If you have not yet met the last swath of true wilderness in New England, 2009 should be your year to see it. Henry David Thoreau traced three routes through the 3.5-million-acre forest that begins at Maine’s Moosehead Lake and spreads north to the Canadian border. These Maine Woods today do not exist exactly as Thoreau witnessed them in 1846, 1853, and 1857, traveling by boat, canoe, and foot, and led by Penobscot Indian guides. But the lands are still thickly covered with spruce and pine, and chances are excellent you’ll sight a moose, loon, or other wildlife. Greenville, at the base of Moosehead, makes a good base. Rent canoes and kayaks at an outfitter like Northwoods Outfitters (5 Lily Bay Road, Greenville, 866-223-1380, www.maineoutfitter.com), or book one of their guided trips. At the village of Rockwood, just north of Greenville, you can take the ferry to Mount Kineo, where Thoreau once camped, and scramble up to the fire tower for an impressive lake view. But the true adventure begins on and off the logging roads farther north. You can lodge at an Appalachian Mountain Club camp like Medawisla Wilderness Camps, near Kokadjo (603-466-2721, www.outdoors.org/lodging, $99 and up for full-service cabins), set on pristine Second Roach Pond. More rugged explorers might embark on a multiday canoe camping trip that follows Thoreau’s path on the Penobscot River (North Woods Ways, 2293 Elliottsville Road, Willimantic, 207-997-3723, www.northwoodsways.com; five-day Thoreau’s Maine Woods trip, $1,030). Seekers of ultimate peace — what our fish-out-of-Walden called the ‘‘vast solitudes’’ of these woods — might tackle Mount Katahdin, anchor of Baxter State Park and the endpoint of the Appalachian Trail . Thoreau didn’t make it to the top, but there’s still hope for you.