We spent two nights camping in Baxter State Park in the North Maine Woods. Most people go to the highest mountain in Maine, Katahdin, in the southern portion of the park but we heard great things about the less frequented northern end so decided to venture north. The park only averages ~150 visitors per day and is pretty remote. This was the most remote place either of us had hiked or camped before! Campers and hikers have to sign in and out whenever leaving the campsite, listen to a whole safety spiel from ‘Ranger G.I. Joe’, and pack everything you need in & out because there is no running water, trash, etc.
The day we got to Baxter, it rained on us pretty hard. We got camp set up just as the first drizzles hit. We spent an hour holed up under one of our hammock tarps and then went to bed early.
We camped at Lower South Branch Pond and spent our only full day in the park hiking the 10.5 mile Travelers Mountain Loop. This was an INTENSE hike. Totally worth it! It was the best hike either of us have ever been on. About a third of the hike is spent either climbing (literally) up or down the mountain. The rest of the time varies between mountain top views, knife-edge ridge walking, streams, and lush mossy forest gullies.
Beautiful British Soldier lichen! There was lots of lichen & moss covering the rocks around the trail.
At the peaks and ridges, you can see the entire hike since it’s a U shape. The 360 views can’t be beat. The 10.5 mile hike took us almost 8.5 hours to complete, so we’re glad we started it early!
We got back from the hike around 4pm, and just about collapsed in our camp chairs. — At the beginning of the hike we bet each other a beer that Andy had underestimate the hike difficulty, and Priscilla had overestimate the difficulty. Both proved to be true. — After a bit of a rest we started an early fire, made soup, had some pumpkin ales, and hit the sack.
The next morning was beautiful so we canoed around the pond (in $1/hr self-serve canoes – we love this place!) and had an up close Loon encounter when it surfaced right next to our canoe! Loons are big birds, with solid bones so they can dive and fish, and they make a really eerie, yet beautiful, call around dusk.
Highlights of Baxter State Park
- Travelers Mountain Loop. Incredibly rewarding hike that few people do (we only saw 2 other people on it while we were on a peak a couple of miles away from them).
- Secluded camping. We felt like we had the place to ourselves, this was the right time of year to come. Night temperatures get down into the low-40s and fall has definitely started up here.
- Canoe rental. Definitely glad we had just enough time take advantage of the cheap canoe rentals and got lucky enough to watch a Loon fishing!
I thought there would be more steak-fed lobster.. either way, looks awesome!
We went with the wild lobster, not the pasture raised, steak finished lobster 😉
What a special place. Awesome lichen picture,,,,so many colors and textures!
Thanks! It was so beautiful! I was trying to remember the things we learned from the lichen class we took 🙂
It looks like someone was skipping stones in the last pic?? These photos are great, and I can’t wait to see more!
Yeah! Priscilla makes fun of me for needing to skip a rock at every body of water we spend time at. She caught a pic of that one.
Haha, indeed, this one was picture worthy though 🙂