Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
sporting camps continue the frontier traditions of catering to visitors.
These camps, known as “sports,” are serviced by Registered Maine
Guides eager to show not only where the trophy trout or deer can be
found, but also where less consumptive recreational pursuits such as
mountain biking, canoeing, photography and hiking can best be enjoyed.
In the west sits Jackman, home of the renowned wild and scenic Moose
River. Sometimes referred to as the Switzerland of Maine, Jackman lies
at the edge of a tranquil lake in sight of the Boundary Mountains with
Quebec. While busy during fishing, hunting and canoeing season,
Jackman really comes alive during the winter, when snowmobiles out-
number cars on the busy Main Street.
Farther south sits the village of The Forks, at the confluence of the
Kennebec and Dead Rivers. It is Maine's whitewater rafting headquar-
ters and has more rafting companies per capita than anyplace else.
Greenville is the centerpiece, the hub at the south end of massive
Moosehead Lake, Maine's largest freshwater body. the town is home to
Mount Kineo, a towering flint edifice that has attracted visitors since
prehistoric times. Here the cove nearest town buzzes daily with the
sound of seaplanes taking off and landing on trips to the more remote
camps and ponds scattered across millions of acres of undeveloped land.
Greenville too, like all communities in this part of Maine, sports unique
seasonal personalities. Summer brings its own crop of visitors, as does
winter, with snowmobilers and ice fishermen invading at the first sign of
lasting snow.
North of Greenville, along the fabled Golden Road roads reach out in ev-
ery direction. The Golden Road is actually a dirt highway through the
wild where lumber rigs four trailers long have the right of way, even at
speeds in excess of 60 miles per hour. Here, those in the know visit remote
Telos Lake, a body of water that played a pivotal role in the state's lum
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bering history when it and surrounding waters were harnessed to make
streams flow in reverse and send logs from the remote Allagash region to
Bangor instead of Canada. From this one lake a canoeist can, with no por
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tage of more than two miles, traverse three of the state's mightiest river
systems - the Allagash, Kennebec and Penobscot.
To the east lies Millinocket, a proud paper mill town that is gateway to
Baxter State Park. The park's 205,000 acres of pristine wilderness incor
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porates Maine's highest peak, mile-high Katahdin, which looms over an
ocean of greenery.
