Rangeley Lake, located in Franklin County,

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, is fed by several streams. Its waters flow out from the lake's northwestern corner via the short

Rangeley River The Rangeley River is located in Franklin County, Maine, in the United States. It is only about a mile long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed June 30, 2011 connecting the ...

into

Mooselookmeguntic Lake Mooselookmeguntic Lake is located in Franklin County and Oxford County, Maine, in the United States. It is part of the Androscoggin River watershed. It is located in the western part of Maine, near the border with the state of New Hampshire an ...

, then Upper and Lower Richardson Lakes,

Umbagog Lake Umbagog Lake is a wilderness lake located in Coös County, New Hampshire, and Oxford County, Maine. It is one of the most pristine lakes in the state of New Hampshire. It lies in the towns of Errol, New Hampshire, and Upton, Maine, as well as ...

and ultimately into the

Androscoggin River The Androscoggin River (Abenaki: ''Ammoscongon'') is a river in the U.S. states of Maine and New Hampshire, in northern New England. It is U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data''The National Map'', a ...

Merrymeeting Bay Merrymeeting Bay is a large freshwater tidal bay located in the U.S. state of Maine. Merrymeeting Bay's unusual geography defies common landform terms. It is not what is usually meant by the word bay. It is somewhat like an estuary but it has fres ...

, the lower

Kennebec River The Kennebec River (Abenaki language, Abenaki: ''Kinəpékʷihtəkʷ'') is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed June 30, 2011 natural river within the U.S. state of Ma ...

, the

Gulf of Maine The Gulf of Maine is a large gulf of the Atlantic Ocean on the east coast of North America. It is bounded by Cape Cod at the eastern tip of Massachusetts in the southwest and by Cape Sable Island at the southern tip of Nova Scotia in the northea ...

and the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

. The lake is one of the major headwater lakes of the Androscoggin watershed. Its elevation is above sea level, and its area is about . The lake's depth is shallow near the shore, with a central basin averaging about deep. The maximum depth is . The lake is primarily in the town of Rangeley, while the southern edge of the lake is in Rangeley Plantation. The town's eponymous village is located on the northeastern shore of Rangeley Lake, at City Cove, while the village of Oquossoc is at the lake's outlet at its northwest end. Maneskootuk Island (also called Doctors Island) is in the eastern part of Rangeley Lake. In the western part there is a small group of islands collectively called South Bog Islands.

Rangeley Lake Seaplane Base

Rangeley Lake has a designated water landing zone for seaplanes (United States Aerodrome M57 – Rangeley Lake Seaplane Base). This is one of only a very few aerodromes in the world to be serviced by a GPS

instrument approach In aviation, an instrument approach or instrument approach procedure (IAP) is a series of predetermined maneuvers for the orderly transfer of an aircraft operating under instrument flight rules from the beginning of the initial approach to a lan ...

aligned to a

water aerodrome An aerodrome, airfield, or airstrip is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for public or private use. Aerodromes inc ...

, as well as an NDB approach; almost all other instrument approaches are aligned to runways on land surfaces such as pavement, asphalt, gravel, or turf.

Gallery

Image:Rangeley Lake SP Maine.jpg, Rangeley Lake State Park Image:Rangeley Lake from its southern edge, inside the State Park.jpg, Rangeley Lake from its southern edge, inside the State Park Image:Sunset at Rangeley Lake.jpg, Sunset File:Rangeley Lake.png, Rangeley Lake station, ca. 1910

References

Lakes of Franklin County, Maine Lakes of Maine Northern Forest Canoe Trail {{Maine-geo-stub