Tina D.

Bloomfield, CT

Joined September 2018

Peace and Happiness in the middle of nowhere

A bit off the normal path. The roads to sites are crazy, it would help if you had a truck or SUV. Some parts only one car fits on the road, and if someone is coming one or the other needs to pull over. So don't drive like a spaz, which you most likely won't anyway, because there are some HUGE potholes. At one point the entire road was a giant puddle 2 feet deep. I was like what are we doing here. But then there's people pulling campers like nothing; and I'm like ok guess we keep going! We stayed here in 2017. I don't think the description is right on the main screen, as there are not cabins. When I look at the GPS Map it looks almost right. The marker should be a tiny bit further down the road where it ends by the water with 45.714573 -69.558222 look at Google Maps satellite view.

After what felt like eons of white knuckle driving on logging roads, we made it. Every site has a nice view of the mountains in the background over a pretty large waterfront. Only thing I did not like, was people with generators on at night. Hello I am in a tent. I don't want to hear lawnmower sounds all damn night. Bring some ear plugs and a sleeping mask to make that suck less. Bathroom was clean. Have TP and hand sanitizer.

We hiked one of the nearby mountains, Mt Kineo. Super awesome day hike. And there is a really nice fire tower on top you can go up. One of the ones where the stairs are flights zigzagging up, not the ladder ones. Thank God lol. Old forest, and lots of cool giant rocks. Really a great connect with nature hike.

We saw, I kid you not, 12 moose, in the 8 days we were there. It was so cool. Another reason not to drive crazy, one of them practically came barreling out of the woods into the side of our SUV. it was like 2 feet away from crashing into my door. The best was when we were kayaking. There is a bridge where locals fish from all the time. We put our boats in at the camp site on the side of the river not far from the bridge. Don't go under the bridge, go the other way. Paddle slow, take your time. It curves back and forth. Lots of warblers were there; and ducks and loons. We kept going until it looked like going further wasn't going to happen and headed back. Then not even five minutes from where we would get getting out, there was the biggest moose I have ever seen. A young male. Just eating plants out of the water, and on the boggy shore. We stayed to the far side of the area like 20 minutes taking pictures and not making any noise or moving much at all. National Geographic feelings going through my mind. It was getting dark, and he never went away, but we needed to leave so we inched slowly down the water. I turned around at the curve, and he was finally moving on going about his moose business. Will never forget that for sure. There is also a camp site at this area, which I have a separate review for called Lazy Tom Bog Primitive Camping.

Moose Photographers Dream

This is a moose hot spot. You will find this site just past the bridge off Spencer Bay Road (old logging road) on the right (when coming from the main roads).

Bring boats if you want to see moose. We had kayaks. We stayed here, just to be up early enough to paddle out and wait for moose to show up. We have gone here kayaking from other nearby campsites too. Staying in the actual site was easier than getting ready somewhere else and hoping no one was in the site so we could put our boats in.

Site is first come first serve. You basically drive down a small driveway area, into an open gravel spot with a fire pit. You could bring a very small camper. We just put a tent and parked the car so it blocked the tent view if someone pulled in so their headlights would not be on us. Completely primitive. NO facilities. Nothing fancy. A spot to sleep and get up early for photography (or fishing if that's your thing). Take all your trash with you and bring hand sanitizer/bio-degradable TP/shovel.

Because this IS a hotspot for moose. Locals do come here at dusk and dawn, but hey mostly sit on the sides of the road by the bridge that goes over the bog/water. It's also a popular fishing area - from the road/bridge. Pretty sure certain tours bring people here or tell them to come here to look for moose, but you are WAY more likely to find one if you get in your kayak.

In the two nights we stayed here, we saw 5 moose. Likely the same 2-3 but hard to tell. We saw them at dusk and dawn. You only need to walk your boats about 10 feet to slide them in the water from the camping area. Once in the water, go to the left and it goes around a bend. We always took a short zig zagging trip through the area (it snakes along) slowly and quietly paddling. They show up a lot just past the first left you take (after going left out of the site). if you are really patient you can just sit there. We are a bit stir crazy though and preferred going back and forth slowly to occupy the senses.

Good luck and enjoy!

Very 'populated' with other campers

I am not an overall fan of populated camping sites. This one is acceptable, to me, because of the abundance of trails and wildlife you can venture out to see and my stars are based on that. Not to say the camp site does not deserve 4 stars. It does, there are more than the needed amenities here. Not to mention town is a few minutes away.

I don't have photos of our site, I was mainly interested in photographing our encounters. There is an abundance of the campsite photos on here already. Here you will find, what is around when you look for it.

Our site was nice though, we tried to go to a quiet spot, end of the designated grounds, away from campers in general. Flat, room for the tents. Firepit had a grill top over it. We basically just slept there and were taking trails and enjoying the beachfronts the rest of the trip.

This is a great family camping area. We saw a lot of kids having a blast. Not recommended over a major holiday weekend or anything unless you don't mind crowds. We tried to go on a lazier weekend in August.

We saw a lot of awesome birds, a turtle and deer. My favorite was the Great Horned Owl

Great Primitive Camping Backpacking Adventure

From the parking area of Giant Ledge/Panther Mountain this was a fairly decent and semi challenging hike. We took our dog too. Bring a bear bell and bear mace can to be safe. We did not see any but definite signs of them. Get tracking poles if you don't already have some. Very helpful here.

This was one of my favorite weekend backpacking trips. Getting a campsite up at the Giant Ledge area is hit or miss, as I only know of two. Both were empty when we arrived however. We opted for the one before the first ledge. You will see a yellow little circle sign on a tree with a tent on it, a short distance down that side trail there is the site. It has rock benches and a fire pit. Primitive. Bring biodegradabe toilet paper and a shovel; as there are not toilets up here.

Unfortunately, I only had my phone along for photos here and did not get any of the actual camp area since the battery died while taking pictures of the ledges/views which are breathtaking. Not too far down the main trail after this camp area, is the first ledge. Lots of day hikers just turn around here, but there is much more to see if you keep going! We hiked all the way to where it starts going vertical up Panther Mountain, and turned back to our campsite as it was getting dark by then.

I want to go back and go all the way up Panther. Looks like a great hike. Not that I'm complaining, Giant Ledge has several awesome lookouts as you can see in my photos, spectacular views at every single one! Go in fall for leaf views but be advised, its REALLY busy at that time. You might not be able to camp up there. If that's the case, there is a normal campsite called Woodlands nearby that has a ton of sites and RV sites.

Nice waterfront site

Roads are all gravel out here, seems to be inactive logging, we didn't see any of the log trucks.

This site has a lot of RV sized spots and goes pretty far back. We had a tent, and picked the site closest to the water on the right at the end so no one else was in front of us. It was down the main row the host is on. While sites all have tables, there are not really trees around to put a tarp over it for rain, As you can see in my photos, we rigged up a tarp cover, from wood we searched for along the road and tied it up with rope to the picnic table.

It rained a lot on this trip, so it was essential to rig the tarp for cooking cover, and a place to sit other than the tent. Because of the rain, we drove around the logging roads a lot to explore. We actually drove all the way out to Mt Katahdin, it took a few hours, but it was raining so a good time waster.

Around the campsite, the waterfront is really nice. Rocky shores. Good Kayaking. The water can be choppy when the weather is not great but nothing we couldn't handle. We took our kayaks on a few boggy areas off the sides of the road while we explored driving around too. Great relaxing trip (other than the rain).

First to Review
Off the beaten path

This is one of many sites around Moosehead Lake area. We actually have camped at about 4 random sites we found along the logging roads here, and I finally found this one in my Gazetteer as being one of the ones we were at. My google map coordinates are on point for having added this campground so GPS it up if you are interested! It's worth the drive.

I would not take a car down these logging roads. Pothole mania here. They are not maintained much more than needed for logging trucks, most logging is done around here at this point as far as we noticed. Take your time, and watch out for moose.

Once you pull in to this site, the resident site is the first one on the right. You can check in with them. We camped down the second left you can take from the road, closest to the water on the right. Picnic tables are at each site. I think our site provides the most privacy with unobstructed views of the water and surroundings. The rest room was not much of a walk behind us. Do not forget your headlamp you will need it in there at night. We found camp wood along the logging roads out to the site along the way and had plenty.

it's not far from Mt Kineo. Take a drive out there, and hike up. It's one of my favorite hikes in this area. We have done it twice now. We also brought out kayaks. There are many small pond/lakes along the roads back here. We explored many of them, and found moose galore on the roads, and water, That being said, be careful they are huger than you think if you never seen one in person.

RVs are allowed at Cowan Cove, good luck driving back there with one. People do but I think they are nuts. We tent camped. I would not want to drag one out there or drive one. Our SUV was a nutty enough drive. Definitely worth it if you are adventurous!

Weekend Backpacking

This site is just south of the Bear Mtn summit. You can park at the Undermountain Trailhead area. Once you hit the AT go to the right and it goes to the summit. From the summit it was a left and another mile or so. You will run into the Brassie Brook shelter lean-to. It's a pretty great little site for being in the middle of nowhere like we like. The lean-to fit our small tens, and there is a picnic table. There's also a bear box near by. Room to camp your tent on the ground too if you wanted to or had more ppl along. Our trip was sadly cut short because we were freezing and it was raining a lot LOL but hey it's part of the experience. The fall views made it worth it. We did have some sun spots at least throughout the trip. Great weekend overnight backpacking.

Moderate Hike to a super nice camp area

My friends and I did this as an overnight hike, just so we could take our time getting there and enjoy the summit. It's a pretty short hike from the parking area up to the site. I'd guess under two miles, which parts can get quite steep. We brought our dogs as well.

All the sites were lined up down a pretty straight road, on both sides of the road. You can evidently drive up there too but what fun is that? The bathrooms were huge, and had a water pump outside of them or near by. Every site had a picnic table as well which is nice. Lots of trees so we could easily put tarps up over our tent and table. There is a trail at the far end of the camp area, leading to the summit we took after setting up our base.

I loved the trail going up from the camp area, lots of cool picture perfect areas. Nice variety of terrain. The dogs loved it. There were a few spots we had to cross the road where people drive up to the summit. Once we got up there it was more commercial than expected, but cool none the less. You still feel a sense of accomplishment at having hiked up. On the plus s side, there is a small restaurant. If it's rainy or you don't feel like camp cooking have at it!

Views at the top are of course breathtaking for the nature lovers (like us) out there! A bit crowded for my liking but hey, it's crowded because it's awesome. The hike back down to our site seemed to take no time at all. We refilled our water bottles from their hand water pumps (can be a workout!). Abundance of camp wood was already sitting at our site, not sure if that is normal or someone else was cool and left it. We had a great evening, and hiked out in the morning after breakfast. Overnight, we heard owls! All the camp areas looked nice, room for tents and hammocks. Hope to go again before I'm too old to carry all the gear LOL.

Really great hammock sites

A lot of these campsites are near the bluffs. The tide goes in and out, so be prepared for that. We enjoyed hearing the water from our hammocks at night. There was a big grassy field I that had millions of fireflies at night. I remember just standing there with my mouth open staring. It was on the the way to the restrooms from the Bluffs area. Being near the water offered a nice breeze also. I wouldn't mind coming back to this site, we didn't get to stay as long as we wanted.

While you are here - good day trips are into the town of Lubec, Quoddy Head, Hamilton Cove, and a tad of a drive Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge.

Nice short term site

Pets are allowed on leashes, campsites available on first come, first serve basis. Fees are posted at the entrance of Passaconaway campground. You have to pay by cash or check in an envelope, you get a slip of paper to leave on your dashboard. There are 33 sites.

We only stayed two nights. Not the kind of site I'd spend a week at but I am sort of particular. Nice sites, just too close together for my comfort and privacy. They were selling camp wood for $5-8. Not much around if you're a firewood forager. Picked pretty clean by the multitudes.

Areas were medium sized, see my photos. Nice and flat. No worries when setting up the tent. Restrooms were decent, and there was a water hand pump which I liked. It's really close to Sabbaday Falls which is a nice day trip.

Semi Private Group Campground

This would be one of few places I find acceptable to camp, that are near other people. I usually don't like camping with 20+ other people in one looped area. The sites here are pretty well spread out. Not ALL of them, but look around. We found what I would think is the best. The one we ended up at had stairs leading from the car down to our site. It was further away from the other sites and had the pretty much private stream running by it. The area we had for use was pretty huge, we had a giant tent 10-12 plus a pop up tent to put over the picnic table, and there was still a ton of room for the car, fire pit and general run around area for our dog. I never felt like we had to lock up everything we owned either. A short walk to the toilets from all sites. Bring a headlamp of course. TP is in the outhouses bring a spare hand sanitizer bottle to use after.

FYI there is a pretty awesome hike close by you can do. I mean you have to drive there but it wasn't far. It goes up to Mt Moosilauke. We ended up taking Beaver Brook Trail to the Cascades, checked out the shelter and headed to Moosilauke Summit. A crazy hike pretty much going up the side of a waterfall. The peak was 4,802ft. Worth it! I'd say an 8 mile trek from the car, up, and back. I included just a couple pictures to entice you since its not about the campsite! There are a TON of trails near this campsite, this would just be my favorite of the 6 or 7 we did.

Overnight challenging hike

This was one of my favorite all time hiking/camping experiences.My friends and I were doing this as an overnight hike. We actually started this hike in by Race Brook Falls area, and ended it where the GPS coordinates are noted. See the map in my photos marked with yellow lines. Basically left a car where we were ending the hike, and took another car with everyone crammed in to the Race Brook Falls parking lot which off Route 41 in Sheffield, Massachusetts.

We began by making the hike up Mount Race. No matter where you start, you'll be hiking on some of the steepest parts of the Appalachian Trail in the northwestern Connecticut and southwestern Massachusetts. On the way up you will see signs for Race Brook Falls; its pretty beautiful and worth a day hike if you aren't camping or whatnot. The entire hike to the top is pretty hard, but worth it.

The views once you get up there are nothing short of stunning and there is a short section of trail that that's really the kind of spot that makes you go "This is why I hike!". There's a sheer drop-off of hundreds of feet spreading out into a massive valley scene below. We then headed to the direction of Sages Ravine. It was a few hours later before we made it to Laurel Ridge Campsite. My friends used the platforms, I had a hammock.

I don't think you are supposed to make a fire, but am not sure. There was a fire pit there so we used it at night because it was pretty cold in the 50s and down to 40s late at night (this was OCT). There is an outhouse a ways from the camping area. There is also a bear box near that if you bring a padlock you can use it.

The next morning we headed down Sages Ravine (awesome!) and towards/past Bear Mountain onto Undermountain Trail. This was overall no easy hike in any way, so if you are not in moderate shape I would not recommend this to you. If you hike normally, and do some cardio like spin class or something regularly, try the day hike first. Then move on to the overnight. Good luck and enjoy!

Nice little site

15-site primitive campground with fire rings. We saw cross bill birds there eating the pinecone sap. They also came down and ate ash from our fire pit in the morning. The BEST site in my opinion was ours. It's right next to the dock area and no other sites can go next to it, only across the lot.

This site has picnic tables, and 3 outhouses, located along Cold Stream east of Lone Jack Pond. There is a small floating dock on the stream. Four additional roadside shoreline campsites were established next to Durgin Pond, and several others in scattered locations near to roads.

There's a 0.4 mile walk-in trail into Lang Pond, and a 0.5 mile trail into Big Berry Pond. People can fish here, it's supposed to be a hidden jem or hot spot. There are some additional trails into Snake and/or Fernald Pond, and into Cold Stream downstream of the headwaters area. You can also walk down the roads, there's old logging roads that split off here and there from what it seemed like.

Great kayaking up and down the stream and pond area. The roads were a bit crazy as you can see in my pictures. A bunch of warblers were there too. We drove into Jackman one day when the weather wasn't so great. Cute little town.

Great Group Camping area

I usually don't camp near other people, but I really like this site. I think every site has a waterfront view. They rake the sites after people leave so everything is neat and tidy and as flat as possible for your tent. The bathroom is pretty large. Has running water and flushing toilets. I believe even a shower if I remember correctly. The easy boat access from right our our tent flaps basically, was awesome. I loved being able to just jump in the boat and float around, especially at night to look at the sky. There were loons calling every night also which I love.

Near by are all sorts of awesome hiking trails. Boreal forest. THE best. Some of my favorite photos from hiking, and the trail names/maps are below. The Moose Observation Platform is no lie. We saw one, crossing the road right by it when we were about to give up! it was too dark for a good photo at that point, but at least we found one!

Great Site

I lived near here growing up. We would bike there, and around the whole thing, and back home. It has a nice beach, and boat launch area. Campers and Tents can camp there. There are all the hookups you need. My Aunt and Uncle had a nice camper they would stay there a week, and we'd come visit and sit by the fire. You can kayak down the river past the dam to and avoid the other boating area. That's where all the motor boats go. Great family area.

Serious Middle of Nowhere

To reach Third Machias Lake, take the Little River Road (which runs north off the Stud Mill Road along the east side of the Machias River). Turn left after 4 miles onto a side road that leads to the boat launch. This is a logging road, beware of log trucks. Pull OVER when you see one and let them pass. They are going really fast with really big loads of logs.

We park at the boat launch. There has usually been 2-3 campers there when we park there. There are porta potties there. But…. we don't stay there. Kayaks in, camping gear into the boats. Off we go. It can be a rough paddle if it's windy. This lake is HUGE and can and has gotten 2-3 foot waves when the weather is not so great. It usually takes us about an our to get to the island we camp on. It has no name I know if but, many people call the next island past ours, Fairy Island.

I actually prefer Fairy Island. it's more open, smaller island, and better trees for hammocks. Plus the breeze there is awesome but bring a big tarp and road to give yourself a wind block.

The kayaking in this area is the BEST I have had in Maine. It's an absolute wonderland of variety. We took many river routes going out of the lake, into other lakes, through marsh/swamp, portaging beaver dams and such. One time had to go over a dirt road. Hardly ever ran across a person except this one time, a guy who has a cabin on the main shore not too far from our island (maybe 20 min paddle) was out fishing and invited us to his cabin where he and his wife gave us drinks and made awesome food at their campfire. They were so cool. I hope I have a house like that at some point.

Anyway; if you crave adventure this area is for you. Just jump in your boat, with your gear, and hunt down an island of your choosing. There are a bunch out there. Beware of rocks even in deep water! The glacier rocks are absolute huge. See my photos for yourself. Respect nature. Don't leave your garbage out here, no one wants to see that!

Stunning landscape. Hardcore hike. Worth it

This was on of my most favorite hikes/camping. You don't have to hike too long from the trailhead until you come to an awesome cliffside view overlooking the water. The breeze feels devine. This hike is not for the inexperienced, unless you are some hardcore hiker or something. I thought it would be cake, but it was h-a-r-d we rested a lot. But; I think we did pretty damn good even though my feet were killing me by the time we found a campsite.

The first couple sites we went up to had people so we were getting worried as there are not that many. But; stumbled onto one just before dark, whew! Such an awesome view of the night sky oh my gosh. I could stare at it forever. We could see the milky way. I loved our little campsite. Small but cozy and all we needed. I am a light sleeper, so the only thing that bugged me is there was some kind of horn from the lighthouse in the distance that was kind of driving me up the wall before I fell asleep. Other that that… everything was absolutely awesome, stunning landscape everywhere.

Middle of nowhere beautiful area and some of the best day hiking trails

Access is gained by private gravel logging roads leaving Route 161 in St. Francis, or off Route 11 in Portage, Maine. There is a check point when you drive through the logging facility area at the start of the main logging roads. You must check in for arrivals and departure. They will give you a map of the sites and trails. The drive is a good hour on dirt roads from there. Follow the red RRC signs and you will find it no problems.

Sites are all spread out. We stayed at Perch Dam mostly because our tent is 10x12 feet and 6 feet high. Majority of other tent sites have platforms for your tent which are much smaller.

The hiking trails are some of the best I have been on at such a site. They could use some more signs at intersections but with the trail map we got from the checkpoint we were able to figure them out. The view points you can hike up to are beautiful. Two of them, have log benches to sit down at the top and admire the view. Several trails I took had rock stairs and wooden stairs. If you hike to the fire tower from Perch Dam side, its flat all the way up to the mountain, that's where it gets crazy. like going straight up at some parts. Pretty awesome, but pretty hard if you are not in shape. My legs were shaking at the top, I barely had the strength to climb the fire tower lol. I got within like 15 more steps to the top, and I was like nope, going down. Wish I would have kept going, looking back. So don't give up even if your legs are jello!

There are several lakes around. We brought our kayaks, looking for moose. Did not find any, just a lot of tracks, and their poop. While hiking we did find a Pine Martin which was awesome. I never seen one of those in real life before.

There is nothing really within 1.5 hours or so from the camp sites so don't forget anything. There is a General Store in town but if you need certain things or want a big selection you will have to drive another 45 minutes to Walmart. Use google maps and pick one, there's two in different directions. We kinda broke our French Press second day there… had to drive to Walmart for a new one, cannot live without coffee you know. So that was like a 1/2 day trip there and back. Crazy. Rest of the time was great. We basically hiked every day. My husband is a birder so he was trying to get King Fisher pix and whatever else all the time. I did a lot of reading in my hammock.

Only thing that sucked, is the logging. We could hear them working, like a buzzing bee all the time during week days past 10pm at night which was annoying. We kind of wanted to get away from everything and everyone. Other than that, this place is pretty awesome. Check out their website. Enjoy.