8/29/17
We decided to spend a few days in Baxter State Park. It was a bit of a divergence from our typical gravitation toward the national parks, but worth it. Baxter State Park is huge and home to Mt. Katahdin. We got to the park early in the afternoon and, after a quick reservation adjustment at the welcome shack to consolidate the two nights we had reserved in separate sites, found our lean-to and set up for the evening. I had never stayed in a lean-to before, but it was nice having a clean, elevated platform for the tent and not needing the rain fly. It was also really nice to not have to make the choice between packing up a damp tent or waiting for everything to dry out in the morning.
Moose sightings were reportedly a thing in Baxter, so we walked and drove to a few of the nearby ponds before deciding to take a hike up Hunt Trail toward Katahdin. The goal was to hike the mountain the next day, but we were going to take a the Abol trail and thus would not have passed by Katahdin Falls, the destination for the evening. The trail wasn’t anything too challenging – just a moderate climb. The falls are pretty substantial, but they cut through the side of a mountain, so finding a good viewpoint was a bit challenging.
I don’t recall if the ranger station had firewood for sale, but it was noted as being acceptable to collect and burn downed wood in the park. We saw some logs along the road on our way into camp, so we went back to pick them up for the evening campfire. Between those, and what we were able to scrounge from the area around the campsite we had enough wood for a pretty nice fire that evening.
We got smart and took a picture of the map for reference before heading out. Baxter State Park; "over 200,000 acres of Maine wilderness and managed forest given to the people of Maine by Percival P. Baxter"
Abol Campground map. Lean-to #4.
The rake and the broom were part of the campground etiquette; sweep out the lean-to and rake the grounds before leaving, which was a nice touch.
Surprisingly, not too many bugs.
Signing into the trail
Entering wilderness
Katahdin Stream Falls is on the Hunt Trail, the final stretch of the Appalachian Trail. The trailhead is located on the north end of Katahdin Stream Campground.
Relatively easy hike; 2.4 miles round trip from the Katahdin Stream Campground
There were a variety of interesting mushrooms in the park
Looking for moose at Stump Pond... we didn't find any.
