Moose Safari

Moose are hardly endangered in Maine [1]. Some 30,000 of them live throughout the state, with the vast majority making their home in the North Woods [2]. Seeing them, however, is another matter. Despite their size, the animals are skittish around humans and are most likely to be seen at night by the side of the road—which isn’t the safest vantage from which to view them.

That’s where water-based “moose safaris” come in. The animals linger around the estuaries fringing the lake for ready access to sweet overhanging branches and cooling water in the heat of the day—and better yet, are completely unafraid of any boats that might come their way, viewing them as largely uninteresting aquatic animals.

From the vantage of the water, you can gawk to your hearts content at the majestic beasts, who are apt to go on obliviously munching their branchy breakfast.

Guides with The Birches Resort (off Rte. 6/15, Rockwood, 207/534-7305, www.birches.com [3]) are expert at piloting large pontoon boats within a dozen feet of beasts. The resort offers a two-and-a-half-hour “moose cruise” at 7 a.m. ($35 adult, $25 children 4–12, free children under 4) and a longer “moose safari” in the afternoon at 4 p.m., which includes a cruise by the 800-foot cliffs of the lake’s Mount Kineo ($45 adult, $30 children 4–12, free children under 4). The best time for sightings is in the late spring and early summer, when cruises can sometimes bag as many as a half dozen moose.

If the thought of seeing moose with a dozen other humans is too much for you, Northwoods Outfitters (Maine St., Greenville, 207/695-3288, www.maineoutfitter.com [4]) offers more intimate encounters from the vantage of your own canoe, for a rate of $30 to $50 per person.

An alternative to seeing moose by boat is seeing them by foot. Maine-ly Photos (353 Penobscot Rd., Millinocket, 207/723-5465, www.mainelyphotos.com [5], May–Oct., $50 adults, $45 per person for families of up to four people) leads van tours to parts of Baxter State Park [6] and the West Branch of the Penobscot River, where tourists then take short walks to ponds moose are known to frequent. The tours offer a money-back guarantee that antlers will be sighted.