If you want the charm and allure of the Maine coast without the hustle and bustle of a place like Acadia National Park, consider spending some time exploring Camden Hills State Park. The park is located on the Maine along the central portion of the Maine coast, just north of town of Camden and Rockland and south of Belfast.

Camden Hills SP is easy to get to, Route 1 (the main coastal road in Maine) goes right through the park and the park is about a half an hour away from Interstate 95. The park offers a campground, hiking trails, a picnic area and rocky ocean shoreline to explore – all without the crowds you’ll find at Maine’s more famous coastal park, Acadia National Park.

I lucked out when I lived in the Augusta area – this park was only about 40 minutes at the most away from me. Whenever I had a free afternoon or some time on the weekends, I’d head over to do a quick hike up Mount Megunticook or any of the other nifty destinations throughout the park.

Location, Location, Location…

Is there really a bad spot on the Maine coast?

Camden Hills SP hugs the coastline and features a mix of ocean, forests and mountains for visitors to explore. Walk along the rocky beaches (good luck swimming, the water is always cold it seems) or climb up mountains that seem to rise up out of the ocean – either way there’s a little of something for everyone.

While most of the ‘mountains’ in Camden Hills SP wouldn’t be considered more than hills elsewhere, but because they rise right up from the shoreline – they are very impressive and make for excellent hiking destinations. Mt. Battie is a favorite climb with an open rock summit – and if you’re not up for hiking – there is an auto road. From the top you can look out across the town of Camden, Penobscot Bay and on a really clear day – you can see Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park. Another favorite hike is Mount Megunticook, which is the highest mountain in the park. While its summit is not quite as open, there are excellent views there too.

Camping

There is a 100 site campground in the park that offers full-service bathrooms with showers. The individual sites though don’t offer electricity or water services. There are sites available for both campers and tents.

Reservations are usually needed to stay in the campground and you can either call the park at 207-236-3109 or go through Maine’s web based reservation system for all state parks at: http://www.state.me.us/doc/parks/reservations/index.html

The entire campground is well-maintained and are laid out in a series of loops that keep campers somewhat separated from one another. The sites are all wooded to various degrees and while you’ll see your neighbors in the next site, you are not on top of one another in each loop. It’s a pleasant place to camp and if you don’t want or need the site hook-ups, you should enjoy yourself.

Hiking

There are five major trailheads scattered throughout the park (you’ll need a map to find them all) and they access the various mountains, ponds and other sites throughout the park. The trailheads aren’t really marked that well – you’ll notice a pull-off on the side of the road or parking lot and there will be an information board. However there’s no on-street notice of the trailhead.

The first time I was looking for one of them, I drove by before I realized I had missed it.

There’s about 30 miles of trail and most of them focus on the mountains in the park – with trails that climb and loop around the mountains. Most hikes are in the moderate category and are only at most 3 or 4 miles long. There’s some opportunity to make longer hikes by linking some of the trails together and making larger loops.

The trails are well maintained and well marked. The trail junctions are generally well marked, but anyone hiking in the park would be better off with a good map of the area, since not all trail junctions are adequately marked and you could get easily confused without a map.

For a detailed map and trail description of the park, the Appalachian Mountain Club publishes the Maine Mountain Guide, which includes Camden Hills SP along with the rest of Maine.

More…

While probably not quite as stunning and spectacular as the coast of Acadia National Park, Camden Hills SP nonetheless offers some stunning ocean coastline to explore. There’s plenty of undisturbed and undeveloped rocky and craggy coastline to walk along.

If you’re not into hiking or camping – the park has a fairly large picnic area with picnic tables and charcoal grills for those who are looking for a quick and easy day-trip destination along the coast.

There are fees for the park, but it depends on where you are going. Obviously the campground costs money, as does the auto road up Mount Battie and the picnic area, but most of the trailheads are simply along the side of public roadways and you can park and hike without paying a day-use fee.

Watch out for thunderstorms in the summertime, especially if you are on the summits of mountains. I was on Mount Megunticook and a storm suddenly blew up over the area. The mountain summits are open rock areas that are very exposed. You should get down into the forested sides of the mountains and into the valley as quickly as possible (yeah, I jogged down, especially after I saw lightening hit the next mountain over).

Why you should go

Camden Hills SP is a great stop along a trip to Maine and a great destination in of itself. There’s enough to do in the park to keep someone busy for anything between a day to a long weekend.

There are the mountains to climb, views to behold and coastline to walk – all in a fairly compact area that is easy to get around and easy to explore.

The park is centrally located along the Maine coast and for most visitors heading to Acadia National Park or any other points north, Camden Hills SP makes an excellent stop to give yourself another look at the Maine coast – and gives you a chance to enjoy it without quite so many people as there are in other parks.

Final Thoughts

Camden Hills State Park is a great destination along the central Maine coastline. It offers hiking, camping, picnicking and a beautiful coastline to explore.

The park, while crowded at times, is nowhere near as crowded as Maine’s more famous coastal park to the north, Acadia National Park – but offers many similar activities for visitors.

For people who don’t mind roughing it in the campground, or taking the time to hike and explore the park – you won’t be disappointed with Camden Hills State Park. It’s an easy park to get to that has plenty of recreational opportunities for almost everyone.


More Maine Parks...
Baxter State Park / Lily Bay State Park / Acadia National Park


Recommended: Yes

Best time to go: June-August
Recommended for: Anybody
Review Topic: Overview