The Western Maine Mountains region spans most of Maine's western border with New Hampshire. A small part of the scenic White Mountain National Forest is located in this area. This is essentially all of Oxford County and northern York County and Cumberland Counties. Notable towns include Bethel, Bridgton, Oxford, Rangeley, and Rumford. Many of the state's highest peaks are located in the region, although the highest, Mount Katahdin, is not.
The area is known for its skiing, including Shawnee Peak in Bridgton, Sunday River in Bethel, Black Mountain in Rumford, Saddleback Mountain in Rangley and Sugarloaf in Carrabassett Valley. The economy in these areas is largely based around tourism.
The Appalachian National Scenic Trail passes through this region, and the portion that passes through the region's Mahoosuc Notch is popularly considered by hikers to be the most difficult mile of the entire trail.
Famous quotes containing the words western, maine and/or mountains:
“All of Western tradition, from the late bloom of the British Empire right through the early doom of Vietnam, dictates that you do something spectacular and irreversible whenever you find yourself in or whenever you impose yourself upon a wholly unfamiliar situation belonging to somebody else. Frequently it’s your soul or your honor or your manhood, or democracy itself, at stake.”
—June Jordan (b. 1939)
“We know of no scripture which records the pure benignity of the gods on a New England winter night. Their praises have never been sung, only their wrath deprecated. The best scripture, after all, records but a meagre faith. Its saints live reserved and austere. Let a brave, devout man spend the year in the woods of Maine or Labrador, and see if the Hebrew Scriptures speak adequately to his condition and experience.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“He who lets the tiger go back to the mountains will surely suffer later on.”
—Chinese proverb.