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Region: Maine Lakes and Mountains
Length: 52 miles
Travel Time: a day to enjoy or 2.5 hours
Highlights: bicycling, boating, camping, canoeing, kayaking, fishing, foliage viewing, golf, hiking trails, lake, pond, river views, mountain views, skiing, snowmobiling, wildlife
Side Trips: Angel Falls;Appalachian Trail; Byron School House; Coos Canyon; Oquossoc village; Rangeley Lakes Historical Society; Rangeley Lakes State Park, Rangeley Logging Museum; Saddleback Mountain Ski Area;Wilhelm Reich Museum
Routes 4 and 17 wrap around Rangeley Lake, the centerpiece of this scenic route, like a loose scarf. Beginning in the mid-1800s, sportsmen journeyed to this ruggedly pristine region in search of fabled 10 to 12 pound brook trout and landlocked salmon.
Today, this four-season destination attracts visitors who love the outdoors for fishing, camping, hiking, bicycling, boating, hunting, moosewatching, snowmobiling and skiing.
The route scales the Appalachian Mountain ridgeline before dropping to rolling valleys and hills. The Height of Land on Route 17 is the route?s showstopper, with stunning views of Mooselookmeguntic and Upper Richardson lakes, Toothaker Island and the richly forested mountainsides. Travelers search for moose that frequent the region?s roadsides feeding on tender grasses, leaves and branches. This is also a excellent route for viewing foliage in the autumn when the surrounding mountainsides are painted vivid orange, yellow and red.
Information
Rangeley Lakes Chamber of Commerce
207-864-5510
www.rangeleymaine.com