In early September we spent a week in the north, central part of the state. We stayed just off I-95 in Medway to visit both Baxter State Park and the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument. The two parks are large, adjacent wilderness areas with no paved roads, electricity, or running water. Although both areas have been logged over the past 100+ years they now represent untamed beauty.
Baxter SP was created in 1931 and expanded over 30 years principally from donations made by Maine Governor, Percival Baxter under the condition that it remain a wilderness park. It’s roughly 12 miles wide and 20 miles long ( about 209,644 acres) and includes a dozens of mountain peaks and lakes/ponds. There are more than 200 miles of hiking trails, many of which get little or no daily traffic. The centerpiece of the park is Mount Katahdin. It has the highest peak in Maine and is the northern end of the Appalachian Trail. We hiked for four days in the park and enjoyed every minute. Baxter is different than many of the natural parks we’ve visited. The silence, tranquility, and the lack of human presence was awesome.
The Katahdin National Monument in “next door” to and has similar scenery to Baxter, but is less than half the size and a much less mature park. It is not contiguous, as it consists of five land areas that are reached by individual entrances, some of which require a high clearance four wheel drive vehicle. It was created in 2016 from gifts of land and money to the federal government from the co-founder of Burt’s Bees. The roads are rough, the trails sparse, and there are many logging roads running through the park (some of which are still active). Nonetheless, it has a unique beauty with breathtaking views and a real sense of serenity. We saw very few people in the two days we spent there. If you go to Baxter, you need to spend at least a day in Katahdin.
In the middle of our Baxter/Katahdin hiking, we drove some 90 miles to Moose Point State Park on the Penobscot Bay to rest our feet for a day. This was quite relaxing and we stopped for lobster rolls on the way there. On our return, we stopped at the Verona Island Lobster Company and bought nearly 10 pounds of live lobsters from a local lobsterman (he has 800 traps in the bay) selling a lot of the clawed creatures from his garage. This ended up being a feeding frenzy for two that evening that I’m still reliving. Sooooo yummy!
