Review Detail

Most of the critiques you have read on this web site concerning Great Pond in Maine are loaded with compliments. It is hard to find anything wrong here. The staff, the location, the great outdoors all come together to make an ideal location for a visit. But there are some things you should be aware of. First, this is a somewhat remote park. Look at the map of Maine and you will notice there isn’t much in this area but wilderness. The drive in from Maine’s Highway 9 is seven miles long. The road is asphalt, but it is in rough shape. The winters have taken their toll. Make sure to check your rig for closed and latched cabinets and refrigerator doors, etc, before starting in. My Verizon based iPhone could only find one bar’s worth of reception and for the most part was useless. I cured that by driving a mile or so back up the entry road toward the main highway where reception was ok.. Medical help is a long way off as are restaurants and grocery stores. The lodge has candy, ice cream, a soda machine, beer and ice and some subsistence items. My suggestion is that you stock up before you drive in. A good place to do that is at the Air National Guard Base commissary and exchange at the Bangor Airport. Both facilities are small but adequate. Groceries on the economy are expensive. If you opt to drive out to Great Pond before going back to the ANG base it will take about an hour both directions. Bangor and sister city Brewer are full service towns. They have the usual array of services for a city of about 40,000 including two Walmarts. They could just as well be one city. Only a bridge across the Penobscot River separates them. Ok - back to the park. Internet coverage is good, but only available at the lodge. It does not reach out into the park. There are two free computers for your use in the lodge and the staff can help you set up a free internet account for your laptop if you so desire. My Verizon Jetpack did not work anywhere in the park. You can do your wash at the lodge. The single high capacity washer and dryer are used by the staff to do laundry for the cabins and yurts in the park so you need to coordinate with them as to the best time to do your wash. It will cost $5 to do one complete washer and dryer load. The park has many watercraft for rent and the ponds 679 acres make it big enough to enjoy using any of them.There are fishing boats with small motors, kayaks, canoes, standing paddle boards, and paddle boats. They also have a pontoon boat for rent. There are two floating docks anchored out in the pond for swimmers. One Saturday the staff took a group of us out for a ride around the lake in the pontoon boat at no cost. Very nice 30 minute trip. We got to see a young bald eagle, and several loons. On separate days we rented a small fishing boat and motor and a kayak. Both times we saw three bald eagles. Fishing is reportedly excellent in the pond although we got blanked twice. Small mouth bass and trout are reportedly resident in abundance. Hiking and biking prospects are also good. On rainy days the lodge has a ping pong table, a pin ball machine, a skeet game, a large screen tv, games, tables and puzzles, and more. They brew coffee daily, and may pop some popcorn if you are nice to them. They have a very large selection of older non blu ray dvd’s that you can check out for a buck a night. The collection is fully indexed. The campground itself is one of the nicest we have stayed in. The 10 RV spots are well isolated from each other. There is no crowding. During the two week period we were there several Class A’s and some larger 5th wheels came and went so your rig should fit if it isn’t absolutely humongous. Spot #14 is the best if you want to be close to the lake with 12, and 14 good second choices. There are no bad choices for parking spots though - just different ones. We stayed in spot #8 which allowed me to “hit” Direct TV satellite 101. My roof top digital antenna did not work in the campground. There are sink and shower facilities in the park and also in the lodge. Both locations are absolutely immaculate and the water is HOT! Trash is picked up from your RV spot every day, and there are separate recycling containers at each site. There are no sewer hookups. The dump is centrally located though and easy to use. Although not immediately relevant to things RV I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the cabins and yurts available here. There are 5 yurts, 4 in the RV campground and one at a remote lakeside location that is accessible only by boat. If you aren’t familiar with yurts they are a step up from tent camping. There are also 13 or 14 cabins in the park. About half are rustic and half are modern. All are very nicely equipped. Call the office for details. Now you know why this place is rated so highly. It is a winner in nearly every respect. If you are looking for a north woods camping experience I can’t imagine a better place. Come after Labor Day and you will have the park to yourself. Come in May or June at your peril. Black Flies abound. We would return here in a heartbeat. The only reason I downgraded amenities was due to lack of full services.