Best Tent Camping near Sandy River, ME

BF and I wanted a last minute fall weekend getaway in Maine, and ended up at the Augusta-Gardiner KOA. Generally tough to accomplish during leaf-peeping season, but we worked it out. We stayed at site T5, which was wooded but pretty open. Size was decent enough.

Overall, I’d say sites T8, T9, T10 are best if you’re tent camping. While all tent sites are tightly spaced next to one another, these 3 provide the most shade and privacy of the bunch.

Owners are super nice, but the campground could use a little love. Bathrooms and amenities are a little tired. There’s potential though, and some really cute details, like a little fairy house and homemade, bear-carved benches around a KOA-community fire pit, that make the campground endearing. Also, there’s a bunch to do during prime season, particularly for the kiddies- pool, mini-golf, bounce house, playground and space to runaround.

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!!!!

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.

Despite a very recent personal loss, the owners welcomed us with open arms and heartfelt greetings. The grounds and sites were well maintained. The bathrooms and showers were clean and well stocked.

When we arrived, we were given a map with available sites marked and free reign to pick the spot of our liking.

The pricing has increased from the dyrt's listed prices. We paid $40 for a tent site with elec. and water.

I would stay here again in a heartbeat!

First day, my wife was helping our 5 year old climb onto the float like the big kids. 5 minutes later, management came over and said, "I heard you were pulling my float in." No sense of customer relations, just rude. My wife clearly cannot move a float. Even if she could, shouldn't it be chained to the lake floor?

Pros: Water at all sites Lake swimming with float Events Family friendly Office folk are friendly

Cons: Many tent sites are tiny, ours wasn't too bad Live band went past quiet time Many rules are ignored by management Other camp crew unfriendly Playground not updated since the 80s Game room is 6 claw machines, 2 arcade games, and a broken jukebox packed in a tiny room

The camping was decent, but we will not be back.

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!

last year I bought a small camping trailer and picked it up one evening with no idea where I was going to spend the night. It was my first time towing, so I didn't want to travel very far. The friend who was with me called around and found More to Life campground in Winthrop. Best part? we got a pull-through site for the night, so I didn't have to figure out how to back up in the dark! They offer a selection of wooded, level to slightly sloped sites, with tent sites grouped together apart from the other sites. All sites offer electrical, only one offers sewer, but if an RV is your thing, they have a honey wagon for pump-outs. Bathrooms and showers are clean.

There's a pond with a private beach within walking distance and great for kayaking and swimming, etc. Additionally, you're only a few miles from public boat launches on the larger Cobboseecontee Lake. The campground abounds with places to play games and hang out, whether you're interested in ping pong, basketball, volleyball, horseshoes, or swings. They're are also weekly activities for the kids. They publish a weekly activities schedules online, both on the website and their Facebook page. There's a little camp store and laundry is also available.

Their website mentions that they want your  "stay here with us will be one of rest, relaxation, safely, and spiritual refreshment, They are open about their Christian faith, and services are available. They do have some guidelines around modest dress.

This was a great place and if I had a family, I expect they would have no problem keeping busy and finding fun things to do!

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.

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.

If your looking for a great little get away where you can get unplugged from society, then this is the place for you. Has a great place to go four wheeling. A place to enjoy the lake and all the fun activities that go along with it. As well as a bathroom facility for showering and all your tolitere needs. The kids can also enjoy the playground, and the various activities they provide. And you may even be visited by the campgrounds own family cat. This place is not only a great place to go tenting, but can also be a place where you can hook up your camper. This beautiful place sits in the woods off the maine road. It gives you the real feel of being out in the woods. It is a very secluded place.