The Rangeley Lakes Loop

We are way behind in getting travel posts published this summer because we're having too much fun traveling! So we won't be confused about when each "wandering" happened, we'll start each blog with its actual date.

August 31 and September 1, 2022

We were glad that we had such beautiful weather to hike and kayak around Moosehead Lake the last two days, because the rain started at 6:00 a.m., and continued all morning today! We used the rainy weather to catch up on laundry in our 50-amp-full-hook-up site. Then we got on the road for our 110-mile trip in the motor home to our next camp site. That is a longer-than-usual relocation drive for us, as we traveled west on Highway 2 to the western edge of Maine. It was a 2.5-hour drive through forests that are changing into their fall foliage finery. We drove across farm country, by produce stands, meeting a continuous stream of logging trucks. We crossed the Kennebec River and drove through towns with names like Skowhegan and Norridgewok. On this last day of August, the high temperature was 69 degrees as we climbed into the foothills of the western Maine mountains. We arrived at Stoney Brook Recreation in Hanover, Maine, and took a little time to plan what we would do in this new-to-us area called the Rangeley Lakes.

We put together a road trip that would show us the sights in this area around Rangeley Lake. By the next morning, we had a list of places to visit, and we left the campground at 8:30 a.m. The rain was gone, and we had blue skies and 56 degrees. Our list (and the number of miles and minutes between each location) included:

1) Lovejoy Bridge (13 miles/15 minutes)

We are now in covered bridge country, and this one didn't impress us much as we approached. With warning signs about its height and weight limitations, we were glad that we weren't planning to go this way in the motor home!

Past those warning signs, the Lovejoy was a handsome wooden bridge.

Based on first impressions, we didn't expect to be at this stop long. But the view was especially nice with the bridge reflected in the still water of the water below. If you look closely, you can see Denisa peeking out the bridge window.

Denisa loves covered bridges and the pretty places that they take us.

As we drove the narrow gravel roads this morning, we had to giggle when google maps took us past 3-ton bridges and little dirt roads that were closed for bear hunting. We laughed out loud when google announced, "You are on the best route" as we made our way on these little-traveled roads.

2) Angel Falls (19 miles/43 minutes) 

Whew! That was a slow road through prime moose and bear country. We didn't find either one, but we did find the trail head for Angel Falls. In the picture below, you can see that Mark is the one that is good at scrambling across rocks and getting close to the water. Having him in the picture gives some scale to the size of the waterfall.

On the other hand, Denisa is the photographer that is content to stay in places that are easier. You can now see the rocky path that Mark had to climb over to get to the base of the waterfall.

Getting to the falls involved crossing six streams and two rivers. Hikes this remote don't have fancy bridges to help with those crossings. We were glad to find some rocks and logs to help keep our feet dry.

It was fun to find a few wildflowers still blooming here in the mountains of Maine.

We didn't find any moose, so we'll have to settle for this grouse . ..

and this chipmunk that posed for us.

We are in an area known for its moose sightings, but still no moose! Once we got back to the pavement, we did start seeing moose warning signs. Does that count?!?

3) Height of Land (11 miles/20 minutes) 

This is a roadside stop along Route 17 that offers excellent views of some of the Rangeley Lakes and the surrounding mountains.

The White Mountains are in the background, with Mooselookmeguntic Lake right in front of us. Just like you, we have no idea how to pronounce that 17-letter lake name.

The Appalachian Trail crosses the road right here at the Height of Land rest area. So we took this opportunity to hike another little section of this famous trail.

We watched as a van pulled up and four AT through-hikers piled in. There is a pretty organized network of volunteers and entrepreneurs that provide transportation to hikers that need to come off the trail for some groceries or a night in a motel with a shower. We have provided free transportation for these hikers before, and you might need a little air freshener for your vehicle after transporting four hikers that haven't showered in a while.

The rest area has some good signage that explains the AT, as well as the natural flora and fauna of this area. These educational signs also gave us some additional information on stops we will want to make today. This map is also helpful to understanding where this Rangeley Lakes area is and what it looks like.

4) Noyes Overlook (5 miles/7 minutes) 

The higher we drove up Highway 17, the better the views  were. We are now looking east over more of the Rangeley Lakes. In the distance we can see Bald Mountain, another destination for today.

At these higher elevations the leaves are turning to some fine shades of orange and red. It is 57 degrees on this first day of September. With 20 mile-per-hour winds in the mountains, it feels cold!

5) South Bog Conservation Area (4 miles/4 minutes) 

The stops are getting closer together once we got into the heart of the Rangeley Lakes area. We stopped here because it was mentioned on the road-side sign earlier. We took a little hike long the South Bog Stream until it got too wet and boggy to continue.

Those wet conditions are great for growing bright mushrooms.

We are also enjoying the fall colors, as the leaves are changing right before our eyes.

6) Bald Mountain Trail head (7 miles/11 minutes) 

We drove through another tongue-twister town--Oquossoc--to get to the trail head for another hike. The first half-mile was a nice stroll in the forest, with some prolific mushrooms that have totally taken over this dead tree carcass.

This fallen log has become home to velvety moss and hundreds of little mushrooms.

After that first easy stroll, we then had to scramble up the rocks to gain some serious elevation. At the summit of Bald Mountain is a fire tower, for even better views of Rangeley Lakes. 

From here we can get a different angle of Mooselookmeguntic Lake and Cupsuptic Lake.

We would have preferred a blue-sky day, but we got a dramatic cover of clouds instead. When we saw some lightning in the distance, we quickly decided it was time to get off that metal fire tower. We started a quick descent down that steep rocky trail. We knew that the climb down would be much harder in the rain on wet slippery rocks, so we were glad to make it all the way down before the rain showers started. 

We're not finding any moose in this part of Maine known for its moose population. So we had to settle for a banana slug on this moist day.

7) Cascade Stream Gorge (12 miles/19 minutes) 

We drove the entire length of Rangeley Lake, and now we have headed back south for the first time today. We stopped in for another hike where Cascade Stream has carved a gorge through this rocky mountain.

We stopped at three different waterfalls created by this stream.

As the water is coming down, our hiking trail is heading up. We had help from several new ladders that have been added to this nice hike in the forest.

8) Smalls Falls (9 miles/12 minutes) 

This waterfall was named for the Smalls family, not because it is small in size. This was a nice walk in the woods to get to a sizable waterfall in a colorful canyon. It was chilly outside and the water was equally cold, so we were surprised to find a couple teenagers swimming in the pool of water at the bottom of the falls when we arrived. These Mainers are hardy! If you look carefully, you can see Mark perched on a rock near the top of the waterfall. While it looked like we were going to get rained on all day, we managed to stay dry. It actually turned out to be a perfect day for hiking with high temperatures in the 50s.

Another 0.2-mile hike up the hill brought us above an upper pool that few people will visit. We love to take pictures beside waterfalls. While this is a small one, it doesn't look like it was any trouble to sit on that rock at the top.

But Denisa took a picture of the giant leap that Mark had to land just right to get to that perch above the falls. It was actually quite amazing that he didn't fall on the waterfall.

After our circle of eight stops, we finally headed back to Stoney Brook Campground at 5:30. From our last stop, it was another 55 miles/1 hour and 10 minutes to get home. Even though we saw lots of signs warning us of moose on the road, we didn't see even one on this day of driving through the forests of Rangeley Lakes. The locals blame the decline in the moose population on moose winter ticks and lottery hunting. Whatever is causing the decline, we are sad that we still haven't seen a Maine moose. We have, however, seen hundreds of wild turkeys on these roads.

If you add up all the numbers, we drove 136 miles and spent 3.5 hours driving in this Rangeley Lake loop that we would recommend to others. We hiked a total of 7 miles today to get a closer look at some of the 4,000 peaks and canyons that surround the lakes. We have once again been blessed to wander into more of God's wonders of Rangeley Lakes.