The Maine Highlands

The Maine Highlands covers the broad north-central interior of Maine — the largely uninhabited country running from Bangor north to Mount Katahdin and west to Moosehead Lake. The terrain stacks from working-river country along the Penobscot at Bangor up through deep boreal forest, glacial lakes, and the rugged 4,000-and-5,000-foot peaks of Baxter State Park. Mount Katahdin (5,267 feet) is Maine’s highest summit and the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail. Penobscot and Piscataquis counties cover the region. Bangor anchors the south — the largest city and the regional commercial hub; Millinocket sits at the southern gateway to Baxter State Park and Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument; Greenville anchors the southern end of Moosehead Lake (the largest lake in Maine and the largest mountain lake east of the Mississippi); Dover-Foxcroft holds the central farm country. Baxter State Park, the Appalachian Trail’s Hundred-Mile Wilderness, and Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument concentrate the public-land scenery. Most trips here run wilderness-focused. Baxter State Park draws hikers and Katahdin summit-baggers; Moosehead Lake handles the cabin-and-fishing tradition; the Hundred-Mile Wilderness draws AT thru-hikers; Bangor’s Stephen King House and the Cole Land Transportation Museum carry the cultural side.