Maine public reserved land (you can also search by activity on the Maine bureau of parks and land website):

https://www.maine.gov/dacf/parks/docs/your-maine-lands.pdf

North Maine Woods, Inc wall map PDF:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Qs7abV3FItE-bc9QNEC_rI2eo4VO55KV/view

https://www.northmainewoods.org

Thank you!

i would grab a copy of the Delormes and look for the little teepees nearest your intended destination.

The only thing the gazetteer doesn’t tell you are free sites unless I’m not using it to its full potential,

I’d get a “Maine atlas” and take a peek. That’s where I found all my good spots

Talk to some maine guides, super friendly and can point you in the right direction. Also the wardens are good for info too. Jackman is a blast/ the forks as well. You will find lots of spots out that way.

...this whole covid ordeal has really fucked with my head, because the first thing I thought was "are you just gonna watch a campfire over a webcam or what"

Nope. Looking for a link to maine public lands

The Bigelow Preserve is nice.

There's first come first serve campsites that are free to stay just north of Rangeley in the mountains on a large lake.

I'm not sure about the fishing at that particular lake but there's many more around.

https://mainelakesandmountains.com/story/bigelow-preserve-public-reserved-land

Take a look at the legend. There are two different teepees, one designating primitive sites and the other for campgrounds. I’ve stayed at many of the primitive sites, and where there’s one, there’s usually more in the vicinity.

Why do you need a tv remote to go camping

If you get on some logging roads and they're not in the middle of an operation, you can usually camp out or sleep at any real pullout or clearing. I've done it quite a bit up by sugarloaf and what not, same with towards sunday river. I've run skidder trails and found canoes on spots out in the middle of nowhere, didn't use it though. Have fun!

some of those primitive spots still require paying a fee to either the state or North Maine Woods.

I think the paid primitive sites are more abundant the closer you get to Baxter (Debsconeag, Deboullie, etc. if I’m not mistaken). But I’m not sure that I’ve ever had to pay a fee at any of the primitive sites I’ve stayed at in the western part of the state.

Anything in the North Maine Woods/KI Jo Mary requires a fee. Outside of that I think you’re right about most of the primitive sites being free.

Gotcha. I definitely need to do more exploring in the NMW

Thank you very much!

Was off jo Mary last week grouse hunting and paid no fee. Is it that a memorial-labor day thing?

Ki Jo Mary might be slightly different from North Maine Woods

https://www.northmainewoods.org/ki-jo-mary/kijocheckpoints.html

Looks like the day use fee and camping fees would have been in affect while you were there

And just throwing this out there....you can camp most anywhere on public reserve land. You just can't have an open fire in places without designated fire rings. If you find a nice clearing somewhere you are allowed to pitch a tent to sleep for the night.