Recompence Shore Campground

Overall Rating (1 to 10) : 8
Location: Freeport, Maine

We stayed at Recompence Shore campground this Labor Day weekend. The campground is close to downtown Freeport, and within walking distance to Wolfe's Neck Woods State Park. There is a farm cooperative on the campground, which is open to the public. The barn is always open, and you can walk right in and feed the sheep, goats, and chickens. They even leave instructions in case you want to help out a little while you're visiting, though you don't have to.

We couldn't have asked for better weather all three days of our trip. Because of the good weather, the campground was nearly full. I had made a reservation for one of the last sites available, according to the main office. Our site was "water view", meaning it was on the other side of the road from the waterfront sites. It was only a few steps to the water, accessible by a steep staircase.

I was disappointed when we arrived at our site -- two large trucks from the neighboring campsites were parked on our site, nearly blocking it. They quickly moved the vehicles, so it wasn't a problem. Most of the campground was filled with tents, but we were the only tent in our area, probably because it was the most open and flat area of the campground. All of the sites around us were taken up by larger sized RVs, which is generally a turn-off for me. I went to the office the next morning, but they claimed nothing else was available (which was a little confusing, since we saw many open sites as we walked around). Our RV neighbors were very nice, quiet and polite, so it turned out OK anyway.


Most of the sites at Recompence Shore are private and wooded, located either directly on the waterfront, or adjacent to it. Our site was located in the only open field area of the campground, but it was still pleasant because of the farm feeling. I was hoping to wake up to sheep grazing in the field, but they didn't let them out of the barn while we were there.

Recompence is an expensive campground, compared to what we usually pay. For the price, I expected better facilities than what we got. We only had a pit toilet within walking distance of our site, and it smelled quite badly by the end of the weekend. They have flush toilets and showers by the main office, but they were too far to walk to from our site, and the sink in the women's room was blocked. For over $35/night, I expected much better facilities, and more of them. We have stayed at plenty of $10/night state parks that had cleaner, far superior facilities.

That said, I would still go back. The views of Casco Bay were fantastic, and you could have a ball canoing and kayaking. Wolfe's Neck state park, which is adjacent to the campground, is very nice, with beautiful waterfront hiking trails. And I loved seeing the farm animals wandering around. Plus, if we found we needed camping supplies, L.L.Bean headquarters was right down the road.

Mount Desert Campground

Overall Rating (1 to 10) : 9 (for waterfront sites), 7 (for the rest of the campground)

Location: Mount Desert Island, Maine

Mount Desert is a privately owned campground, and I had a hard time swallowing the $35/night fee (and this was the off season rate), but after getting over my cheap-assedness I had to admit that we had a really awesome site. We had C15, which is right on the water (Somes Sound). The view from our tent was spectacular, particularly at sunset. This is a perfect campground for folks interesting in canoeing or kayaking -- we tied our canoe to the floating dock (which was right next to our site), so there was no need to drag the canoe in and out of the water every time we wanted to use it. This campground is all about the waterfront sites.

The downside is that the waterfront sites lacked much privacy; though beautiful, the woods had no undergrowth and we could hear every little rustle of our neighbors sleeping bags (maybe also the water added to the transmission of sound?). I felt guilty getting up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, since I knew everyone in the general vicinity would hear me, no matter how quiet I was. That said, it was amazingly quiet -- I can't believe how quiet it was, considering that 95% of the waterfront sites were filled. It didn't get noisy until our last day at the campground, when a family with three very loud children showed up (people with kids, take note -- it's not o.k. to let them run around by themselves at 6:30 in the morning).

The bathrooms were clean and well located, with running water and coin operated showers. The campground as a whole was extremely clean and well maintained.

Mount Desert Island is a great place to spend a week long vacation. We were there for 4 nights, and I wouldn't have cut it any shorter, considering the lengthy drive to get out there. The island is an outdoor adventure mecca, but it never seemed that crowded during our stay (the first week of September). We saw a seal and three dolphins while paddling in Somes Sound -- it was awesome. We did some hiking in Acadia, checked out the park's nature center, and walked around Bar Harbor. We never even got over to the west side of the island.

Bradbury Mountain State Park

Overall Rating (1 to 10) : 8

Location: Pownal, Maine

We only spent one night at Bradbury Mountain, but it seemed very nice and I would definitely go back. It was VERY quiet. The park is about 30 minutes from Portland or Freeport, but it felt isolated (there's nothing much in the general vicinity). The park looked pretty big, with some interesting trails and historical features, but we didn't get a chance to really explore it.

There were plenty of sites to choose from since only two were occupied. I talked John into taking one of the walk-in sites because it had a lean-to that I wanted to check out (it had been raining). We lugged all our stuff down a pretty little path through the woods to get to our site (a little cart would have been helpful, though certainly not necessary). The site, as well as the campground as a whole, was very well maintained. The shelter looked newly built. The toilets (composting) were clean and looked new, too. Though there weren't showers, water was available at pumps.