Moosehead Lake East Shore Road

The East Shore Road hugs the eastern shoreline of Moosehead Lake for 40 miles from Lily Bay State Park to Kokadjo, providing unfiltered access to Maine’s largest lake through country that looks exactly like it did when Thoreau paddled these waters in the 1850s. The road passes through Kineo Point across from the dramatic Mount Kineo, a 700-foot rhyolite cliff rising straight from the water that served as a sacred quarry site for Native Americans seeking the volcanic glass for tools and weapons. You’ll encounter several stream crossings and rough sections where the road deteriorates near remote coves and inlet streams.

This easy-to-moderate route is passable by most vehicles with decent ground clearance, though spring mud season and winter snow make it inaccessible except during summer and fall months. The road offers dozens of primitive camping spots right on the lakeshore, many accessible only to those willing to drive the rough sections. Bring bug spray – the blackflies and mosquitoes are legendary. What you get is solitude on one of Maine’s most storied waters, with world-class brook trout and lake trout fishing, plus the chance to see moose, bears, and loons in their element.