Camping Edition Fitness Friday: Baxter State Park

Baxter State Park is by far the largest state park in Maine, at over 8400 hectares. It is also perhaps the most primitive, in keeping with Governor Percival Baxter's wish that the park be kept "forever wild." Baxter State Park also has an interesting history. Percival Baxter worked throughout his life, from 1931 to 1962, using his personal wealth to secure parcels of land in Piscataquis County around Mount Katahdin, Maine's highest peak. He then gave this land to the people of Maine to be maintained as a wilderness area for public recreation.

What a great gift! The Forever Wild thing is taken pretty seriously: there is no electricity, running water, or paved roads in the park. Nature itself provides the most exciting forms of entertainment: swimming, hiking, running, or just playing cards under a backdrop of stunning mountain vistas.

On our first full day at Baxter, we opted to sleep in and hike local rather than make the drive to Katahdin and risk not getting a parking space. Our campground was right at the Doubletop Mountain trailhead, which conveniently enough proved to be a fun and exciting hike with some breathtaking views.

Maybe somewhere in the Easy end of the Moderate rating in terms of difficulty, the summit is 1063 meters above sea level and the trail we took was 5.3km one-way to hit both peaks. The narrow ridge connecting the two peaks is like a mini Knife's Edge, with 360 degree views but none of the scrambling anxiety (at least for me... I have a fear of heights).

North Peak looking to South Peak

A neat cloud formation as the clouds started to roll in.

On the descent. 

Another view from the top.

Paul spent only the first night with us, but fortunately helped out in setting up our canopy: we ended up needing it twice! That first day we played travel Scrabble underneath when the rain came in. I won, of course.

Paul also alerted our attention to moose on at least two occasions. A large female frequented our campground and Paul and I could not resist the photo op.

Next year we're bringing pancake mix!

And to close, some more pictures from the trail and summit on Sentinel.

The narrow wooden bridge continued for about a kilometer through a moss-covered marsh.