Visitors find it difficult to imagine among the rolling hills and rambling brooks at the end of Desert Rd. there is a Desert. Once you take your first step through the gift shop’s front door, however, your doubts will vanish as you enter the vast and sandy DESERT of MAINE.
We had a family reunion at the Desert of Maine Campground over the July 4th weekend. Campground was great, quiet (no road noise whatsoever) with a natural setting (mature trees) and many well thought-out amenities. The desert itself with the barn and history was an interesting activity.As a bonus it is located right next to the Freeport outlets (LL Bean), Wolf’s Neck park along the coast and great venues to get fresh seafood (live or to eat on site).Worth the trip!
Approaching the place seemed interesting. We went with a group of 30 (includes kids) and we were told a group price for bringing such a large group. So after traveling from Lewiston and confirming the ability to use the group rate they DIDN’T want to honor it once we arrived! Finally after our group leader and management deliberated they agreed to honor the price and said they would refund those that had paid full price, but then tried to short folks! All the while being very rude and short with responses to everyone. The tour guide was mono-toned and very rigid at the fact we came with toddlers. Then once we got back the manager wanted to search people for attempting to take more stones then allotted. They’re stones, not diamonds! Get real! Not going back unless under new management. HORRIBLE experience.
This place is awesome! Basically, some dude over farmed his land. (Basically what caused the dust bowl in the 1930’s.) What a better idea, he thought, than to make a buck off of this ecological disaster he had created! It’s capitalism in its prime! As far as being an attraction… It’s pretty lame, but taking total advantage of tourists (I’m telling you, this is a prime example of how awesome capitalism can be!) they make money anyway. Seriously, it’s lame. But the idea is hillarious!
We recently spend a month at the Desert of Maine and loved it. The camp ground has two areas. The upper area near the store is grassy, flat and has good internet access. The lower area is beautiful, wooded and very private. The camp is centrally located so we were able to visit Portland, Augusta, Freeport, and other points of interest without driving very far. The desert was really interesting to visit. The tour guide was friendly and very knowledgeable. We really enjoyed learning how a desert came to be in the middle of the Maine landscape. As campers we had access to walk the desert at any time and could take our dogs out there after business hours. They loved it and taking a walk with them became a nightly ritual. The owners, Gary and Ginger, were so nice and seemed committed to making their customers feel welcomed and to keeping the grounds really nice and clean. In addition to the desert there is a pool area, horse shoes, a butterfly garden, disk golf and a barn museum. Children are able to dig for gemstones, make sand art and pan for gems and fossils. The store was great fun to browse through with something for everyone. We felt right at home and hated to leave.
Friendly staff. Desert was pretty small and lame butterfly garden wasn’t too bad. 10.50 per person is a bit pricey though