ExploringMaine.com

For what it's worth, here are my top 10 favorite spots in Maine to explore: 1. Rangeley Lakes region: great hiking, camping and fishing in the summer; skiing in the winter. Just beautiful. Endless number of lakes, ponds and streams for fishing and kayaking. 2. Popham Beach and Reid State Park: Unspoiled (and usually uncrowded beaches). Both offer good striper fishing. 3. Moosehead area: Like Rangeley, only a whole lot bigger and wilder. Moosehead Lake is like an inland sea. You need a decent boat to navigate it. Area also has better than expected hiking and superb fishing. The big lake is surrounded by more tiny trout ponds than one could fish in a lifetime. 4. Western Maine mountains: Love climbing in this area. Tumbledown and Mt. Abram are a couple of favorites. 5. Upper Kennebec River (from Madison to The Forks): Very quiet and scenic with great fishing and paddling. Also many spots around Waterville/Augusta and Merrymeeting Bay offer surprising amounts of solitude if you seek them out. 6. Penobscot Bay and islands. On a warm summer day, it's tough to beat a day on the water in this area, followed by a fine meal and wine at one of Rockland's many fine restaurants. 7. Southern Maine surf spots: Higgins, Fortune Rocks, Scarborough Beach can offer some sweet waves, especially during hurricane season. I'm not a big winter surfer, but that's probably the best time to go. 8. Belgrade Lakes region: Close to home. Nice lakes and the Kennebec Highlands offer some fine hiking. 9. Casco Bay, can be crowded but there are plenty of quiet spots if you seek them out. Chebeague, Peaks Islands are a lot of fun to explore. Haven't hit some of the other more remote islands yet. 10. Portland (peninsula area, not not the sprawl west of I-295): Maine's only true city, but not too urban. Town has a nice progressive and cool vibe, and some decent architecture. And of course, great food and drink. Note: This summer I'm going Downeast to the Cutler and Eastport areas. I'm sure it will probably bump one of the above spots off my top 10. Also, I know I've left Mt. Desert Island / Acadia off this list, but that's because I haven't really explored it enough yet to put it there. Hope that will change as I'm planning a mountain biking excursion there in the fall after a lot of the tourists have left.