Long Lake

Long Lake provides much of the scenery on a drive from Route 162 to St. Agatha (pronounced Saint a-GAT). Sea ducks visit this lake in migration. Commmon terns and ring-billed gulls have nesting colonies on it.

The first several miles of the route brush good spruce-fir habitat. The best place to try for Canada jays, boreal chickadees and black-backed woodpeckers is along the access road to the Sinclair Sanitary Wastewater Treatment Facility. The road is gated but walkable. Park by the gate, out of the way of entering trucks. Spruce-loving warblers can be abundant from May through July.

Just beyond, the vacation hamlet of Sinclair separates Mud Lake from Long Lake. It contains a boat ramp from which good views of Long Lake are possible. Continuing northwest along the lakeshore, look for the town park shortly after passing the town line of St. Agatha. It lies opposite an island that is nesting habitat for common terns. These terns, and small flocks from Maine’s biggest inland colony of nesting ring-billed gulls, are often seen along the near shore, roosting on rocks and docks.