Question about Maine backcountry camping

I've searched the internet but I can't seem to find anything about backcountry/dispersed camping on public lands in ME.
Are you restricted to camping only in established sites? (usually have fire ring/grate, pit toilet, etc.)
Restricted camping is the main reason why I doubt that I'll go back to BWCA. We hate the anxiety of being several portages into the backcountry only to find out the established campsites are all taken, and it's late in the day, and we have that difficult decision as to whether to push on thru the next carry or to go back to the last campsite on the previous lake. And still not knowing if that last site is actually still available or taken since we passed it hours before.

We still prefer to use established sites when we paddle other regions/states, but sometimes open campsites are just not available.
So, can I pull over and camp anyplace (on public lands) in Maine? I assume LNT is required and would camp 200 feet from water or trails.
Is that legal in ME?
Thanks in advance.

A lot of Maine wilderness is privately owned by timber and mineral companies. Some of these areas are available for camping via agreements with the state, i.e the Allegash Wilderness Waterway. Generally speaking, state land camping is on degnated sites only. There are some areas that may allow dispersed use, but they don't seem to be common. National Forests allow for dispersed camping, but have rules about how close you can be to certain places. (See below for information about White Mountain NF)

When camping in the backcountry - camping and fires are prohibited:​

• Within 200 feet of certain trails and water bodies.
• Within 1/4 mile of backcountry facilities (shelters, huts, and trailheads).
• In the alpine zone - where trees are 8 feet or less (except on two feet of snow).
• Within 1/4 mile of certain roads.
• Please consult the Forest's Backcountry Camping Rules for more information.
• Be certain to view the Recreation Conditions Report for the most current trail and camping information.

Dispersed Camping Areas
Androscoggin Ranger District
Gentian Pond Shelter
Hermit Lake Shelters
Imp Shelter
Mt Cabot Cabin
Osgood Tentsite
Rattle River Shelter
Trident Col Tentsite
Unknown Pond Tentsite
Valley Way Tentsite
Pemigewasset Ranger District
Beaver Brook Shelter
Coppermine Shelter
Eliza Brook Shelter
Ethan Pond Shelter
Franconia Brook Tentsite
Garfield Ridge Shelter
Guyot Shelter
Hexacuba Shelter
Jeffers Brook Shelter
Kinsman Pond Shelter
Liberty Springs Tentsite
Moose Mountain Shelter
Smarts Mountain Campsite
Thirteen Falls Tentsite
Three Ponds Shelter
Trapper John Shelter
Tripoli Road Camping Area
Velvet Rocks Shelter
Saco Ranger District
Baldface Shelter
Camp Penacook Shelter
Dry River Shelter #3
Flat Mountain Pond Shelter
Fourth Iron Campground
Jim Liberty Cabin
Mead Explorer Base Camp
Mountain Pond Shelter
Nauman Shelter Tentsite
Province Pond Shelter
Rocky Branch Shelter #1
Sawyer Pond Shelter & Tentsite
Wentworth Trail / Mead BaseTrailhead

Yes, in the North Maine Woods you are restricted to established campsites, and some are big enough for multiple parties, (who wants that), and the road fees plus camping fees are pretty steep. (NorthMaineWoods.com) If you paddle rivers outside the North Maine Woods fees are much less or free. Eastern Maine has a lot of free camping but you are still restricted to established campsites. Maine is nice but they don’t have nearly the amount of actual tripping opportunities as Canadian locations and not nearly as expensive as the NMW’s. A Maine Atlas shows all the campsites in the state, well worth the money if you want to explore the state.
LaVerendrye and ZEC Kipawa in Quebec are probably the same distance, lots of nice routes with fewer trippers.

Robin said:

Yes, in the North Maine Woods you are restricted to established campsites, and some are big enough for multiple parties, (who wants that), and the road fees plus camping fees are pretty steep. (NorthMaineWoods.com) If you paddle rivers outside the North Maine Woods fees are much less or free. Eastern Maine has a lot of free camping but you are still restricted to established campsites. Maine is nice but they don’t have nearly the amount of actual tripping opportunities as Canadian locations and not nearly as expensive as the NMW’s. A Maine Atlas shows all the campsites in the state, well worth the money if you want to explore the state.
LaVerendrye and ZEC Kipawa in Quebec are probably the same distance, lots of nice routes with fewer trippers.

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Thanks.
I do have the Delorme Atlas and AMC Quiet Water Maine book. If anything, reading thru that stuff is actually more confusing.
There seems to be so many different entities that govern different parks, holdings, etc. Macias corridor is under BLM if I read that correctly.
Then there's the DLLT, Maine Public Reserve Land, Indian Territories, timber holdings and probably a few others I'm missing.
I realize Canada has a lot more options but we've (my wife mostly) have been reluctant to leave the U.S.
BTW, what is NMW?

NMW is North Maine Woods. Maine Public Lands are free, unless it’s inside the NMW, then you have to pay a road use fee. There are some very nice destinations in the Maine Public Lands if you want to stay in one place or on a few different lakes, I’m close to them and have really liked them for what I do these days (base camping)
The Penobscot River Paddling Trail is free, not wilderness but pretty nice, free and great sm bass fishing.


The area around Grand Lake Stream offers some good tripping opportunities, all free. Unfortunately, the lakes are large and subject to wind.
If you do Facebook, there’s a Maine Canoe Trips page with great info.

I really like Maine. We camped there as kids. I almost moved there but could not find any work. Wonderful canoe country.

Once I got a taste of the West and all of the public land I just packed up and moved to California. That was 53 years ago.
Now I live in Nevada which is 87% public land. My backyard fence is next to one million acres of public land and we can camp on all of it.
When running rivers, there is usually a lot of USFS, BLM and State land. There can be some private posted land. We rarely know where we are going to camp and even more rarely have to look to find a spot. We often camp where no one has camped before or not for 25 years.

Robin said:

NMW is North Maine Woods. Maine Public Lands are free, unless it’s inside the NMW, then you have to pay a road use fee. There are some very nice destinations in the Maine Public Lands if you want to stay in one place or on a few different lakes, I’m close to them and have really liked them for what I do these days (base camping)
The Penobscot River Paddling Trail is free, not wilderness but pretty nice, free and great sm bass fishing. https://www.penobscotriverpaddlingtrail.org/
The area around Grand Lake Stream offers some good tripping opportunities, all free. Unfortunately, the lakes are large and subject to wind.
If you do Facebook, there’s a Maine Canoe Trips page with great info.

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I have an ankle issue. It's pretty messed up...old injuries, arthritis, etc. So for the near future (the 2025 paddle season) I'm pretty much restricted to easy, or no portages. With all sorts of therapies, it's better than it was for our 2 trips to BWCA last summer but for this year I'm still reluctant to do any trips that require carries unless they are short or easy.

Boat consideration is also part of my decision on where to go.
We own 2 boats...
A nice carbon Wenonah Escape that's great for flatwater but I'm not taking that boat down a rocky river.
And the other boat is a Wenonah Rogue in royalex. It's a great river tripper but it's too heavy for me to portage.
I'm only taking one boat to ME and I'm strongly leaning towards taking the flatwater boat.
So with that in mind, I planned to just basecamp and fish for smallmouth on a medium or smaller sized lake (to avoid wind issues) and do a series of 3 or 4 nighters.
I had 2 areas planned...
DLLT, and also a public land just NE of Baxter.
We'd be satisfied with those for our 2025 vacation but my only concern is campsite availability...hence the reason for this thread. We've canoe tripped in lots of places, but never in Maine and I'm just not sure what to expect when it comes to finding campsites.
We love to do true wilderness trips but there just aren't that many true wilderness' in the lower 48. I realize that Canada is the place to go. I just need to convince my wife to cross the border.

ppine said:

I really like Maine. We camped there as kids. I almost moved there but could not find any work. Wonderful canoe country.

Once I got a taste of the West and all of the public land I just packed up and moved to California. That was 53 years ago.
Now I live in Nevada which is 87% public land. My backyard fence is next to one million acres of public land and we can camp on all of it.
When running rivers, there is usually a lot of USFS, BLM and State land. There can be some private posted land. We rarely know where we are going to camp and even more rarely have to look to find a spot. We often camp where no one has camped before or not for 25 years.

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We love the west. We've taken some awesome paddle trips out there and it's still on our radar.
We visited New England back in the 1990s and we thought we'd go back to ME again. We lost our love for backpacking and now we stick to canoe camping and we can drive to ME in one long day.
Maybe we'll head west next year or even to Canada.

If you are interested in moving water, the Allegash Wilderness Waterway is a lovely stretch of river that has a good number of campsites. No carries other than the dam.

Tryin' said:

If you are interested in moving water, the Allegash Wilderness Waterway is a lovely stretch of river that has a good number of campsites. No carries other than the dam.

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Allegash was the 1st choice when I started researching ME a year ago. I'm not sure exactly why it fell off the radar.
I have Gil Gilpatrick's book. Maybe I need to look at it again.

Tryin' said:

If you are interested in moving water, the Allegash Wilderness Waterway is a lovely stretch of river that has a good number of campsites. No carries other than the dam.

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The longest carry is around Allagash falls.

I'm an idiot, I completely forgot about mandatory carrying the falls. Nice catch.

Tryin' said:

If you are interested in moving water, the Allegash Wilderness Waterway is a lovely stretch of river that has a good number of campsites. No carries other than the dam.

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I've never done the Allagash and, since I was originally a whitewater aficionado, the most interesting part of the river to me was the nine miles of relatively continuous Chase Rapids. Are you including them when you say no carries?

Glenn MacGrady said:

I've never done the Allagash and, since I was originally a whitewater aficionado, the most interesting part of the river to me was the nine miles of relatively continuous Chase Rapids. Are you including them when you say no carries?

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For a small fee the rangers at Churchill Dam will shuttle your gear to a point below the rapids so that you can run them in an empty boat. I guess that this would qualify as a carry.

Glenn MacGrady said:

I've never done the Allagash and, since I was originally a whitewater aficionado, the most interesting part of the river to me was the nine miles of relatively continuous Chase Rapids. Are you including them when you say no carries?

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I don't think I would consider the rapids a mandatory carry. It's a I-II section, with no significant channeling. Broad, shallow, and rocky. If you want even less flow, wait to launch from the dam until after noon, when they slow down the release rate unless needed for flood control.

Tryin' said:

I don't think I would consider the rapids a mandatory carry. It's a I-II section, with no significant channeling. Broad, shallow, and rocky. If you want even less flow, wait to launch from the dam until after noon, when they slow down the release rate unless needed for flood control.

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I've watched the following video of beginners paddling Chase Rapids. There are some sections where the wave action looks like 2+, and the boats hit, scape over, and pinball off a lot of rocks. I would think nine miles of this might be risky for beginners with no whitewater experience. Will the rangers carry everything and everyone around Chase Rapids for a fee?

My memory of that stretch of river is characterized by lots of bumping and scraping, but its no highwire act. You might struggle to make a line because the water is shallow and your turn gets hung up scraping over cobble... "oh no, we're not quite going to get there!"... and then BONK... but there's not a lot in the way of big hydraulics. I led a group of 14 and 15 year-olds on it and, if memory serves, I don't think we availed ourselves of the Ranger-gear-shuttle but I could be wrong. It was a long time ago. It would be hard to expect to come through completely clean with anyone's precious composite boat, so just expect that bumps and scrapes are the price of admission.

Ice-out in Maine is around the bend! Below are websites to consult to know lake and river ice thickness, water level - cfs, cubic feet per second. The cfs is essential to the paddlers knowing if they are capable of the present cfs or not. Keep track of cfs of the rivers you paddle and the preferred levels you enjoy.

Only the paddler knows their ability in a river cfs level. Test yourself. You’re only as good as your last rapid! Dress appropriately and wisely.
And, set your canoe up with floatation and outfitting.

The maine-webcam site lets you know when ice-out occurs on the St. John and more. Checking the USGS site confirms ice out on other rivers in Maine. Watch the cfs for increases and decreases, look at other gauges on the websites. The more you paddle a river the better you know the river and its cfs level. There are many trips on the Allagash other than staying on the main river. Use your imagination and dream a trip.

Arriving at your put-in is the crux during ice-out in Maine. Some roads are impassable due to deep frost. Depending on which river and which network of roads will decide if you get on the river. Prepare your vehicle, bring necessary equipment and knowledge to stay on the roads to get you to the put-in. Place your Delorme Atlas and Gazetteer now. Talk with your shuttle driver.

Ice-out may be a boom or a bust this spring. Who knows for sure? If you are less experienced in whitewater, slow your canoe when paddling whitewater. Less speed is usually better than more speed. Adrenalin is difficult to deny.

Black flies tend to hatch near May 15.


https://www.weather.gov/nerfc/snow snow depth and ice thickness

https://waterdata.usgs.gov/state/maine/ cfs for the rivers with gauges

safewaters.com. to know the levels of many dammed rivers

https://maine-webcams.com/ type Dickey Bridge

https://northmainewoods.org/ use your Delorme Atlas Gazetteer to plan your drive, which roads are passable

https://www.maine.gov/portal/index.html. type reserve lands, click maps-explore!

I have thought of running the Allagash for decades, but alas now I am too old.
In 1960 my family was camped for 2 weeks at Lake Cupsuptic in the Rangely Lakes. We rented a fishing boat and went past an Old Town wood/canvas canoe on a dock that was sale. The price was $40, but we had no roof rack on the old 57 Mercury. My Dad is now 100 but still talks about the canoe that got away.

Curious what experience everyone has with outfitters providing shuttles for the Allagash? I was debating a run all the way to Fort Kent, but it seems many stop at the confluence with the St. John River... not sure whether there are outfitters that would ferry that far.