The remote Piscataquis County in Maine is home to one of the great state parks in the nation, Baxter State Park. Baxter is a park of over 200,000 acres largely comprised of land donated by Percival Baxter a former Governor of the state. The interior of the park has no paved roads, electricity or other amenities as per Baxter’s request when he bequeathed the land to the State of Maine. He wanted the park left in a completely natural state. It is all the more spectacular because of this.
The park has wonderful off the grid opportunities for hiking, canoeing and camping. The terminus of the Appalachian Trail is on Mount Katahdin within the park. The hike to the top of the mountain is not for the beginner hiker especially if you choose the Knife-edge Trail.
All trails to the summit however have a significant amount of rock scrambling and fairly strenuous climbing.
My Dad took my cousins and I to the park years ago and we spent a wonderful week exploring the rivers and mountains. The bugs were pretty bad but the camping was worth it. I can still remember my cousin Jeff and I laying under the stars and watching the Perseid Meteor Shower all those years ago. It was during this shower that I saw my first bolide explosion which at the time I did not realize what it was and was stunned by the display.
We did a lot of canoeing and encountered a large bull moose.
The rivers provided plenty of paddling adventures.
There is a slide rock that is great fun if you can handle the cold water.
The new Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument is a unit of the National Park Service and is adjacent to the State Park. This is a national site which while still new has some infrastructure already with a loop road and several trails.
