Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Waterville, ME

Overall, this is a great little private RV park with awesome views (from some sites) and great access to the ocean. The park is conveniently located just a few miles from downtown Belfast (a sweet little Maine town) which offers plenty to do and see. Plus, you are just five miles from the cute town of Searsport which houses the wonderful Penobscot Marine Museum and two miles from Moose Point State Park with hiking trails, picnic areas, and more gorgeous views.

The park offers a variety of sites (44 total) depending on if you want oceanfront, ocean view, or a pull-thru. All sites have electric (50 or 30 amp), water, cable and wifi. The five pull-thru sites also include sewer. A mobile sewer pump-out service is available for guests staying one week or longer and there is a dump station. Roads and sites are gravel with grass patios and level. All sites have a fire ring and picnic table. Our Verizon 4G phone and Hotspot worked great but we mostly used the free wifi which worked very well.

Park amenities include private ocean access, horseshoes, playground, laundry, showers/bathrooms, free coffee in the morning, free weekend papers delivered to your site, free donuts on Sunday mornings, and a restaurant on-site. The park organizes a lot of group activities including pot lucks, lobster shore dinners, and free wine and beer during Friday Happy Hours. The laundry has two wash machines/dryers and was clean and tidy.

The Moorings is in a great location. It is just a few miles from downtown Belfast where you will find restaurants, a brewery, boutiques, a movie theater, art galleries, historic museums/sites, and plenty of water-related activities. Grocery stores and fuel stations are within a few miles of the RV Park. Just a mere 20 miles away is the popular coastal town of Camden.   

What we liked about this park is the town of Belfast and how close the RV park is to downtown. Also, the parks small size and friendly people make this an enjoyable place to stay. We like the fact that they had social activities (like free happy hour and donuts) that bring people together. The ocean access in this park is great! A short set of stairs takes you down to the water which is great for exploring, launching kayaks, and letting the dog run/swim when the tide is out. 

The biggest downside for us was the price and lack of sewer and 50 amp at some sites. Our site was $66/night for a FHU (50 amp) pull-thru on the hill in the front of the park without much in the way of a water view. Premier oceanfront sites (with no sewer and 30 amps) are $72/night during high season. That being said, there are not too many options for campgrounds in the Belfast area and we really did like staying here. 

From a dog owners perspective this park gets mixed reviews. The rules ask that dogs be on a 4’ or less lease, you may only have two pets (unless you get prior approval), they must do their business in one small area and are not allowed on most grassy areas throughout the park. We make a consorted effort not too let our dog pee or poop in others yards but we don’t always have control over where that happens. We did like the fact that you could take them down to the ocean to play in the water and on the beach when the tide was out. Within two miles of the RV park is Moose Point State Park with a few miles of hiking trails, picnic area and water access (a daily use fee is charged). Downtown Belfast does have a fenced off-leash 1.4 – acre dog park with water for dogs and benches for owners.

I have a love– hate relationship with KOA campgrounds. They tend to be overpriced and not consistent. You will find one that has nice sites at a decent price. Then, there are the others which are complete opposite. This KOA is on my good side.  There are lots of site choices, cabins, yurts, and tent sites to choose from.  The location is good as it is about 10-15 minutes far from the town of Freeport(home to L.L. Bean and tons of outlet stores), the pretty coastal town of South Freeport, four craft breweries and a cidery, and Bradbury Mountain State Park. The owners and work campers are very friendly and the super welcoming. Normally I am not concerned how nice people are but they go out of their way to make sure you get all the discounts you can and put you in a site that you prefer. 

We have stayed here a few times and are always impressed how well-cared for the grounds are and how and clean the common areas, bathrooms, and pool are. The grass is always cut, weeds trimmed, fire pits cleaned and there is no trash lying on the ground. There are lots of seasonal sites but they are in the back portion of the park with the transients being in the front. The park has nice super long 50 amp FHU pull-thrus in the front of the park which will fit any length RV and tow vehicle. Some of these sites are “buddy” sites with a shared patio, but are so wide that even if you don’t know your neighbors, it would not be a bother because you are far enough apart. The only downside to these pull thrus is there is no shade. We tend to be there in cooler months so shade is not a problem. However, the rest of the campground has a very park-like feel with over 50 acres there is plenty of room to roam and even a short nature trail through a wooded area. Many sites backup against the woods or are in wooded areas so keep that in mind when making your reservation. We give this park two thumbs up for their dog park which is ten times the size of the average KOA dog park. My lab had plenty of room to run and chase a ball and there were never any other dogs there which was nice. Plus, it was clean and free of dog poop! Normally, there are plenty of activities like s’mores by the fire, crafts, pony rides (yes, they have their own ponies on site), ice cream social, hay rides but this year they were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We don’t use those amenities anyway so that wasn’t a problem but can see that would be fun activities for kids. We were in a buddy sites with our friends and liked the shared patio. Since we were in the open area, we were able to get both satellite with our roof-mounted dome and some over-the-air channels from Portland which is about 45 minutes away. All of our hook-ups were in an accessible place but we were also in a long pull thru and could position the RV in the site accordingly. 

Some of the cons for this park are the lack of cable, so-so wifi, and the dusty gravel roads and pot holes. There are a few restrooms buildings scattered around the park which may not be close depending on what site you are in.

This campground is so-so but the Camden area of Maine is really pretty with a beautiful harbor, lots of paddling opportunities, and good hiking. This campground is fairly small with a few amenities like a swimming pool, clubhouse, volleyball and basketball courts. The pool is pretty small with some chairs scattered about and tables and umbrellas. The roads are gravel with potholes and campsites are grassy or dirt depending on if you are under a tree or a previous campers patio mat killed the grass. Lots of tall pine trees provide shade but also make it a little difficult to navigate the roads. We had to go pretty slow to avoid hitting tree branches. Parking under the pines also meant a lot of sap on our roof which was a bear to remove. 

There are lots of seasonal campers and their sites were pretty tidy. There are a variety of sites from those with no hook-ups to 50 amp full hook-ups and the prices are pretty reasonable for New England, especially in a very popular tourist town. Our site was shady and a pull-thru. Luckily our site was level but some are not very level and would have been a problem for us. It appears the new owners are really trying to upgrade the park and make improvements to roads and sites. Most of the patios are a mix of dirt and grass. There is a$5 pet fee, but it is per pet/stay and not a daily cost. 

Wifi was a service you had to pay for which is almost unheard of in todays campgrounds. Most campgrounds offer free wifi (albeit, with varying degrees of usability) but this one only offered the wifi for a fee. We decided not to shell out the money but since we did not get a strong Verizon signal, internet access was pretty much non-existent. The other problem was that we did not get any over-the-air television channels and they did not have cable. Satellite reception was also a problem because of the trees. It is best to have a portable unit but even then, it could be difficult to get reception. 

This park is in a great location to Camden and nearby towns. We loved taking the ferry to Vinalhaven Island for the day and picking up prepared food at the Market Basket and eating it along the Rockland Harbor waterfront watching the boats come and go. There is great hiking and beautiful views at the nearby Camden Hills State Park.