What makes a spot swimmable is a bit subjective; what one person finds tolerable (muddy, slimy pond bottom with weeds), another person will not! A lot of the walks along coastal Maine take you to the shore where it’s possible to swim off of the rocky coast — although perhaps not the easiest or safest activity, particularly if you have bad knees. Some of these suggestions are of the “pack your bathing suit just in case but it might not be the best swimming spot” variety.
Also, this list is a little difficult to keep up because in midcoast Maine, there aren’t that many walk/swim combos — whereas in Western Maine, that’s all there is! (That’s a slight exaggeration.) So, if you do a search for ‘swimming’ on my site, you’ll find many more places that I’ve not included in this list but have tagged for swimming.
I’m ranking these with asterisks, one to three, with three being the best and one being just okay.
- Massabesic Experimental Forest, Charles E. Swett Trail, Alfred
- Brownfield Bog, **Brownfield (in Saco River)**
- Stevens Brook Trail, Bridgton (in Highland Lake)
- Harriman Point Preserve, Brooklin**
- Crescent Beach State Park, Cape Elizabeth ***
- Little Bigelow, Carrabassett Valley **(you can swim in the river as well as in Flagstaff Lake, close to the trailhead parking)
- Sebago Lake State Park, Casco and Naples***
- Broad Cove Reserve, Cumberland
- Dodge Point Preserve, Damariscotta *
- Barred Island Preserve, Deer Isle
- Lily Pond Park, Deer Isle***
- Barren Mountain to Cloud Pond, Elliotsville Township***
- Little Wilson Falls Trail, Elliotsville Township***
- Tidebrook, Freeport
- Mt. Waldo, Frankfort ***
- Stover’s Point, Harpswell ***
- Reid State Park, Georgetown ***
- Shaw Park and Gambo Preserve, Gorham **
- Oversett Mountain and Pond trail, Greenwood
- Butler Preserve, Kennebunk**
- Fernald’s Neck Preserve, Lincolnville *
- Beaver Park, Lisbon
- Jamies Pond Conservation Area, Manchester
- Step Falls Preserve, Newry ***(this is a very short hike to a waterfall)
- Craig Brook Fish Hatchery, Orland***
- Singepole Mountain, Paris
- Bald Mountain/Speckled Mountain, Peru***
- Sprague Pond Preserve, Phippsburg *
- Morse Mountain, Phippsburg ***
- Denny Reed Trail, Phippsburg*
- Robinson’s Rock, or Bumper Rock, and Totman Cove, Phippsburg (so, the place to swim is at the beach at Totman Cove, but this is restricted to Phippsburg residents) ***
- Range Pond State Park, Poland***
- Bonney Point, Rangeley **
- Round Top Mountain, Rome (on the other side of the trailhead parking lot, you can take a .7-mile trail down to Long Pond).
- Roque Bluffs State Park, Roque Bluffs ***
- Ferry Beach State Park, Saco ***
- Prouts Neck, Scarborough ***
- Spring Point Shoreway, South Portland ***
- Sebago to the Sea Trail, Section One, and Section Two, Standish ***
- Little Tunk Pond Preserve, Sullivan***
- Sandy Cove Trail, Trescott (sandy beach, but might be cold!)
- Peters Pond Preserve, Waldoboro
- Geele Farm Trail, Waldoboro **
- Gott Pasture, Wayne
- Tumbledown Mountain, Weld
- Blueberry Mountain and Rattlesnake Pool, White Mountain National Forest ***
- Little Deer and Big Deer Hills, White Mountain National Forest **
- White Mountain National Forest — There are so many river pools to swim in!
what an interesting site! Thanks for doing all this work!
Thank you! It’s a total and complete joy. I get out whenever I can, and have seen so much of Maine!