Nordic skiing & biathlon
NMCT · Fort Kent · State Park
Twenty kilometers of groomed track at NMCT, plus the Fort Kent Outdoor Center and Aroostook State Park. Rentals are inexpensive or free at many venues.
Home / Recreation
Get Outside in the County
Ski hills, Nordic trails, lakes, rivers, forests, and long stretches of snowmobile trail. Pick a season and start exploring.
The big five + one
Featured places to play
Six well-known places to start, from ski hills and groomed trails to wildlife refuges and state parks.
Big Rock Ski Mountain
Mars Hill
The County's alpine ski area on the flank of 1,700-foot Mars Hill Mountain. Night skiing, tubing, terrain parks, and ski school, run by the nonprofit Maine Winter Sports Center. Summer brings hiking, hang gliding, and mountain views for days.
Northern Maine Community Trails (NMCT)
Presque Isle
750+ acres of public trails behind the Presque Isle side of the old Nordic Heritage Center. Nordic skiing, mountain biking, hiking, snowshoeing, biathlon, open year-round, free, groomed by volunteers, with a lodge and rentals on site.
Quoggy Jo Ski Center
Presque Isle
The volunteer-run alpine hill that taught generations of County kids to shred. After-school, weekend, and youth programs keep alpine skiing affordable in northern Maine.
Aroostook State Park
Presque Isle
Maine's very first state park, established 1938. Echo Lake swimming and camping, trails on Quoggy Jo Mountain, and groomed ski and snowshoe trails in winter. Minutes from downtown.
Aroostook National Wildlife Refuge
Limestone / Caribou
A 5,000-acre refuge carved out of the old Loring Air Force Base. Wildlife, walking trails, beaver ponds, and a huge open sky, the refuge that reclaimed the runway.
fws.gov/refuge/aroostook · Phone: (207) 454-7161 · Directions
Fort Kent Outdoor Center
Fort Kent
Cross-country skiing and biathlon near the St. John Valley. The center has groomed trails, rentals, and plenty of snow.
Winter
When the snow flies, we play
Snowmobiling & the ITS
County-wide
Thousands of miles of groomed Interconnected Trail System routes cross the County, linking every town. This is arguably the best snowmobile riding in the east.
Ice fishing
Portage Lake & beyond
When Portage Lake freezes, half the County shows up in shacks. Smelt, togue, pickerel, and the social sport that makes January bearable.
Snowshoeing
Almost everywhere
Your own two feet and a pair of shoes are all you need. Most trail systems and parks are open to snowshoers all winter.
Water
Rivers, lakes & canoe country
Allagash Wilderness Waterway
Allagash & beyond
The 92-mile canoe trip of the East. Chain Lakes, Churchill Lake, rapids, portages, and the Allagash River running north to the St. John. Reserve campsites ahead; bring bug juice.
St. John River
St. John Valley
The border river that made the Valley, flatwater paddling, remote campsites, and the famous Festival of the River. Put in at the Valley towns and drift between two countries.
Aroostook River
Ashland to Fort Fairfield
The County's home river, canoeing, landlocked salmon, and a nice stretch of flatwater from Ashland through Presque Isle country.
Fish River Chain of Lakes
Portage · Sinclair · Winterville
Portage, Cross, Square, Long, Fish River Lakes and the rest, a chain of canoe-and-carry lakes famous for trout, togue, and total quiet. Fish River Falls is the scenic reward.
The big lakes
County-wide
Long Lake at St. Agatha is the biggest. Eagle Lake, Cross, Square, Portage, Madawaska Lake, Pleasant Lake, Crystal and Big Machias, each with beaches, camps, and afternoon sunsets.
Wheels, hills & horizons
Trails, mountains & the big woods
Mountain biking
NMCT & everywhere
Over 20 miles of singletrack at NMCT with routes for every skill, plus ATV-track riding all over the County and endless quiet gravel roads.
ATV & UTV riding
Haynesville, Island Falls & beyond
Hundreds of miles of public ATV trail, the Haynesville Woods south is a classic, and most towns host a friendly club that maps the routes.
Hiking & views
Mars Hill · Quoggy Jo & more
Mars Hill Mountain, Quoggy Jo Mountain, and quiet summit trails all over. No 4,000-footers here, just sky, farmland, and foothills that feel like the top of the world.
Hang gliding & paragliding
Mars Hill
Mars Hill's mountain face is one of the most famous hang-gliding sites in the East. Watch wings from the launch, or take a tandem and join them.
Woods, water & weekend plans
More ways to spend a day
North Maine Woods
North & west of Ashland
Millions of acres of working forest open to the public, campsites, ponds, moose, and roads that end in nowhere good. Pay at the checkpoints and behave like a guest.
Golf courses
Limestone · Presque Isle · Houlton & more
Lime Rock at the old Loring base, the Presque Isle Country Club, Houlton, Mars Hill, and more, bargain greens fees and no start times to speak of.
Hunting & fishing
County-wide
Big woods, big game, and cold ponds. Deer, moose, bear, grouse, trout, togue, and salmon, the County runs on hunting and fishing licenses in the fall.
Camping & cabins
Everywhere
State park campgrounds, lakeside camps, sporting camps, and lean-tos on the waterway. If you can't find a campsite in Aroostook, you aren't trying.
Trail conditions change by the hour in northern Maine. Check venue pages (NMCT posts conditions), ask at local general stores, and always tell someone your plan before a big backcountry day.