Get your Monument loop road map now

Great news! An interpretive map is now available for the loop road on our new National Monument. The map is the first gift to the Monument from the group, Friends of Katahdin Woods and Waters, a nonprofit founded in January to raise private funds for the Monument.

“Though not yet a year old, the organization is already making donations to supplement – not replace – federal funding for Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument,” said Lucas St. Clair, board president of the group. “This $5000 project was made possible entirely through member donations,” Lucas said. “We heartily thank our charter-year donors whose monetary contributions we are converting into tangible improvements in, and services to, the monument.”

The loop road map was designed by cartographer Bill Duffy of Northern Geomantics. The 18-by-24-inch folded, full-color production has on its front side a precision topographic map showing trails, roads, rivers and other loop area features. An interpretive text and photos keyed to scenic and historic stops occupy the reverse.

Friends of Katahdin Woods & Waters board member Anita Mueller, who directed the map project, said, “With stops along the 16-mile Loop Road, the interpretive map provides context to the historical, biological, and geological significance of the Monument’s southern landscape and highlights recreation opportunities including birding, biking and hiking, all adding value to the visitor experience.”

Monument Superintendent Tim Hudson said, “The availability of the detailed description and available sights and activities on the Katahdin Loop Road will be of grea assistance to the monument’s visitors and significantly increases the National Park Service’s ability to serve the public.  I thank the newly formed Friends of Katahdin Woods and Waters for such a generous contribution made so early in their history.”

The Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument Loop Road Interpretive Map is available free at the Monument’s Millinocket and Patten’s Village Contact Stations, also at Katahdin  Area Chamber of Commerce and along the Loop Road.  An electronic version can be viewed at www.friendsofkatahdinwoodsandwaters.org and on the free-for-download Discover Katahdin visitor’s app.

George Smith

About George Smith

George stepped down at the end of 2010 after 18 years as the executive director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine to write full time. He writes a weekly editorial page column in the Kennebec Journal and Waterville Morning Sentinel, a weekly travel column in those same newspapers (with his wife Linda), monthly columns in The Maine Sportsman magazine, two outdoor news blogs (one on his website, georgesmithmaine.com, and one on the website of the Bangor Daily News), and special columns for many publications and newsletters. Islandport Press published a book of George's favorite columns, "A Life Lived Outdoors" in 2014. In 2014, George also won a Maine Press Association award for writing the state's bet sports blog. In 2016, Down East Books published George's book, Maine Sporting Camps, and Islandport Press published George and his wife Linda's travel book, Take It From ME, about their favorite Maine inns and restaurants.