Campground: Lake St. George State Park.
[Maine Gazetteer, Map 13 B5]
Contact Info: (207) - 589 - 4255
278 Belfast Augusta Road, Liberty, ME 04949
Best way to make reservations: Call the Maine State Park Reservation Center at (207)-624-9950 if you are calling from Maine. If you are calling from outside of Maine, call 1 -800-332-1501.
*You need to have reservations 24 hours in advance. However, there are some sites at most, perhaps all, of the state parks that are 'non-reservable.' This means that if they are open when you arrive you get to have that lot and stay as long as you want to. Not a bad option for a last minute trip! (I did this for this trip. I had called when I was about an hour and a half away to see if there were a few non reservable sites available if I got there. There were so I took my chances that something would still be open and I got lucky!
Directions: From Portland... Take 95 north to exit 113, Stay on Rt 3 for 27.2 miles and Lake St. George State Park will be on the right.
Campsites: (spacious, on top of each other, privacy
Click Here for a map of the campground. Below is a screenshot of the webpage from maine.gov.
Sites ranged from wide open with zero shade, to sites almost enclosed by trees. The waterfront sites 21, 22, 23, 25 have very little shade, but the trade off is you are on the water. (There is a steep drop to the water from most of the sites. Would require some agility to get to the water from the site, but do-able!) I was on site 24, which was huge! It had a little bit of shade and plenty of space... I would totally do this site again... but it is a no-reservable site, so it would be one of those sites you may get lucky enough to have! Here are some pics of some of the sites. (numbers are shown in the pics!)
This was my site, #24. I later moved the truck to the left of the fire pit (leaving enough space so he heat from the fire wouldn't heat up the truck!)
Most lots seem pretty level and easy to park your camper in! (even for newbies!)
Privacy: I didn't feel like my neighbors were too close. The campground loop is pretty small so you will definitely know what your neighbors are up to, but doesn't feel like people are invading your privacy. It may feel different on the waterfront lots that don't have trees to define the lots.
Amenities:
- no hook ups
- fire ring
- picnic table
- bath houses (instead of stalls, they have individual bathrooms complete with a shower, sink, and toilet! Each room locks and has a bench and a place to hang towels. There is no fee for showers. Shower temperatures are preset and shut off automatically... keep pushing the button and you can keep showering!)
- volleyball court/lawn
- Water available at various points in the campground
- A dumping station (I couldn’t tell if there was a fee or not)
- horseshoe pit
- attached to the day use park including beach, picnic tables, charcoal grills
- game rentals (bocce, cornhole, etc.)
- Firewood available for purchase and a cute cart to haul it to your site
- kayak/canoe/paddleboard rentals
- hydro-bike rental
- Sink for doing dishes
Fees: $20 per night for Maine residents, $30 for non residents. Fees vary from one park to another, here is a link to more info about the rates in Maine State Parks. ($5.00 fee per day is charged when making reservations vs. just showing up. Fee is for families, parent(s) and children under 18)
Notes: I arrived Tuesday 7/25 around 4:00 or so, got in no problems. Set up on Lot #24, a non reservable site, booked it through Friday morning, but stayed until Saturday!
Tuesday night, we got set up. The facilities (bathrooms) are very nice, especially for a single person with a dog when there are rules about not leaving your dog unattended and not leaving your dog in a vehicle… (how are people supposed to shower with those conditions?) They are spacious and each room has a shower sink and toilet, can you say privacy?
Outside the bathrooms is a nice sink where you can do dishes.
After setting up I took Gladys for a nice walk. She deserved it. Having been in the car for practically two full days she was amazing, so calm and relaxed. She seemed very happy to be smelling things outside of the truck! We walked the small loop at the campground. There are just about 40 sites here, 38 to be exact. Some are on the waterfront and others are not. The waterfront ones are pretty and have a pretty steep drop off to get from the campsite to the lake. (I would totally do that if I was camping there, but it is important to note some agility is required to launch from the waterfront sites.) There is a public boat launch not even a mile west of here and think I would use that if I am going to kayak here, just as easy as pulling my kayak down towards a launch’able part of the shore. (Although there is a place behind the horseshoe pits which may work well…)
There is a non campground part of the state park… which is probably common to most state parks… it is beautiful. LOTS of picnic tables, many of which have charcoal grills near them, a playground, a pavilion of sorts for large parties complete with a sink for convenient clean up, bathrooms (again single rooms, ideal for families) and a beach area complete with a life guard station. Dogs can be in that part of the park, leashed of course, but cannot go on the actual beach area… However… I love this.. there is another water access point closer towards the campground, a small beach type area, where dogs are allowed to swim, but must be on leash. Gladys was excited to get to the water’s edge but it was choppy and the wind was making waves and Gladys wasn’t sure if she was under attack or being invited to play… so I waded into the water and she galloped in after me and then went nuts! Splashing, running, twirling, it was so funny! It was like she was saying, ‘at last!!!”
On our walk we saw some signs for game rentals, $5 per day for Bocce, cornhole, connect four, and maybe one or two other games. That’s a good deal! Also say signs for kayak rentals and a hydro-bike rental I think the cost was $5 an hour.
We continued our walk and came back to the camper and cooked dinner (marinated steak tips from On the Vine in Scarborough, Maine… OMG SO GOOD!) and started a small fire.
As a kid part of the fun of camping was to have treats by the fire… again trying to eat healthy I had found a couple of things to try. Night one… roasted strawberry marshmallow fluff… huh? I had seen it online… basically you dip or spread marshmallow fluff on the strawberry then roast it like a marshmallow over the fire… sounded good… looked good, especially when toasted…. and tasted pretty good!
I think people who like marshmallows would really like it. I am not huge on just a plain toasted marshmallow by itself so having it surround a strawberry was something I could take or leave, but It was unique and fun! I ate two… then ate some strawberries with chocolate hummus, which I prefer to the marshmallow! (YES, chocolate hummus is a thing!)
Wednesday 7/25 got up early and it was damp and misting. Made breakfast and waited to see if it would clear up. It did. Gladys and I got ready to go, searching for a place to kayak. We easily found Stevens Pond, but it was a bit windy and that seems to be a place to do on a less windy day… so then we searched for Trues Pond. we found the north launch and it was pretty inaccessible, to my standards - which means the muck factor was too high for me to get my feet in the water! and the pond was so shallow there was a narrow place that would access the rest of the pond, but the water was too low… so we went in search of the launch at the other end. We ended up on a dirt road off a less narrow dirt road at a dam. Water there also looked super shallow and I wondered how far we would get… but we decided to go for it and had a blast! For more about that adventure click here, Trues Pond. Here are some pics from that adventure!
We got back to the campground in the afternoon and had lunch then decided to go scope out other paddling places in hopes of getting on the water Thursday. We found two possibilities, one was VERY remote but doable and the other right along Rt. 3. We stopped at Peavey’s General Store to get some ice for the cooler. (Humidity is the enemy of ice in your cooler!) I then drove past the campground to see if there was a gas station nearby for before we leave and there is, about a mile west of the campground along with a nice convenience store and a small ice cream stand. (I did not sample!) Between the campground and that gas station is the public boat launch. It is a really nice launch!
We got back to the campground made dinner and started a fire. It was cool and damp so the fire only lasted long enough to make what we called in our family ‘Mountain pies.’ You take a pie iron, two slices of bread and a filling of your choosing… butter the bread (butter side out) scoop in filling, I chose blueberry pie filling I had made ahead of time, but you could do any pie filling or savory filled with pizza toppings, etc…. I only made one because I was satisfied with that, but it was very good! (Either bread slices have gotten smaller or the pie irons have gotten bigger… the bread did not get as well sealed as I remember it getting when the pie iron pinched off the edges of the bread…but still good!)
We went inside the camper just after 8:30 and I spent some time writing for the kayaking blog. It rained throughout the night… I don’t mind the sound of the rain on my camper at night at all… kind of soothing!
Thursday
Rainy, pretty steady in the morning. I used that time to do most of this blog post! It cleared off a bit in the afternoon but the forecast said thunder showers… we drove into Belfast and found a dog friendly bookstore and a dog friendly gift shop. Gladys got treats at both! Spoiled dog!
Friday... Originally I was going to head home on Friday but it was supposed to be sunny and I decided to stay one more day. We got up early and paddled Kingdom Bog... So beautiful! (Blog coming soon!)
We then returned to the campground for lunch and Gladys took a quick dip in the water. It was so humid! In the afternoon we paddled Stevens Pond. We saw another family of loons. Very nice! (Blog here)
We got back to the campground and relaxed fora while and got another campfire going. Then the rain came... again! It rained pretty hard with some rumbles of thunder. At one point I went outside to grab something from the cooler and noticed the moon. It was full, peeking out between some clouds.
Staying here was a great experience. It was great for camping AND kayaking. I think a lot of people have found this place. I noticed that there were a lot of people coming in and leaving the campground, new campers coming in and other people leaving. Many people stay for a night or two at most. A few of us were there longer!
OK.. here are my likes, loves, and not so impressed (though it was hard to find things that I didn't care for!)
LIKED:
water stations throughout the campground
Family friendly! Kids were here riding bikes, playing volleyball (yes there is a volleyball net!), laughing and having fun!
All dogs are leashed
If you have guests who are senior citizens they can come in and visit for the day for free!
Non - reservable sites - means I can show up and there may be a site open! (Call ahead for even better odds!)
Quiet Hours and other rules clearly stated and, I would guess, enforced.
Close enough to Belfast to explore if one wanted to
Various ‘campers’ staying here from tents, to truck campers, to pop ups, to fifth wheels, and even saw an airstream!
LOVED:
Bathrooms! Shower/bathroom combined! Private! Love it! (There is an electrical outlet for those who need it! I should note you cannot control the temperature of the shower, but it was fine! Also the water turns off automatically so you have to push the button multiple times throughout the shower, but it works!) Oh and the bathhouse has bathrooms on front and back… most people seem to not walk to the back…
outdoor dish sink at the end of the bath house… I used it a couple of times instead of heating up water in the camper, very nice
Close to a lot of paddling places
Friendly staff/rangers
A separate dog Friendly Beach area
separate campground area from public use area
Price… for about $20 a day (plus some nominal fees) you can camp! And that is a family rate!
Most sites are good sized and seem pretty easy to back into (for those trailer drivers who are not yet experts, drivers like me!)
Great for coming with a group, could be close to one another but not on top of each other.
Dog Friendly
Grounds are very well maintained… lawns mowed, roads and paths are in good condition, CLEAN (bathrooms look a little dirty because they are concrete and plastic liners for the shower, but they were cleaned well, daily.)
Hearing the loons at night
NOT SO IMPRESSED:
- When the campground lost power they locked all the restrooms without any signs. I had gotten up early to shower and ended up coming back and taking a lantern into the bathroom and showered by lantern). I learned later in the day when I really needed the bathroom, that the power was out in the whole town and they were not sure when they would get back up… and was directed to the outhouse in the back part of the campground… Instead I walked towards the beach/park area and found one of their restrooms open and used it! I can do outhouses in a pinch… but prefer not to!
- The state needs 24 hours to confirm a reservation… so you could be on the road and need a place to stay and they cannot give you a site for that night… you have to show up at the campground and see if there is one available… (turned out okay this time for me, but I called ahead to the campground and crossed all of my fingers and toes!)
- The campground is adjacent to Rt. 3, traffic is noticeable but dies down pretty well at night.
Would I return?
ABSOLUTELY!
Overall Impressions: This is a great campground for people camping solo, in pairs, or with family/friends. I heard some of the people saying that they live pretty locally but they and their kids love to come here to have access to the lake and they launch their boat at the public launch nearby and have a great time. It is very family friendly without it being too overcrowded with kids, if that makes sense. There were a variety of people camping here, variety in age and in camping gear being used. It is a very welcoming, well kept campground that is dog friendly!
Click here for another link on more info about camping at state park campgrounds from the state of Maine.
Happy Camping!
