As we got about a mile from the campground we had a moose walk out in the street in front of us. It looked at us for a few minutes and took off. That was a great sign. We were there for 14 nights over the 4th of July. We were in site 42 which has a waterview. You can kayak right from your campsite. It's a little tight trying to back in, yet the site itself is big. We had water & electric and there is a dump station onsite. Our site was shaded and private. They sell ice & firewood there along with a small store with a few supplies. We had a great sunset view and then the lighting bugs come out. The bullfrogs would sing and the Loons are nice to hear & see.
The staff and volunteers were amazing, helpful and you can tell they love their jobs.
There are some waterfront sites near the swim beach too some do not have any shade.
Site 1D is right on the water and has a little shade. Site 1 C next to 1 D isn't bad either. Site 41 is nice yet it's more for a tent camper. Site 43 backs up to the boat house so you don't have water access yet it's a big shaded site.
They have primitive sites you can boat to or you can hire the park to take you back & forth. I believe some are as far as 12 miles from the park. They have these metal boats that the front end drops down you can walk stuff right on & off the boat. There are side bar kayak/canoe carriers too so you can take your kayak with you. The park also rents kayaks & canoes.
We really enjoyed sitting on our chairs in the water at our site watching the boat take people out.
There is a nice bath house and laundry room. There are some cabins too.
When you leave the park and go left your in Maine within a few miles. There is a little store called Upton's that has some food, beer & wine, water and items for sale along with they do lunches and breakfast sandwiches. We bought some chicken salad, potato salad and fresh carrot cake cupcakes from there it was good. If you pass the store you will come to Grafton Notch state park. There are some overlooks and hiking trails. Screw Auger falls was nice and the beautiful wildflowers were in full bloom.
When you leave the park and turn right toward Errol there is a small grocery store that was just opening they had some groceries and Liquor. There is large outfitter/grocery/ Ace hardware store and a gas station. It was packed. We needed propane so Ace filled our tank. The outfitter store sells hunting/fishing permits and any sporting good item you can think of. There are a few little stores to shop for a souvenir.
Before you get to Errol you can take a right onto route 16 and drive to rangeley Maine. What a cute town with shops and good places to eat. There was a fresh market on wednesdays and a fresh seafood truck that sold good seafood from the truck. We bought native scallops, Salmon & shrimp and made a excellent dinner. The first 7 miles of 16 were a little rough yet once you hit the border of Main it's all new paved road. We ate at Parkside & main. Had a lobster roll of coarse and the clam chowder was the best. On the way back to camp we got some farm fresh eggs for $3.00 a dozen. There is an IGA grocery store there too.
We really enjoyed just sitting in our chairs in the water at our site and chilling. There were a lot of baby ducks that would visit everyday. They would swim around us & between us while we sat in the water. Very peaceful and quiet.
On the 4th of July someone had some great fireworks and put on a good show. We loved this campground it was a beautiful place to spend time.
