Baxter… what a park should be😁

Ramblings 3 Minutes

Dear Hannah.

I just had a great three days at Baxter State Park in Maine!! Why only 3 days you ask? Couple of reasons. I took a look at the calendar and my bank account and both hinted at maybe keeping moving. The other was when the ranger I chatted with mentioned freezing rain and snow🤪🤪🤪🤪. That’s motivation!!!

Anyway, Baxter is my kind of Park, a real park’s park!! This isn’t a place that you can “swing through” on your way to someplace else… it’s the end of the road… and the roads are dirt, rough and narrow. The campgrounds are, for the most part, totally primitive… as in “boil your water from that stream over there if you want to drink” primitive. I guess there are a few cabins to rent down the road but for the rest, you’re really roughing it!!

The roads get narrower and prettier from here
Boiling water, 3 gallons, on pot at a time.

Since I couldn’t g out of Bar Harbor fast enough I was setting up camp by noon Sunday. There are vehicle size restrictions in the park but I easily fit in to a nice little spot.

Home for a few nights.

Day one found me taking a little hike to Abol Falls. Only about two miles round trip but I kind of wanted to test drive my ankle before attempting anything longer. It turns out this little falls is an amazing, beautiful, peaceful spot and I ended up going back every day😁. Not a tough hike at all and a great place to finish my coffee in the morning.

The top of the falls
Heading over the falls
The edge
The drop👍

I made sure to bring my camera the last day.

My ankle ended up being an issue so I didn’t hike anything with a lot of elevation gain but I hiked a lot, Abol Falls, Blueberry ridge, big rocky/little rocky, a chunk of the AT… I kept busy and very much love this place. You can even hike in to remote lakes and, if you picked up the key at the ranger station, you can grab a canoe and paddle around or fish. Very cool!!

One of the coolest things at Baxter are these little lean-to shelters that a lot of the through hikers use (this is the northern end of the Appalachian trail).

This would be a great little base camp… drafty sure, mice? Yup! But still…

  • Day 3, Tuesday, started out rainy which put me in a really foul mood for some reason. I grumbled around camp and bitched and complained to no one in particular. Finally, I’m sitting there having coffee and I realized, I’m in a dry spot with a nice big awning, I’ve got hot food and fresh ground coffee, I’ve got kick-ass rain gear and I’ve got no where to be and all day to get there😁… so I hiked👍.
  • I probably could have waited until this morning to head out but I figured what the hell, drive in the rain at night and get 2 nights in a hotel (shower, laundry, bed… you get the picture) or leave in the morning in the rain. It only takes me about 10 minutes to get on the road as I pretty much keep everything packed (I learned this the hard way) so about the time it got dark I hit the road. First sign of cell service and hotel booked using points. I’m getting the hang of this!!

    • Anyway. I’m in Bangor as of late last night. I’m going to spend a few days here and check things out. I also have a few little repairs to do on the Spam Can. Apparently traveling across country on crappy, rough state and county roads exacts a toll on a trailer. Nothing major except I have a tire wearing unevenly that needs to be changed. My spare is new so that’s cool. I’ll catch you in a while. Laundry time👍

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