Coos Canyon, Mooselookmeguntic, Rangeley, Richardson, & Umbagog Lakes Of Maine

On our second day in Hanover, Maine, we decided to take a day drive to visit some of the lakes in the area, as well as take the scenic route. We left Stony brook Campground going east on Hwy. 2  to  Hwy 17, then turned north. As we drove through the small town of Byron, we saw the sign for Coos Canyon. We needed a break so we pulled over.

This is a nice spot for a break, picnic and or a swim.

We walked over to a bridge, and looked down.

I tried to get a close up, but the two boys are still small in the picture. They were jumping into the stream. Further up, there were many others enjoying the water. There was also a stand across the street, for a fee, they would give you instructions how to pan for gold and then give you pans and told you where to go to search for your riches!

We continued on Hwy. 17 north and started to climb. There was a pull out with several cars, so we stopped. I walked back down the road where the best views were, but it was not as good in the picture as it was in the real! Sorry you had to be there.

Not much farther, we got to the best view yet. Joe taking a picture!

An absolute gorgeous view of Mooselookmeguntic Lake.

Mooselookguntic is the second largest lake in Maine with 16,300 acres. It sits at 1,467 ft above sea level.

Further up the road, we came to the Rangeley Scenic Overlook .

View of Rangeley Lake from the south.

Rangeley Lake covers 6,000 acres, and is 1,518 ft above sea level.

We drove north, then through the town of Rangeley. We then took Hwy. 4 for a couple miles for another viewing point, on the north east corner of the lake.

Doctors Island on Rangeley Lake.

We drove back through the town of Rangeley and past the Rangeley Inn .

We found the public park down town and sat at a covered picnic table to have our lunch. This guy was kayaking and tipped it over, so he is walking it into shore. I was just getting  the lake views from the north side of the lake, and he just happened to be in it. We look at prices of homes in the area at a Real Estate window in town. Most homes sold for $400,000 and up.

From the town of Rangeley, we took hwy. 16 to Richardson Lake. To get to the lake we drove a very narrow road that seemed like 5 miles to the lake. The parking lot was full with cars that had boat trailers or kayaks racks. Unfortunately I didn't up load the right picture, because as I was writing the blog, I realized this was Umbagog Lake.

After Richardson Lake, we took Hwy. 16 across the border into New Hampshire for a few miles. When we reached Hwy. 26, we turned southeast. Umbagog Lake lies half in New Hampshire and half in Maine.

Umbagog Lake at Paradise Point.

Off to the right of the picture you can see someone swimming. This person was so far out from the shore, when I first saw her, I just saw something jumping out of the water. I thought it was a fish that kept jumping out of the water. I  shortly realized it was a person. When the lady got to shore, I noticed she was at least 60 years old. I was impressed. All the lakes were very clear and clean.

We entered back into Maine on Hwy. 26.

Southeast of Umbagog, we came to the Grafton Notch.

We stopped at a pull out that gave us some information about the area.

There are several stops in the Grafton Notch State Park, with a few short trails and falls. We didn't stop, because it was getting late and the mosquitoes were biting at the last informational stop. Our drive for the day was about 100 miles.