By:
Submission
Rangeley Lake State Park encompasses 869 acres in the heart of Maine's Western Mountains. Visitors enjoy hiking, picnicking, camping, wildlife watching, photography, and winter sports, as well as the long-established traditions of fishing and hunting. The lake's cool, clear waters stretch nine miles and support world-famous populations of landlocked salmon and trout (sustained through a strong commitment to catch-and-release practices). Four wheeling and snowmobiling are popular pursuits in the Rangeley area (outside the park), with many trails available.
The campground at Rangeley Lake State Park has 50 well-spaced sites close to the lakeshore - where a beach offers commanding views of Saddleback Mountain. There's a picnic area, playground, and a trailerable boat launch with finger docks for both day visitors and campers.
From Rumford via Maine Route 17, turn onto South Shore drive and continue 3 miles to Park (on left). OR From Farmington via Maine Route 4, turn onto South Shore Drive and proceed 5 miles to Park (on right).
Group campsite reservations and day use group shelter reservations for all Maine state parks will begin Monday, February 1 at 9:00 a.m. (storm date February 2 at 9:00 a.m. if state government is forced to shut down). These reservations are available by telephone only and must be made by calling your preferred state park directly. Please see the links below for specific park contact information.
We had a nice time camping here, sites were large. Staff was friendly.
I love camping and this place was great. Best view from a camping trip I've had. The way you can see the hills in the distance over the water is absolutely stunning. Bathrooms are cleaned at least once a day keeping them nice and clean and campsites are nicely kept and feel very open and taken care of. The HUGE problem I have is the park rangers never, and I mean NEVER check the trails. The beach trails are difficult to walk on, let alone bike on (which is what my cousin and I always use for travel around state parks). There's an ungodly amount of roots that aren't covered allowing campers to easily trip or sprain an ankle, brush in the way of the trail making it impossible to walk unless you duck, and logs, multiple logs, throughout each of the trails we biked. Luckily the trails are often unused as the beach isn't really a beach as it has no sand and is extremely rocky. However if you wanted to go to the beach (which is reasonable only because it is the only place to swim and get a great view of the lake) you would have to walk along the road where cars might meet up with you as well as it being the longer way around which just isn't worth it. ONE WARNING: DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT WALK THE MOOSE CORRIDOR TRAIL. It can be barely called a trail now because of the lack of care it's hard. There's tons of logs over the trail, lots and lots of roots, extremely dangerous areas, bridges that are so rotten and soaked that the nails are sticking up out of the wood which is EXTREMELY dangerous, and places where there should be bridges (extremely muddy areas) which are easy to slip and fall on. My cousin actually did slip (by literally walking on the trail) and slipped and gashed his knee on an EXTREMELY sharp rock sticking multiple inches off the ground. It was such a bad gash that we had to take his socks off and his shoelaces off to gauze it and put pressure on it. We were also in the middle of the trail so there was no help at all. Luckily there is data there, a little too much for my 'state park camping liking', so we were able to call for help. Now onto some better parts of the park again. The park is so secluded, which is so nice, but it has its downfalls as well. I love how it's separated from everything else near it like stores and other shops but it makes it bothersome to go get food if needed. Not necessarily against the campground though. The layout of the campground is very nice as well. It's one single loop with a trail or two in between allowing easy access for campers on one side to go to the other. Also, a note for people interested, campsites 39 and 21 are some of the better campsites, 21 being easily the best. Site 21 has a great trail to the water and, unlike the other water sites, there's a nice clear spot to put in kayaks or paddle boards. Site 39 is GREAT if you want to sleep or set up multiple hammocks. There were a few good hammock spots right on the edges of the campsite but what me and my friends did was we went probably 5-7 steps behind the site and set up hammocks there. I'll try to attach a photo to this review so you all can see what we did. We called it hobo city lol. To sum it up it's a pretty great campground but the trails suck and the beach is average. You can also just drive to the beach so the trail to it being bad isn't that much of a downside. The Moose Corridor Trail is the biggest downside to the campground in my opinion.
*All pictures of sunset were taken from campsite 21*
Very nice swimming area with a view. No hiking trails. Lots of stairs to the water.
Nice camping spots and clean bathrooms close walking distance from all sites. Awesome lake as well with boat rentals nearby. No fire pit grates; bring your own if you need one
