North Maine Woods

Welcome to the North Maine Woods!

The North Maine Woods is a vast area of over 3.5 million acres covering western Aroostook County, along with parts of northern Penobscot, Piscataquis, and Somerset Counties. Primarily comprised of commercial forest land, the North Maine Woods has very few permanent inhabitants. Perhaps most known from Henry David Thoreau’s The Maine Woods, these lands were also visited by Theodore Roosevelt and a once-bustling flow of hunters, rusticators, and lumberjacks. Business has quieted down a bit over the years, giving these woods an even more remote and pristine feel. In fact, one is more likely to encounter a moose than another human!

While there are no major towns within the North Maine Woods, there are plenty of options for lodging, dining, and activities located nearby and in the woods, including a host of outfitters and guide services which can provide everything needed for going into the wilderness.

Facts about the North Maine Woods:

Eagle Lake Ghost Trains
Will LeavittEagle Lake Ghost Trains
  • Click here for a great documentary on the old logging business.
  • Home of the Allagash Wilderness Waterway, a nearly 100 mile string of rivers and lakes preserved as a true wilderness area, with a surrounding buffer zone banning all motorized trucks, boats, and even planes overhead. National Geographic calls canoeing the Allagash “one of the best American adventures.”
  • An avid adventurer can even find abandoned trains once used for logging!
  • If you go, keep an eye out for some of the mythical creatures from old loggers’ folklore

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