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We lumped Baxter State Park into our running list of camping trips because why not? “Why not” actually became the theme of the weekend because when you’re doing any type of wilderness camping, “who cares” and “you might as well” is the best mindset. Special guests, Memere and Pepere joined our traveling circus on this one! 

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Just because “state park” is in its title, Baxter is not considered one of the 12 family campgrounds operated by Maine’s Bureau of Parks and Lands. It does not fall under this park system and does not rely on state funding. We are not historians and don’t like to copy and paste but we do recommend learning a little about the history of this land and how it’s now up to 210K-ish incredible acres. Governor Percival P. Baxter has had a couple two-three good things written about himself as well; you won’t be disappointed in the vision or the heart of this man. 

How do you capture Baxter State Park in a single blog post?…You can’t! But we can share just a small glimpse of the magic that’s inside this massive piece of land. When deciding to visit Baxter as a family and also camp here, we made the choice to go a little more north. Probably the best advice we could ever give you in our travels…whenever you go a little more north in Maine, everything seems to get a little better.

So when deciding which campground to stay at, we chose the northern part of Baxter, lean-to site #1 and tent site #16 at South Branch Pond campground. When the majority of people think of Baxter, they think of Katahdin which sends most folks through Millinocket and the southern end. You can’t go wrong with visiting any section of this enormous playland. If you have the time and plan right, you can logistically cover a lot of ground here. Many people make Baxter an annual trip because there is just too much to do and see on a single visit. 

We’ve both climbed Katahdin multiple times on different trails over the years so the goal on this trip wasn’t to revisit much of what we have seen in the past or to conquer Maine’s tallest mountain with a 1 and 3 year old on our backs. The goal was to escape to a little slice of paradise for some quiet-time and beauty. We didn’t get pure solace at South Branch Pond, mainly because we brought two noise machines (Eloise & Adeline), but we sure got some views!

It takes some effort to get here and anytime there is a bit of effort in spending time outdoors, it tends to weed out a lot of people. We aren’t saying this isn’t a popular place, it most certainly is, but you have to really want to be here. It is night and day from any private campground and certainly a lot less amenities from the state park family campgrounds; no cell service, no drinking water, no showers, no pets (even our dog Baxter isn’t allowed at Baxter State Park) and it’s carry in and carry out trash. It’s also a hide your trash and food at night kind of place because of bears. Yes, they roam these parts and they aren’t shy about helping themselves to yours or your neighbor’s treats. 

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Reserving a campsite site in Baxter isn’t the most straightforward system but it clearly works given the number of people who visit each year. The biggest thing to understand is that it is “rolling” and 4 months out, so for us to visit at the end of the July, we were first eligible to book in March. We called at 8AM on the first possible day to reserve for our weekend but the campsite we wanted was taken! How? Well, another added layer to this is that once you have made a park reservation you can move around from campground to campground, so our site was taken by someone who was already booking sites days before in another area. Confusing at first but it does make sense, it’s just a bummer that you can plan perfectly and be on top of everything and still not get the exact location you want. It’s something to be aware of so have a couple backups in mind when making your reservations. The great thing about South Branch is that there are plenty of perfect second choices.

The drive to South Branch takes most through Patten, ME. If you are a painter, we’d recommend you permanently move to the town of Patten. Many of us have become accustomed to the same southern views of Baxter or Katahdin as you cruise up I-95 or come in from Millinocket. But as you drive in from Patten, it is like watching a live concert, from backstage. This perspective makes you rethink it all and it’s refreshing in a way. It’s about a 90 minute drive from the center of town to the campground, first turning at the delicious Craig’s Clam Shop then passing through Shin Pond Village and finally the Matagamon Gate. It’s a winding road for a bit and so winding that Eloise couldn’t keep her lunch down. So after a quick pit stop to change clothes and clean out the car seat, we arrived and registered at the gate. Shin Pond Village and the Mt. Chase Lodge are a couple stops we’ve made in the past without going into Baxter, just to enjoy these parts. 

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Once through the gate, it is slow going on dirt roads to South Branch. Then you kind of register again with the Ranger. No paperwork but more of an orientation. You have to remember this is very remote camping and hiking so even though you are eager to set up and officially start your trip, odds are what they have to tell you is quite important and based on past experiences. It’s also your first lesson to just slow down because you made it here and it’s now time to shift from our usual go-go-go mentalities. The Travelers Loop, which many hikers flock to, starts and ends here and is no joke so take the extra 15 minutes to listen to the ranger in what they might have to say no matter your experience level. Bears really do show up looking for food, why? Because people still leave trash and coolers out, even after being told not to. No one knows it all, we all could use nice reminders and odds are these people have seen it and done it for years so another 15 minutes of listening certainly won’t hurt. 

The second you drop your first couple bags in the dirt and look around, you know you hit the jackpot. All the rules and procedures make sense when you’re finally there. So much is purposeful to keep it wild and keep it safe. South Branch Pond might be one of the prettiest places in Maine. That might sound like an exaggeration given all the vacation state has to offer but paddle to the center of the pond and try to decide where your eyes should focus on first. Lay inside your lean-to at night, feel the breeze come in and from your sleeping bag, stare long and hard at the moon; which sits like a lantern over the campground.

Just because the location sounds like it’s out of a story book, we certainly didn’t have it easy on this one. Eloise came down with a big cold on night #1 and Adeline had 4 teeth coming through and then caught the same big cold on the final day. The nights were very tough given the proximity of neighboring sites here. If you’ve camped with young children you know that terrible helpless feeling of possibly disturbing others and their experience. We imagine it would be comparable to having a small child struggling on a long airplane ride. There aren’t a ton of kids here compared to all the family state park campgrounds so that anxiety gets even higher when you feel like others can’t relate. The nights thankfully didn’t bleed much into the days and if you are going to feel like crap, what better place to feel like crap than in paradise.

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A couple pointers, there are canoes for rent here and normally $1 an hour but with Covid-19 they were free and first come first serve. That meant humans do what humans do and took advantage of the situation so we recommend bringing your own for the foreseeable future. You want to be out on the water here on more than a few occasions.

Take a hike! It doesn’t have to be all day but you need to get on trails of some sort. We had a couple outings near by but the one that surprised us all was to South Branch Falls. A great hike for a toddler that concludes with the perfect swimming hole for all ages. There may have been some underwear swimming going on, because why not. 

If you are reading this, there is a good chance you love Maine just as much as us. There has never been a time to appreciate this state more. Baxter State Park is located in Piscataquis county. This county is often compared to being the same size as the state of Connecticut. As of the end of August, there were less than 10 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in this county. CT had more than 52,000. No you can’t escape what’s going on in the world right now or disregard precautions but living here in Maine has allowed us to forget it for short periods of time on trips like this one. Normally our camping trips are what we call our reset button but now to be able to just safely go away for a long weekend with family is goal #1. Then enjoying one another and our surroundings, creates a sort of mental getaway as well. 

If you do live out of state, we hope you get a chance to escape to Maine in 2020 for a visit or even better, feel free to move here. We’ve always felt that there is no better place to Live, Work and Play but now it’s more than ever.  

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Eloise’s photos…

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