Moosehead Lake

Moosehead Lake in Greenville, Maine is the largest lake in New England at 40 miles long and up to 20 miles wide, set within a vast boreal forest wilderness 2.5 hours north of Bangor. The lake is the centerpiece of Maine's North Woods experience and is regarded as one of the premier moose-watching destinations in the United States. The town of Greenville at the southern tip serves as the main gateway, offering outfitters, motels, sporting camps, and seaplane charter services. Moose are most reliably spotted from May through early June along the lake's boggy tributary streams and roadside pullouts on Routes 6/15 north of Greenville, particularly at dawn and dusk. Moose safari float-plane tours and guided pontoon boat moose tours depart Greenville regularly during this season. Summer activities on the lake include powerboating, kayaking, canoeing, and fishing for lake trout, landlocked salmon, and smallmouth bass. The Katahdin, a historic steamboat built in 1914, is operated as a museum ship and departs the Greenville waterfront for seasonal lake cruises. Mount Kineo — a dramatic rhyolite cliff rising directly from the lake's surface on a mid-lake peninsula — is accessible only by boat from Rockwood village and provides a half-day hiking destination with 800 feet of cliff views over open water. The surrounding region contains hundreds of miles of logging roads popular with ATVs and snowmobiles, making Moosehead a genuine four-season destination with one of the densest snowmobile trail networks in the northeastern United States.