The Maine Highlands: Bangor, Katahdin, & Moosehead Lake

If you love adventures of every kind, there’s much to love in the Maine Highlands. Here you can hike Maine’s highest mountain or canoe Maine’s largest lake. You can experience whitewater rafting one day, and enjoy a riverside concert the next. You can explore pristine wilderness or tour Stephen King’s favorite haunts. It’s all possible here.

Bangor is the historic and cultural hub of the region. Revisit the city’s proud logging heritage at the Maine Forest and Logging Museum. Bring the kids to the Maine Discovery Museum. Explore the Wabanaki Arts Center in Old Town. And visit nearby Orono, home of the University of Maine.

Peaks Kenny State Park in Dover-Foxcroft is the ideal picnic spot, nestled in the mountains along the shores of Sebec Lake, with scenic views of Borestone Mountain. Camp, hike, swim or fish for landlocked salmon and lake trout.

Greenville is perched on spectacular Moosehead Lake, Maine’s largest – 40 miles long and 20 miles wide! Enjoy Greenville’s many welcoming inns, cabins and B&Bs, hike Mt. Kineo, which towers 700 feet in the midst of the lake, or visit beautiful Lily Bay State Park. In winter, hit the trails for a world-class snowmobiling adventure.

Katahdin Iron Works, near Brownville Junction, is where you’ll find Gulf Hagas, the “Grand Canyon of the East,” with its numerous waterfalls, well-marked hiking trails and wild landscapes. One of Maine’s best day trips.

The Moosehead and Katahdin areas can be explored with the help of The Great Maine Woods and Waters Tour, which includes interpretive signage and more than 50 waterfalls in Piscataquis County.

The Penobscot River is the longest of three Maine rivers renowned for whitewater rafting and flows almost in the shadow of Mt. Katahdin. Plan an unforgettable guided adventure on the river’s west branch in spring, summer or fall.

Millinocket, once a lumbering colony, serves as a hub for visitors to Baxter State Park and is a four-season recreation destination. This is the spot to plan your remote fishing, wilderness camping, hiking, and hunting expeditions.

Baxter State Park is a magni cent, 200,000-acre wilderness preserve. Trails lead up mile-high Mt. Katahdin, Maine’s highest peak, and the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail. Plan ahead to hike or camp in this protected, limited-access park.

	Visit the Official Website of this Region
	View a video of this Region
	View/Order a regional brochure

"Don't Miss" Fairs & Festivals

• MooseMania Festival - Greenville - May & June
• American Folk Festival - Bangor - August
• Trail's End Festival - Millinocket - September
• International Seaplane Fly-in Greenville - September
• Bangor Arts & Crafts Festival - November 

So Much More to Do...

• Take a Moose Safari in the Moosehead Lake region to catch sight of Maine's "Official State Animal."
• Stroll through Mt. Hope Cemetery in Bangor, America's second-oldest garden cemetery and the backdrop for Stephen King's Pet Sematary.
• Cruise Moosehead Lake on the historic Steamship Katahdin.
• Visit the University of Maine Museum of Art in Bangor, with works by Marsden Hartley, Winslow Homer, John Marin, Andrew Wyeth and other Maine artists.
• Take a guided canoe expedition into the southern half of the Allagash Wilderness Waterway. Or plan a winter snowmobile or cross-country skiing gateway exploring the region's extensive interconnected trail system.