Moosehead Region

It’s as if God was putting down a big sign visible from 35,000 feet: Here there will be moose. Moosehead Lake, Maine’s [1] largest inland body of water, is unmistakably shaped like a giant antlered head of one of the state’s great mammals, stretching from 32 miles from the tip of its top “antler” at Sebomook, to the bottom of its shaggy “mane” at the moose-obsessed town of Greenville.

This is Moose Country, all right, with the resorts around the lake offering “moose cruises [2]” and kayak trips up its estuaries to catch glimpses of these gentle, statuesque beasts. (Even though locals will admit they find them to be a nuisance when they meet them in their headlights at night.)

But there’s more to the area than moose. The region surrounding Moosehead Lake abounds with historical tales of riverboat captains, loggers, and fur trappers who over the years have made this rustic area their home. Relatively accessible compared to the forestland further north (it’s only a five-and-a-half-hour drive from Boston [3]), Moosehead is also the tourist gateway to the region. But so far that fact has done little to diminish its priceless natural beauty, with Mount Kineo rising majestically from an island in the middle of the lake, and loons cackling from its coves at night.