Fifth Debsconeag Lake

The Debsconeag Lakes Wilderness Area (DLWA) is located just south of Baxter State Park and to the east of Nahamakanta Lake, and includes some sections of the Appalachian Trail. The Native American name means “carrying place” for the portage sites they used to carry their birch bark canoes around rapids and waterfalls. The Nature Conservancy acquired this 46,271-acre preserve in 2002 and secured a forest conservation easement on 195,000 acres adjacent to the Debsconeags and Baxter State Park.

The DLWA contains the highest concentration of pristine remote ponds in New England and has thousands of acres of mature forests. On this hike, we followed the Nahamakanta Stream Road past Nahamakanta Lake for one mile to a trailhead for the Debsconeag Backcountry Trail and followed it 1.1 miles to the northwestern edge of the Fifth Debsconeag Lake. This lake is one of a series of Debsconeag lakes and ponds that you can hike to in the wilderness, and there are loops ranging from ~ 9 to 14 miles with the larger loop taking you on the northeastern shore of Nahmakanta Lake.