Sporting camp

[1] Sporting camps and wilderness lodges allow uniquely easy access to outdoor recreational activities and licensed, Registered Maine Guides along with the opportunity to experience camaraderie with like-minded visitors and a closeness with the surrounding natural environment.

[2] Although many sporting camps lack modern amenities such as electricity, indoor plumbing or cell phone coverage, they appeal to those who seek the historic tradition of a Maine wilderness experience.

[6] Sporting camps served anglers from ice out through the summer and hunters until after the autumn frost; but were often vacant and unheated through the winter months when freezing temperatures might damage indoor plumbing.

Guests originally traveled by some combination of steamboat, railroad, horse-drawn carriage or wagon, canoe, or even by foot, although now many camps gain access by floatplane or unpaved logging roads.

[8] Remote camps are typically rustic wilderness log cabins without such modern utilities as indoor plumbing, electricity or telephone lines; but many have been updated or adjusted to make for a more comfortable stay.

Many remote camps use propane gas mantle lanterns for light, wood-burning stoves for heat and cooking, and gravity fed water for flush toilets and showers or bathhouses.

[9] Usually found along paved roads or in areas just outside town, non-remote sporting camps and lodges are more likely to have been updated with the amenities one might find in an average hotel or motel today.

All provisions, including water, had to be carried into cabins equipped with wood stoves for heat and using candles or kerosene or gas lanterns for light.

Activities available during the summer months might include ATVing, fishing, fly fishing, hiking, canoeing, kayaking, paddling, boating, mountain biking, mountainboarding, swimming, photography, wildlife viewing, bird watching, berry picking, rock climbing, mountaineering, old-fashioned lawn games or s’mores at the campfire under a sky full of stars.

Winter activities at a sporting camp might include ice fishing, cross-country skiing, snowmobiling, photography, wildlife viewing, bird watching, dog sledding, and snowshoeing.

The pristine whiteness which often blankets the landscape from December through March may limit access to remote camps, and very few remain open during this season due to impassable roads.

Through the early years of the twentieth century, carriages and automobiles were tucked away in barns for the winter months while teams of horses or oxen pulled giant rollers over the roads to pack the snow into an icy surface suitable for horse-drawn sleighs.