Middle Unknown (Duck Lake Public Land)

public land records

Researched — The record is detailed and internally consistent, and the coordinates land where the managing agency says this site is.

Duck Lake Public Land, northern Hancock County, about 70 miles northeast of Bangor. The guide states: "All sites are available on a first-come, first-served basis with no fees or permits required, and have a table, fire ring, and nearby pit toilet." Access, verbatim: "Drive-to sites are located at Longfellow Cove on Duck Lake, on the spit of land between Middle and Lower Unknown Lakes, and on the south shore of Gassabias Lake. Many of these sites are suitable for small self-contained recreational vehicles. Hike in to more remote sites on Upper Unknown Lake. Boat-in sites are on Duck, Nicatous, and Fourth Machias Lakes." Note the guide's own caveat: "The map shows all authorized camping sites. While visitors may camp elsewhere on these Lands, they may not build fires." MAINE PUBLIC RESERVED LANDS -- THE RULES THAT APPLY HERE. Fees: maine.gov/dacf/parks/about/public_reserved_lands.shtml (read 2026-08-14) says fees are "Generally not charged; In a few instances such as inside the North Maine Woods, Public Lands are managed in cooperation with neighboring landowners and fees are collected." Reservations: maine.gov/dacf/parks/camping/backcountry_camping.shtml says "Remote campsites are almost exclusively first-come, first-serve; reservations are not generally possible." STAY LIMIT, from the Bureau's own rules page maine.gov/dacf/parks/about/lands_rules.shtml: "No person shall camp, stay overnight or maintain any tent, camper, shelter, trailer or other camping unit on any public lands for more than fourteen days in any 45 day period, without the prior written permission of the Bureau." FIRE: open fires only in authorized campsites with fire rings, or under a Maine Forest Service permit; "Dead and down wood only may be used for campfires. No living trees shall be cut without the Bureau's prior written permission." Untreated firewood from outside Maine is BANNED -- buy it where you burn it. ABANDONED PROPERTY: BPL staff may take custody of personal property left unattended more than 3 days. Hunting and trapping are permitted on these lands in season -- wear blaze orange in the fall. Pets must be leashed and attended in campsites. WATER: BPL does not list drinking water at this site and none is claimed here. These are primitive sites on lakes, ponds and rivers; surface water is NOT represented as potable. Carry water in or treat it. COORDINATE PROVENANCE: latitude and longitude are copied from the "Campsite Latitude / Longitudes" table printed by the Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands in Duck Lake Public Land guide/map (https://www.maine.gov/dacf/parksearch/PropertyGuides/PDF_GUIDE/ducklakeguidemap.pdf), downloaded and text-extracted 2026-08-14. This is the agency's own published coordinate for the named site -- it is NOT a geocode, NOT OpenStreetMap and NOT a field visit. No accuracy figure is published with the table. GIS CROSS-CHECK: the point falls INSIDE the state's mapped "Duck Lake" parcel (Maine GeoLibrary, Maine_Conserved_Lands_BPL_Interests, queried 2026-08-14). Nearest town: Lakeville ~11.9 mi -- STRAIGHT-LINE distance to the nearest OpenStreetMap place=city/town/village, NOT a driving distance. In the North Woods the road in is routinely two to four times that on gravel. SEASON: BPL publishes no open/close date for these primitive sites on the guides read this fire. Access is over gravel logging roads that are generally passable June-October (the Machias River guide's words for comparable roads); mud season and snow close them. Confirm with the regional BPL office before a shoulder-season trip. Ingest 2026-08-14. || REVIEW 2026-08-18 (nightshift-verified): re-fetched the agency source and re-checked this row. The coordinate in this row matches the campsite coordinate the Bureau prints in the "Campsite Latitude/Longitudes" table in the Duck Lake Public Land guide/map (https://www.maine.gov/dacf/parksearch/PropertyGuides/PDF_GUIDE/ducklakeguidemap.pdf) (re-downloaded 2026-08-18, HTTP 200) to the last digit. The three shared BPL rules pages were re-read 2026-08-18 and still carry the exact sentences quoted above: fees "Generally not charged; In a few instances such as inside the North Maine Woods, Public Lands are managed in cooperation with neighboring landowners and fees are collected" (maine.gov/dacf/parks/about/public_reserved_lands.shtml); "Remote campsites are almost exclusively first-come, first-serve; reservations are not generally possible" (maine.gov/dacf/parks/camping/backcountry_camping.shtml); the fourteen-days-in-45 stay limit and "Dead and down wood only may be used for campfires" (maine.gov/dacf/parks/about/lands_rules.shtml). DUPLICATE CHECK: no published or approved camp anywhere in the DB sits within 1 mile of this coordinate (matched on coordinates, not name). NOT re-verified this fire, and still resting on the ingest fire's word: the Maine GeoLibrary parcel cross-check, and the straight-line nearest-town distance. No site was visited. PROPERTY RE-CHECK: the guide read today says, verbatim, "All sites are available on a first-come, first-served basis with no fees or permits required, and have a table, fire ring, and nearby pit toilet." -- fee=0, free-camping, first-come and the fire-ring / picnic-table / privy tags all hold for this property. Access, in the guide's words: "Drive-to sites are located at Longfellow Cove on Duck Lake, on the spit of land between Middle and Lower Unknown Lakes, and on the south shore of Gassabias Lake. Many of these sites are suitable for small self-contained recreational vehicles."; "Hike in to more remote sites on Upper Unknown Lake."; "Boat-in sites are on Duck, Nicatous, and Fourth Machias Lakes." The guide does NOT tie those three modes to the coordinate table one-for-one, so no drive-to / hike-in / boat-in tag is claimed on this row -- naming the mode per site would be a guess. Also from the guide: "The map shows all authorized camping sites. While visitors may camp elsewhere on these Lands, they may not build fires."

US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center station locator, snapshot 2026-09-16. Straight-line miles to the nearest public, open, unrestricted station; restricted and planned units are shown but never counted.

On the agency's books. The land manager inventoried this site, so its existence is not in question — current conditions are. Nobody from here has camped it recently.