Campground Review Summary

• Name: Wassampki Springs Campground
• Dates of stay: June 19 – Jul 16, 2020 (4 weeks)
• Location: 56 Saco Street, Scarborough, ME 04074
• Type of campground: Private / Independent
• Cost: $56.25/night (monthly rate)
• Additional fees: none
• Stay limit: none – closed in winter
• Accepts mail / packages: yes
• Cell reception: ATT decent
• Website: wassamkisprings.com
• Pros: great amenities and location
• Cons: a bit pricey, bath house could use updating

Full Review

This large campground is located only about 20 minutes from downtown Portland, and is perfectly positioned as a base to explore Southeastern Maine.

Our site is located in an open grassy newer area of the facility, which makes it both big rig and satellite friendly. Our long gravel site was hard packed and reasonably level. The full hook ups included 50 amp electrical service, water, sewer, and a robust cable TV hookup with nearly 60 stations. We could pull in over the air channels from Portland, as well as our normal satellite TV channels. Our ATT hotspot wasn’t bad, since we were near civilization, and the campground wifi wasn’t bad. Our wide site included a picnic table and fire ring. It should be noted that the grassy areas could become flooded after heavy rains – it didn’t drain quickly.

The centerpiece of this campground is its freshwater lake, used by (paying) day guests as well as campground visitors. The lake was bordered on two sides with wide sandy beaches and sizeable swimming area. The lake was also large enough for small non motorized craft such as kayaks, Standup or canoe. During the hot summer days of our stay, the lake area could be quite busy with day visitors.

The campground has quite a number of seasonal visitors and permanent units. Normally, this type of campground would be my ideal — tons of planned activities and amenities. But …. Covid. For the most part, planned activities were canceled, although there were occasional bands that played outdoors so as to observe proper social distancing.  I did attend one session of weekly bingo at the Rec hall, but was uncomfortable with the lack of mask wearing indoors and didn’t go back. The store was open, but the Snack Bar was closed. I did use the bath houses, but found them to be aged and not particularly esthetically pleasing. Think “old school” summer camp with cement floors and walls, and old wooden dividers. Because of the volume of visitors, they frequently had swaths of tracked in sand from the beach. They were perfectly usable, but not my favorite bath houses out there. The campground also had a laundry facility, picnic area, horseshoe pits, volleyball court, playground, and one lone pickleball court.

Wassampki Springs offered a great location for exploring the area. The amenities and shopping of Portland were nearby and we explored little Maine towns up and down the coast. The staff and guests were friendly. We received several packages during our stay with no problem – just picked them up at the office.

Our cost averaged about $56/night, which is about right if all of the activities and amenities are open and ongoing. With the Covid restrictions, it seemed a bit pricey for what you actually got. I would give it another go, in a post-Covid world.

Bottom Line: Nice base for exploring Portland area, some facilities could use updating.