Best Lakeside & Waterfront Campsites
Nothing beats waking up to mist rising off a North Maine Woods lake. These waterfront campsites offer the best views, swimming access, and shoreline camping across 3.5 million acres of wilderness in Aroostook and Piscataquis counties. NMW and AWW are first-come, first-served (KI Jo-Mary accepts reservations).
Caucomgomoc Lake Campsites
Caucomgomoc Region • Caucomgomoc Lake
Sweeping views across one of the most scenic lakes in NMW. Caucomgomoc's campsites sit on points and peninsulas with unobstructed sunset views to the west. The lake is large enough for open-water paddling but intimate enough to feel wild. Excellent swimming from sandy and gravelly shores.
Chesuncook Lake Campsites
Ragmuff/Seboomook Region • Chesuncook Lake
Maine's third-largest lake offers dramatic waterfront campsites with views of Katahdin on clear days. The lake stretches 18 miles and provides a sense of vastness rare in the eastern US. Historic Chesuncook Village on the shore adds unique character. Vehicle access via Golden Road makes these relatively easy to reach.
Chamberlain Lake Campsites
Telos Region • Chamberlain Lake
Historic and expansive, Chamberlain Lake campsites offer wide-open water views on a lake that once served as a central hub for the 19th-century logging drives. The lake connects to Telos Lake and the Allagash Waterway, making it ideal for multi-day lakeside base camping with excellent fishing.
First Musquacook Lake
Allagash Region • First Musquacook Lake
Repeatedly praised by experienced NMW visitors as having some of the finest campsites in the North Woods. First Musquacook features spacious waterfront sites with outstanding morning light. The lake is large enough for lake trout and salmon, making it a premier combination of scenery and fishing.
Seboomook Lake Campsites
Ragmuff/Seboomook Region • Seboomook Lake
The main body of Seboomook Lake stretches several miles with campsites on wooded points. Dawn and dusk bring world-class moose viewing along the shoreline. The lake sits at the headwaters of the West Branch of the Penobscot River. Access is via the Seboomook checkpoint from Greenville.
Eagle Lake Campsites
Allagash Wilderness Waterway • Eagle Lake
The largest lake on the Allagash Wilderness Waterway, Eagle Lake's water-access campsites offer pristine waterfront settings surrounded by unbroken forest. The lake is big enough to feel like a small ocean on windy days. Home to the historic Eagle Lake & West Branch Railroad ruins.
Telos Lake Campsites
Telos Region • Telos Lake
Telos Lake marks the historical divide between waters flowing to the Penobscot and the Allagash. The lakefront campsites offer clear water views and excellent sunset exposure. The Telos checkpoint nearby makes these some of the more accessible waterfront sites in the NMW system.
Umsaskis Lake Campsites
Allagash Wilderness Waterway • Umsaskis Lake
A quieter stretch of the Allagash Waterway, Umsaskis Lake campsites are tucked along a scenic shoreline with excellent privacy between sites. The ranger station provides a rare point of contact in the wilderness. The thoroughfare connecting to Long Lake is especially scenic at dawn.