Fodor's Expert Review New England Outdoor Center

Just 8 miles from Baxter State Park, Mt. Katahdin rises across Millinocket Lake from this 1,400-acre four-season great outdoors resort, with older renovated log cabins—and a few newer ones— scattered beneath tall pines on a grassy nub of land jutting into Millinocket Lake. There are shaded upscale “green” units, mostly spacious two- or three-bedroom cabins, set back from a cove; cabins sleep 4–14, many have propane fireplaces or wood stoves, most have propane grills, and all have TVs and kitchens. River Drivers Restaurant is conveniently located between the two lodging clusters; amenities also include a playground, swimming area, and lakeside benches. About a mile from the cabins, NEOC’s Activity Center is the base for a slew of outfitting and guiding offerings and home to Knife Edge Brewing. Offsite, NEOC has two rustic pond-side “forest cabins” and, a couple miles from Baxter, the seasonal Penobscot Outdoor Center on Pockwockamus Pond. This wooded campground offers tent sites as well as simple canvas tents and wood-frame cabins with cots and bunks. A circular fireplace anchors the open-plan base lodge, where a towering window wall reveals glimpses of the pond through the trees.