Umbagog Lake is a wilderness lake located in

Coös County, New Hampshire Coös County (, with two syllables), frequently spelled Coos County, is a county in the U.S. state of New Hampshire. As of the 2020 census, the population was 31,268, making it the least-populated county in the state. The county seat is Lancas ...

, and

Oxford County, Maine Oxford County is a county in the state of Maine, United States. As of the 2020 Census, the county had a population of 57,777. Its county seat is the town of Paris. The county was formed on March 4, 1805, by the Massachusetts General Court in th ...

. It is one of the most pristine lakes in the state of

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

. It lies in the towns of

Errol, New Hampshire Errol is a town in Coös County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 298 at the 2020 census. It is located north of the White Mountains along Route 16 at its intersection of Route 26. It has a municipal airport with a single, unpav ...

, and

Upton, Maine Upton is a town in Oxford County, Maine. The population was 69 at the 2020 census. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which, of it is land and is water. Demographics 2010 census At th ...

, as well as the townships of

Cambridge, New Hampshire Cambridge is a civil township#Northeastern states, township in Coös County, New Hampshire, Coös County in the U.S. state, state of New Hampshire. The population was 16 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, up from 8 at the 2010 census. ...

, and

Magalloway Plantation, Maine Magalloway Plantation was a plantation in Oxford County, Maine, United States, which de-organized in 2021. The population was 45 at the 2020 census. Part of the Umbagog National Wildlife Refuge is located at its southwest corner. Geography Ac ...

. The name ''Umbagog'' is properly pronounced with the stress on the second syllable (um-BAY-gog) and is said to come from the

Abenaki The Abenaki (Abenaki: ''Wαpánahki'') are an Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands of Canada and the United States. They are an Algonquian-speaking people and part of the Wabanaki Confederacy. The Eastern Abenaki language was predom ...

word for "shallow water". Both "Lake Umbagog" and "Umbagog Lake" are commonly used and accepted when referring to the body of water.

Geography

The lake is part of the

Umbagog National Wildlife Refuge Located in Coos County, New Hampshire and Oxford County, Maine, Umbagog National Wildlife Refuge is a northern treasure in the National Wildlife Refuge System. The diversity of exceptional habitats provides excellent breeding and foraging areas f ...

and

Umbagog Lake State Park Umbagog Lake State Park is a park in Errol, New Hampshire, on the southern shore of Umbagog Lake along Route 26. It is adjacent to the Umbagog National Wildlife Refuge. Activities in the state park include swimming, camping, canoeing, fishing, ...

. Along its southernmost shore, there is a public

campground A campsite, also known as a campground or camping pitch, is a place used for camping, overnight stay in an outdoor area. In British English, a ''campsite'' is an area, usually divided into a number of pitches, where people can camp overnight u ...

and a public boat launch ramp which may be accessed from

New Hampshire Route 26 New Hampshire Route 26 (abbreviated NH 26) is a state highway located in northern New Hampshire. It runs across the state in a roughly northwest-to-southeast trajectory, stretching from the Vermont border in the west to the Maine border in the ...

. There are 33 wilderness campsites, accessible only by boat, which are located around the lake. An interesting feature along its northwest shore is an expansive natural

floating island A floating island is a mass of floating aquatic plants, mud, and peat ranging in thickness from several centimeters to a few meters. Floating islands are a common natural phenomenon that are found in many parts of the world. They exist less co ...

composed of generations of decomposing marshland vegetation. The area is abundant with wildlife, including

coyote The coyote (''Canis latrans'') is a species of canis, canine native to North America. It is smaller than its close relative, the wolf, and slightly smaller than the closely related eastern wolf and red wolf. It fills much of the same ecologica ...

wild turkey The wild turkey (''Meleagris gallopavo'') is an Upland game bird, upland ground bird native to North America, one of two extant species of Turkey (bird), turkey and the heaviest member of the order Galliformes. It is the ancestor to the domestic ...

bald eagle The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies the same niche as ...

osprey The osprey (''Pandion haliaetus''), , also called sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor reaching more than in length and across the wings. It is brown o ...

bobcat The bobcat (''Lynx rufus''), also known as the red lynx, is a medium-sized cat native to North America. It ranges from southern Canada through most of the contiguous United States to Oaxaca in Mexico. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUC ...

moose The moose (in North America) or elk (in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is a member of the New World deer subfamily and is the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is the largest and heaviest extant species in the deer family. Most adult mal ...

rabbit Rabbits, also known as bunnies or bunny rabbits, are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also contains the hares) of the order Lagomorpha (which also contains the pikas). ''Oryctolagus cuniculus'' includes the European rabbit speci ...

bear Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Nor ...

loons Loons (North American English) or divers (British English, British / Irish English) are a group of aquatic birds found in much of North America and northern Eurasia. All living species of loons are members of the genus ''Gavia'', family (biolog ...

and many other native species. The lake runs almost north to south. Its surface area is , making it the largest lake along the Maine/New Hampshire border. Its average depth is , and its maximum depth is . The lake's area and depth were markedly increased with the construction of a dam at Errol in the 19th century. Umbagog Lake is fed by the

Magalloway River The Magalloway River is a river in northwestern Maine and northern New Hampshire in the United States. It is a tributary of the Androscoggin River, which flows to the Kennebec River at Merrymeeting Bay in Maine, near the Atlantic Ocean. The total ...

, the Rapid River, and the Dead Cambridge River. It is the

source Source may refer to: Research * Historical document * Historical source * Source (intelligence) or sub source, typically a confidential provider of non open-source intelligence * Source (journalism), a person, publication, publishing institute o ...

of the

Androscoggin River The Androscoggin River (Abenaki: ''Aləssíkαntekʷ'') 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 dataThe National Map, ...

. The lake is classified as a warmwater fishery, with observed species including smallmouth bass,

chain pickerel The chain pickerel (''Esox niger'') is a species of freshwater fish in the pike family (family Esocidae) of order Esociformes. The chain pickerel and the American pickerel (''E. americanus'') belong to the ''Esox'' genus of pike. Taxonomy French ...

horned pout The brown bullhead (''Ameiurus nebulosus'') is a fish of the family Ictaluridae that is widely distributed in North America. It is a species of bullhead catfish and is similar to the black bullhead (''Ameiurus melas'') and yellow bullhead (''Am ...

, and

northern pike The northern pike (''Esox lucius'') is a species of carnivorous fish of the genus '' Esox'' (the pikes). They are typical of brackish and fresh waters of the Northern Hemisphere (''i.e.'' holarctic in distribution). They are known simply as a ...

Notable residents

Metallak Metallak (born c. 1727–1847) was a member of the band of Native Americans known as the Androscoggin, Cowasuck or, more properly, the Arosaguntacook. The band, part of the Abenaki nation, inhabited the upper Androscoggin and Magalloway river ...

, Androscoggin elder

References

External links

* {{authority control Lakes of Coös County, New Hampshire Lakes of Oxford County, Maine North Maine Woods Northern Forest Canoe Trail Lakes of Maine Lakes of New Hampshire Maine placenames of Native American origin New Hampshire placenames of Native American origin

Geography

Notable residents

See also

References

External links