Rangeley is where Maine fly fishing became a thing people travelled for. Wealthy sportsmen were coming up here in the Victorian era for landlocked salmon and brook trout, and the grand lakeside camps they built still set the tone of the place: unhurried, a little formal around the edges, and entirely organised around water.
We guide the Western Mountains, so we are up here regularly. Here is what is worth your time.
The drive is part of it
The Rangeley Lakes Scenic Byway takes in the Height of the Land, an overlook with miles of lake and encircling mountains laid out below it. It is the postcard, and it deserves the reputation.
For a different angle, Quill Hill is about a thirty-minute drive from town and gives panoramic views taking in Rangeley Lake, Saddleback, Flagstaff and Kennebago.
The water
Rangeley Lake, Mooselookmeguntic and Cupsuptic are the headline waters, and you can paddle between Mooselookmeguntic and Cupsuptic. Boat cruises run on Rangeley Lake if you would rather someone else drive.
The fishing is the reason most people come. Landlocked salmon and brook trout are the historic draw and remain the draw.
Trips we run in this country
- Western Mountain guided fly fishing. This is our Rangeley-country trip — one of three options on our guided wade and stream fishing page, alongside the Kennebec Valley rivers and the Central Maine streams.
- Upland bird. The cover through the Western Mountains holds grouse and woodcock. See our upland bird hunting trips.
- Moose. If your permit falls in this part of the state, our guided moose hunts cover the Rangeley approaches.
Hunting: WMD 7
Rangeley sits in Wildlife Management District 7. If you have drawn a permit here, or you are planning a bird season around it, these are the trips that apply:
- Upland bird — grouse and woodcock through the Western Mountain cover.
- Bear — WMD 7 is bear country.
- Guided moose hunts — WMD 7 is one of the districts we guide.
- Cast and blast if you want birds in the morning and a rod in the afternoon.
Where we put hunters in Rangeley
Bear Pause is the Rangeley property on our lodging page, and it sits in WMD 7. It is walkable to downtown with shared water access and a dock on Haley Pond, and it has direct access to the ATV and snowmobile trail network, which makes it work year-round rather than just in season. It is our usual recommendation for the wade and fly fishing trips on the rivers nearby.
Winter
Saddleback is the anchor — downhill skiing within minutes of town — with cross-country skiing, fat biking, snowmobiling and snowshoeing filling out the rest. Rangeley holds snow well, which is not something you can say about everywhere in Maine any more.
History worth an hour
The Rangeley Lakes Historical Society occupies a small brick building in town and keeps the photographs and artefacts of the sporting-camp era. Nearby, the Maine Forestry Museum covers the logging and conservation history that shaped everything around it.
Both are the sort of place that takes an hour and changes how the drive home looks.
Where to eat
- The Red Onion — feeding Rangeley for more than fifty years, and leaning on local growers where it can.
- The Furbish Brew House & Eats — the brewery option.
- Parkside & Main and The Rangeley Tavern for a proper sit-down dinner.
- Loon Lodge Inn & Restaurant for something quieter and lakeside.
- Sarge’s Sports Pub & Grub when you want a burger and the game on.
Where to stay
- The Rangeley Inn — a nineteenth-century landmark that once met guests off the train, since restored.
- Rangeley Lake Resort and the Rangeley Saddleback Inn for more conventional resort lodging.
- Town & Lake Motel for straightforward and central.
- Highland Heath House for bed and breakfast.
- Plus the camps and cottage rentals that have been the backbone of this region for a century.
Making a trip of it
Rangeley rewards a long weekend: a day on the water, a day on the byway and the overlooks, and an evening that ends somewhere with a fire going.
If you want the fishing done properly, look at our fishing trips or get in touch and tell us when you are coming.
Sources
- Discover Things To Do — Rangeley Lakes Chamber of Commerce, the official local listing.
- Rangeley, Maine — MaineGuide.com, for the Quill Hill and Height of the Land detail.
We are not affiliated with any of the businesses named above, and none of these are paid placements.