Baxter State Park

Baxter is a State Park clearly focused on the hiker. There are a total of two roads, one a loop and one a dead end. Yesterday I explored the loop road.

Beginning in the northeast corner of the park, I first had to drive north on Route 11 to get to the park. On the way I passed a stunningly colored field.

Shortly after the field I got a great view of the east face of Mount Katahdin.

The park road is a narrow gravel road. Restrictions are a 20 MPH speed limit and vehicle size no more than 7' wide, 9' high and 22' long. There is no way that Enterprise is getting into the park.

The north part of the drive is just a tunnel through the trees with no views. Reaching the southwesterly part of the drive, views of the mountains begin to occur.

Further to the south, I reached Stump Pond. It had some lovely views of the mountains but they didn't photograph well, perhaps because of the flat midday light. What did work well is the namesake of the pond, the bleached stumps that line its shore.



Leaving the park, I spoke to some local folks who pointed me to some great viewpoints of the south side of Mount Katahdin across the West Branch of the Penobscot River. I got there this morning.


In the afternoon, I connected with a guy who took me up the dead end road in the park and showed me how to get to a pond known for moose activity. Even without moose, it was a beautiful location.


On the way to the pond we saw a moose cross the trail mere feet in front of us. It was so quiet, and the vegetation so dense, that I had no chance for a photograph.

When we reached the pond, at first there was nothing. We were joined by a fairly short gentleman with a remarkable moustache and a very tall, slender woman. He had a very heavy Russian accent. After a while, however, we saw an animal off to our left.


Right behind him came...



Seeing that, the man with the moustache said "See, Natasha? Is Moose and Squirrel."

I checked the map for our location and saw that we were in Frostbite Falls...
I was going to check at the local college, Wattsamatta U., to ask why a flying helmet and goggles were on the squirrel's head but Professor Peabody was not in. Maybe another day...

(Thanks to Andy for a great photoshop job!)

Later, I got some very close shots of a cow moose.