Multi-Sport Outfitters
Katahdin Outfitters. This company provides gear and shuttles for overnight canoe and kayak expeditions on the Allagash Wilderness Waterway, the West Branch of the Penobscot River, and the St. John River. You can also rent canoes and kayaks from its location just outside Millinocket on the way to Baxter State Park. 360 Bates St. , Millinocket, Maine, 04462. 207/723–5700; www.katahdinoutfitters.com. Call for prices.
New England Outdoor Center. With Baxter State Park's Mt. Katahdin rising above the shore opposite both its locations, this business helps visitors enjoy the North Woods. Its year-round home base, NEOC/Twin Pines on Millinocket Lake, 8 miles from the park's southern entrance, has rental cabins and a restaurant (River Driver's Restaurant) and conducts many guided trips, some within the park. Older renovated log cabins (and a few newer ones) sit beneath tall pines on a grassy nub of land that juts into Millinocket Lake; upscale "green" units (spacious lodges and cozy cabins) are tucked among trees on a cove. Amenities include kayaks and canoes for use on the lake and a recreation center with a sauna.
NEOC offers a full slate of guided excursions: whitewater rafting, fishing, canoeing, kayaking, hiking, photography, moose- and wildlife-spotting, snowmobiling, and ice fishing. It also rents canoes, kayaks, standup paddleboards, snowmobiles (attire, too), fat-tire bikes, cross-country skis, and snowshoes and offers cross-country skiing and paddling lessons. Trails for cross-country skiing (15-plus miles, groomed), snowshoeing, and mountain and fat-tire biking are right on the 1,400-acre property and link with adjoining trail networks for longer excursions. About 2 miles from Baxter, the seasonal Penobscot Outdoor Center on Pockwockamus Pond is the base for white-water rafting trips on the West Branch of the Penobscot River and home to a wooded campground. Some sites are near the water, looking toward Katahdin. There are tent sites as well as canvas tents and simple wood-frame cabins with cots or bunks. A circular fireplace anchors the open-plan base lodge with pool tables and, on rafting days, a beer bar. A towering window wall reveals glimpses of water through trees. Outdoors there's a communal fire pit and a sand volleyball court. Nonguests can use showers for $2 after hiking or camping at Baxter. 30 Twin Pines Rd., Millinocket, Maine, 04462. 207/723–5438; 800/766–7238; www.neoc.com.
North Country Rivers. North Country Rivers's base for white-water rafting trips on the West Branch of the Penobscot River is at Big Moose Inn, Cabins & Campground, on Millinocket Lake south of Baxter State Park. The businesses team up on lodging packages. (In Western Maine, the outfitter runs white-water rafting trips on the Dead and Kennebec rivers in The Forks and has a resort south of there in Bingham.) 102A Baxter State Park Rd., Millinocket, Maine, 04462. 800/348–8871; www.northcountryrivers.com.
