Maine’s North Woods range across the state from border to border, encompassing 12 million acres of ecologically-rich wildlife habitat, incredible natural scenery and a wealth of outdoor recreation opportunities. A spectacular subset of this terrain is the sprawling expanse surrounding Moosehead Lake, which has been the domain of an indefatigable hiker named Christopher Keene since, well, around the advent of dirt.
Over the past 20 years, Keene’s venerable guide, “North Woods Walks: A Collection of Hikes in Northern Maine,” has not only introduced countless trampers to the wonders of this vast forested region but entertained them as well with plenty of wry humor, nuggets of history and some pretty darn good around-the-campfire woodsy tales. The seventh edition of this invaluable trail companion, published last year, extends the tradition in fine form.
“North Woods Walks” features 43 fantastic hikes totaling some 220 miles. You’ll enjoy sixteen rambles in the area around Maine’s largest lake, plus 13 more in the upper valleys of the Kennebec and Moose Rivers. Seven of Keene’s selections are found along the Appalachian Trail from Monson north to White Cap Mountain. And there are six more beauties in the remote Nahmakanta Public Land deep in the 100-Mile Wilderness.
Keene is a lifelong denizen of Greenville, a perfect basecamp for exploring far and wide through the wild country of the North Woods. As a young buck, Keene and his father would hike everything from Big Moose to Number Four to White Cap. During times when they had no car, “we’d even walk from Greenville all the way to Borestone Mountain for a hike. Dad took me all over,” said Keene. “It really imprinted me. And 50 years later, I’m still at it.”
In the early 2000s, Keene was writing content for a local guy’s website that catalogued area trails. The fellow, impressed by Keene’s tenacity, encouraged him to write a book about his hikes. “The thing was, I didn’t know how to write a book, and the tools were pretty crude back then.” Undaunted, Keene pushed forward with the project and turned it into a book, the first edition of “North Woods Walks.”
“I had a lot of inspiration and support.”
As any good guidebook writer well knows, keeping content fresh over time is a challenge.
“I try to improve the book so that it’s not the same each time around,” Keene said. “The first and second editions were pretty similar, but I mixed it up for the third and fourth versions. And for the fifth, sixth and now seventh editions, I changed the material quite a lot. There are always new trails to consider and edits to be made to old trails.”
Amid the 180-odd pages of “North Woods Walks” are a handful of classics, such as the scramble to the observation tower atop the rhyolite sentinel of Mount Kineo, which affords perhaps the finest panoramic vista in all of Maine. Add to that the old firetower site atop Big Moose Mountain, the remote and rugged ridgeline of Boundary Bald, the incomparable canyon of Gulf Hagas and lofty White Cap, to name just a few.
Keene includes some obscure but oh-so-worthy gems in his latest edition. Among these are Eagle Rock, Rum Mountain, Slidedown Falls, Williams Mountain, Moxie Mountain (different from the Moxie Bald you might be thinking about), Nesuntabunt Mountain, Tumbledown Dick Falls and the unheralded 30-mile Great Circle Trail loop. If you’re reading this and making notes and trip plans, then Keene has surely done his job.
Newbies to the latest edition include a sweet hike to an overlook on Prong Pond, a meander into the Seven Ponds area just west of Little Wilson Falls and the AT, and the mini-expedition of paddling and hiking required to tackle glorious Lobster Mountain. You’ll also love the Index of Misfit Trails at the back of the book. Originally meant to be a true index, Keene reworked it into a wonderfully worthy list of honorable mention hikes.
“There are still plenty of places around these parts where you can hike and be the only person on the trail and maybe the only person around for miles,” Keene said. “The solitude up this way is really off the charts.” There’s no better endorsement than that right there.
Carey Kish of Mount Desert Island is a Triple Crown hiker, freelance writer and author of three hiking guides. Connect with Carey on Facebook and Instagram and at [email protected].
