trip of 2020 (amid COVID19). Sadly, we found it to be horrendously inadequate.

We traveled with family to this campground. We had two "pull-through" sites. These sites are a joke! There are six sites per road. There is literally no where to pull off of the camp road to set up your RV site. The RVs must be set up in the road! The tow vehicle can park off to the side once unhooked but the RVs in the middle sites of the camp road are pinned in. This could potentially be dangerous if there ever was an emergency!

If that's not bad enough, the sites are SUPER unlevel. Notice the photo in my review. We had to use so many leveling blocks to assist our auto-leveling system!!

The "pull-through" sites are literally on a hill. The sites small and there is no privacy from your neighbors. 

When we arrived our sites were not clean at all. There was trash on the ground, as well as dog feces, and the grass was very tall. 

Lastly, the dump station for the campground is on the side of the public roadway, at the entrance of the park….which is on the top of a huge hill. 

The surrounding area is beautiful! We will certainly go back to the area but we will find a better campground the next time.

We will not return to this campground.

We stay at Wilderness Edge every time we visit Millinocket. The campground has all of your basics and is a great gateway spot for Baxter State Park or ATV trails. 

The sites are better suited for smaller RV setups but it is not impossible to get a bigger camper in. We have a 30 foot toy hauler and have fit in our spots ok. We don't recommend coming in after dark- it can be difficult to navigate. Another thing to note is how long your hoses and electric cords are, you may need to stretch them under/behind your camper depending on site location. 

The staff here are fantastic and have helped us on multiple occasions. Our last trip we had to extend a night because our truck broke down and needed more time, it was no problem. We have also had to buy a new 30 AMP power cord after store hours because ours was making us nervous.

My first impressions of this park were not very good. When you drive in it looks a little run-down with old buildings, potholed roads, untrimmed vegetation, and very rustic. There are lots of seasonals driving around in golf carts drinking beer and lots of nightly gatherings. But throughout the week we were here we ended up really enjoying our stay at Pine Grove. The seasonals and staff were super friendly, the park turned out to be pretty quiet and we enjoyed sitting outside by our nightly campfire. 

The owners recently acquired the campground and are working very hard to make improvements and improve the looks of the campground. The campground is fairly small (43 sites) but has a nice woodsy feel. We snagged one of the last campsites that had 50 amp so we were told it might be a little tight but were given a choice of two sites. The park owner was nice enough to give us a choice and work with us to find one that we fit in. One was totally unlevel and the tree roots would have been a major problem for us. The site we chose was more level was but it took some time backing our large RV into the site because of the trees. There are some great waterfront sites if you have a smaller RV or tent. The roads throughout the park are dirt and gravel but were not very dusty. Water access in this park is great whether you want to paddle or just lounge around in the river on a raft. There is a nice cozy lounge which is where you can access wifi near the office. Our Verizon phone was useless for internet and our hotspot. We used our portable satellite antennae to pick up television but had to do some manipulating because of the trees. 

Our lure to this park was to explore the natural areas nearby, especially Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument and Baxter State Park. There is so much natural beauty around this area that we definitely recommend a visit.

Handful of spots, directly on the beach of a quiet lake. The road runs between middle and lower Unknowns and the scenery is wonderful. There is a pit toilet, shared by 8-10 spots. Strictly pack-in/pack-out. About 20 miles from paved road and 10 miles from spotty cell service.

No fee, first-come first served. These fill up FAST in the summer. Don’t worry - if it’s full when you arrive head to Duck Lake or Gassabias Lake camp sites. They don’t fill up (in my experience).

Bugs here can be THICK so be prepared.

Sites include picnic table and fire ring. Some are private and others are more exposed. There are also “group sites” on both sides of the road driving in, and they’re more wooded than the beach sites.

Our first viewing of Northern Lights was on the beach here. Super quiet, amazing sunsets and lots of wildlife.

We were in site # AB. It backed up to the road yet was nice other than the traffic. The traffic slowed down at night. The owner Laurie is nice and her staff was great. Roger was a big help with us getting into the site & settled. The site we were in you need 2 water hoses so he brought us a second one. It was a little tight backing in yet the site was big. 

We had water & electric and the dump station is in town on the way out. It's at the visitor center and there is a small fee for using it. There is a bar & restaurant onsite. They aren't open all week yet more towards the weekend. The food is good and the bar (the loose Moose) had lots of people in it. Love the fried beets and wings.  They have entertainment on the weekends. The girls working in the bar were busy working hard to keep everyone happy.

There is a big pull through site near our site you get the entire road and several sites. 

There is a small boat launch onsite and a captain that does moose boat tours. The cabins looked nice too there are several on the water. The lodge is very nice too.

Next door is the Northern Woods trading post. Great lobster l, oysters, charcuterie platter and a good Margarita. The little store has some nice souvenirs and meats, cheeses, pizzas, sandwiches and drinks. 

Onsite is Northern outfitters they take people white water rafting. You can do it right from the campground. People do come from all over to raft there. Across the street on the other side of the dyke there is a small swim beach and a sea plane ride operation. 

As you leave the campground and you go right Baxter state park is on the same road and not far from the campground. There is a swim beach at Baxter and hiking trails. Mt Katahdin is close by. The park is mostly dirt road yet not bad. It was $16.00 to enter the park for a day. If your going to go into the park 3 times or more buy the pass it's cheaper. 

Across the street from the campground we took the Golden road north to compass pond for a bit. People were picking wild blueberries. We were looking for moose around the bogs. 

To the left leaving the campground there is a place called River divers which had specials on their meals. People were not too excited about the food but they had an excellent spicy margarita. 

There's not much in town but we needed a hardware store and found one and grocery stores.

We were interested in kayaking on ponds and streams in the KAWW or Baxter State Park. Since we have a trailer and our buddies have a RV, we new we could not get into South Branch Pond in BSP. We decided to try Shin Pond Village Campground, a privately owned place in Mt. Chase on the way to the northern entrance of BSP.

The campground is right off Route 159, which is now a scenic by way in the KAWW National Monument. Although our sites were close to the road, there was so little traffic it really didn't matter! Sites were flat and open, with decent privacy for a privately owned campground. There was a really good store and a great diner attached to the main office building. Campfire wood was abundant (and for sale by the campground) and each site had a picnic table, fire ring, and fire place to cook on.

The campground is between upper and lower Shin Ponds, with easy boat access to both. We were about 15 miles from the northern entrance of Baxter State Park (BSP), so we chose to travel to South Branch Pond to spend the day kayaking. A great choice as you can see from the pictures.