Camping in Maine

Camping rules worth knowing in Maine

Camping: fourteen days, and only where it is authorised

On public reserved lands nobody may camp more than fourteen days in any 45-day period without written permission from the Bureau, vehicles must use only designated public access roads, off-road travel by wheeled vehicles of any sort is prohibited, and all-terrain vehicles are not permitted except as the Bureau specifies. In the private forest, camping is at designated marked areas for a two week maximum per campsite, first come and first served, with no reservations accepted. In Acadia there is no backcountry camping, no out-of-bounds camping, no overnight parking and no winter camping anywhere in the park. Source 29

Camping in the private forest: marked sites, two weeks, no bookings

Camping in the North Maine Woods is permitted at designated marked areas only, for a maximum of two weeks at any one campsite, and every site is first come and first served because the organisation accepts no reservations at all. Cutting live trees for firewood or for tent poles is prohibited, fires go in the authorised steel rings, and rubbish leaves with you. The fee is paid at the checkpoint on the way in. Source 11

The monument has three drive-to campgrounds, and two now take reservations

At Katahdin Woods and Waters the only campgrounds a vehicle reaches are Sandbank Stream, Lunksoos and the Upper East Branch Campsite; everything else is hike, bike or paddle in. They sit on unpaved roads, campers bring their own water and pack out all rubbish, no services are provided, camping in non-designated sites is not permitted, and the sites are not maintained in winter. Between 22 May and 11 October 2026 reservations are required at Sandbank Stream and Lunksoos and at the Big Seboeis campsite. Source 23

Monument fire rings are already authorised

The Park Service states that campfires at Katahdin Woods and Waters are allowed only in its own stone or metal rings at established campgrounds, campsites and lean-tos, and that fires at those locations are authorised by the Maine Forest Service and need no separate permit. That is an exception to the state permit rule rather than a repeal of it: away from those rings, the Forest Service rules apply as written. Source 20

Roadside camping is allowed on the White Mountain forest, with distances

Roadside camping is permitted on White Mountain National Forest roads that are not inside Forest Protection Areas. In the backcountry, camping and fires are prohibited within 200 feet of certain trails and water bodies, within a quarter mile of shelters, huts and trailheads, within a quarter mile of certain roads, and in the alpine zone where trees are eight feet or less, except on two feet of snow. Source 26

The Evans Notch campgrounds run mid-May to mid-October

Hastings sits three miles south of Route 2 near Gilead at 24 dollars a site, with an extra vehicle six dollars where space allows. Cold River, 14 sites and a picnic pavilion, and Basin a short distance from it, are both given as 15 miles north of Fryeburg at 30 dollars a night. All three run mid-May to mid-October, and Route 113 that serves them is gated closed in winter. Source 24

The Allagash allows vehicle camping access at exactly one place

Inside the Allagash Wilderness Waterway, access by motor vehicle for camping at an authorised campsite is allowed only at Ramsay Ledge. Motor vehicles are prohibited within the One Mile Area around Allagash Lake from 1 May to 30 September, automobiles and trucks are prohibited on ice-covered parts of the watercourse, and all-terrain vehicles are prohibited within the waterway altogether. Camping is prohibited except at authorised campsites, open fires only in the Bureau’s fireplaces, and groups of more than twelve people of any age may not travel or camp there. Source 31

Fires need a permit above three feet, and never under a Red Flag Warning

Since October 2023 any recreational fire with flames over three feet high and three feet across requires a burn permit from the Maine Forest Service. It is unlawful to have a recreational campfire on someone else’s land without permission, which is why the designated campsites matter. It is unlawful to burn outdoors anywhere under a Red Flag Warning, and the Forest Service will not issue a permit during one. Charcoal grills and solid fuels have always needed a permit on the land of another or in the unorganized territories. In the private forest, fires go in the authorised steel rings, and leaving any fire unattended carries a fifty dollar fine under Maine law. Source 34

Firewood does not travel

Untreated firewood from outside Maine is banned, and the state asks that firewood not be moved more than fifty miles even within Maine. In the private forest, cutting live trees for firewood or for tent poles is prohibited outright. Source 32

The full guide to overlanding Maine