Can't say anything bad . . . or good . . .about these parks

We are way behind in getting travel posts published this summer because we're having too much fun traveling! So we won't be confused about when each "wandering" happened, we'll start each blog with its actual date.

August 26, 2022

After our long day of hiking at Baxter State Park yesterday, we slept later and moved slower today. We have two new parks on our agenda today--The Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument, and the Penobscot River Trail. Katahdin just became part of the national park system in 2016, and the state facilities at Penobscot have only been completed since 2021. One of these parks we can't say anything bad about, and the other we can't say anything good. 

We started with the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument because we are big fans of the national park system. It has always taken us to interesting and beautiful places. We put the park name into our GPS, and blindly followed the smart phone's directions. We were ten miles down the road before we realized those instructions weren't very smart. We turned onto a logging road with a dead end sign and realized that this was a bad start to our day. With a little research, we found it was taking us to the corner of the national monument, with no admission point to get inside. So we backtracked those ten miles and tried again.

Even though we knew the next navigation instructions were good, we soon felt very unwelcome. We were directed to a gravel road when we started seeing signs that the local owners weren't liking the idea of this very new national monument. Obviously, no one wanted us to visit this new national monument.

The next bridge we had to cross didn't have a sign, but it looked like the wooden flooring was splintering badly--but we continued.

Another bridge had orange caution tape, and orange paint where the floor of the bridge had holes. This was another bad sign, but we continued.

Even though there was no entrance gate or ranger station, we had a paper map of the national park with us. So we knew there were several view points where we wanted to stop. We had already driven ten miles on gravel roads before we got into the park. It was another couple miles before we finally got to our "first view."

This is what we have been waiting for--a view of this rock?!? We're beginning to think that we can't say anything good about this park.

The next view was more worthwhile, and we actually got out of the pickup this time. By standing on a rock, we could actually see some surrounding mountains and a lake--very far away in the distance.

We had seen Mount Katahdin yesterday up close, so seeing it today in the far distance was not a thrill. Even though it's called Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument, the iconic Mount Katahdin is actually located in Baxter State Park. The fact that the top was shrouded in clouds made this 'best view in the park" even worse. We really can't say anything good when we found that this was the highlight of the park.

As if things couldn't get worse with this lackluster national park experience, those clouds turned into raindrops. Now the narrow gravel road became a rutted and steep mud puddle. We had to drive all of the one-way-16-mile loop to get out. During this time we didn't see any wildlife, and only one muddy trailhead. We couldn't get down to the lake that looked like a mud hole. Denisa has decided that the only thing that would make this park worthwhile would be a herd of moose. The only way we would return would be a guaranteed moose sighting.

We ended up driving 36 miles on gravel roads to experience this national monument. We once again came to signs that the local owners hate this new addition to the national park system. While most of the gravel roads were only a single lane, we would somehow have to give the right-of-way to any logging trucks. We were glad that we didn't meet too many trucks on this rainy day. It looks like the locals dislike this new park, and we certainly wouldn't recommend it to other travelers. In fact, we can't say anything good about our experience at Katahdin Woods and Water National Monument today.

On the other hand, our next planned stop was the Penobscot River Trail. Recommended by our campground host, we pulled into the parking lot to find a brand new building. No one is on staff, but a computerized kiosk is there with information that asks you to sign their guest book.

A nice selection of new bikes is waiting outside for visitors to use for free. They include adult and children's bikes, and even bike trailers for toddlers to ride in.

While we always have our two bikes with us, we hadn't planned on biking while our son Blake was visiting us because we would need a third bike. The three of us used the park's bikes, and we could take a ride together. We can't say anything bad about this park!

The trail is paved or hard surfaced, winding its way through the tall forest that would be cool even on a sunny summer day. Likewise, it was not muddy even on a rainy day.

The trail took us down to the Penobscot River for some water views.

We enjoyed the mushrooms so much on our hike yesterday, and we found more on our bike ride today.

Some of them were so neat that Denisa had to jump off her bike to take a picture. We found some that were raspberry red . . .

and lemon yellow.

This trail made us feel like we had wandered into another of God's wonders! While we had googled things to do in this area, this new trail never showed up. If the campground host hadn't mentioned it to us, we would have never known this facility existed.

In the winter, this becomes a cross country ski trail with warming rooms, and free skis and snow shoes.

We love loop trails, and the trail system here is designed to make loops of different lengths. We rode past the first two link roads, and finally took the third link back to the tote road that would loop back to the visitor center. While we weren't planning to kayak today, this would have been a great way to kayak down the river, and then bike back.

Our only complaint was that Blake's loose bike chain came off in the middle of the ride. Without any tools, it looked like he would have to walk it back. But Mark took off the bike seat and used the metal pipe as a tool to fix the chain. Denisa can't say anything bad about Mark's ability to fix things!

While most of the trees are still green, we found a very nice tree turning shades of red at the end of our bike ride. The lighting didn't do it justice, but it was a beautiful end to a great bike ride at a first-rate facility. All the distances in the park are in kilometers, and our loop took us 18 km today. For those less metric-minded, that is about 11 miles.

It started raining as we put the bikes away and walked back to our pickup. We headed back to the motor home to make dinner and play cards this evening. So it was a mixed day. We were totally disappointed with our long drive to Katahdin Woods and Water National Monument. In fact, we can't say anything good about it. On the other hand, we were delighted with the Penobscot River Trail, and we can't say anything bad about it!

Baxter State Park--seeing the best state park ever with a couple of goofballs!

We are way behind in getting travel posts published this summer because we're having too much fun traveling! So we won't be confused about when each "wandering" happened, we'll start each blog with its actual date.

 August 24, 2022

We are excited that our son, Blake, was able to fly to Maine to spend some time with us. He's so much fun to have around! We enticed him to make the trip by describing where we would be. Today we are visiting Baxter State Park--the best state park ever! He is a great hiker and he picked out today's trail to the summit of Mount Coe. That summit is so high that the pointed tip of it was covered by a shelf of clouds that you see behind Mark and Blake.

We started hiking up into that fog right away. This is a steep trail, covered with tree roots and rocks.

Perhaps we should back up and give some background on this state park. Governor Baxter was a well-liked politician that recognized the beauty of this mountainous inland section of Maine. But he saw this pristine landscape being destroyed by lumber and paper companies harvesting the trees. He personally started buying up parcels of land, that he eventually donated to the state of Maine. Eventually he would buy and donate 310 square miles of pristine woodlands. He had some specific stipulations about how the park would be administered. Even though it is a state park, it is not covered by a state park pass and it costs significantly more to enter this park. (While we are talking about background information, Denisa is slipping in some of the mushroom pictures she took on this hike.)

Blake is a marathon runner, and in great shape. He is giving his parents a work-out while he is visiting! Have we mentioned how much we enjoy his visits?

The only problem with being the best state park ever, is that Baxter State Park is very popular. Even though it is quite remote, hardy hikers come from all over to spend time here. One of Governor Baxter's specifications was that the roads inside the park would not be paved. They are narrow and bumpy gravel roads, and that naturally keeps the speed of cars down. No parking is allowed along those narrow gravel roads. Also, the parking lots are small to keep the park from becoming crowded. They don't allow more visitors to enter when the parking lots fill up.

So we were up at 5:00 this morning, and made the 32-mile (one hour) drive from our campground. We were at the Togue Pond Gate at 7:05 this morning. We mentioned that this is a remote park. We were at one of the closest campgrounds that will fit a motor home, and it was still an hour's drive just to get to the closest gate.

The most famous mountain inside Baxter State Park is Katahdin. That's the tallest mountain in Maine, and is the reason that most hikers will plan a trip to this remote location. But it takes months of planning to make a reservation for one of the coveted parking places at the trailheads that go up Mount Katahdin. Since all the reservations were taken, that hike wasn't an option for us. Even with reservations, hikers have to be in their parking spot at the trail head by 7:00 a.m. At 7:05 a.m. they start giving those spots away to hikers that are lined up and waiting at the gate. We heard that hikers often start lining up at 4:00 a.m. for the chance they might get a parking space. This is hard-core hiking that people go to crazy extremes to see.

When we arrived at 7:00, we had to tell the ranger what our plans were for the day, and where we would be parking. Since we couldn't do Mount Katahdin, Blake had picked the next tallest peak--Mount Coe. We had to drive another 13 miles (which took another 45 minutes) to get to the Slide Dam parking lot to start on the Marston Trail to Mount Coe's summit. At the gate, the ranger's advice to us this morning was "Don't break an arm!" What's that about?!?

We are going up 2,861 feet in elevation this morning so it is steep the entire hike. Denisa must be hiking with a couple of goofballs that think an old woman can do that much mountain climbing!?! The good news is that we eventually broke out of the forest for some great views that show that we have wandered into God's wonders today.

We were entertained by some unique fungi that Denisa kept photographing. Actually, taking a picture was an excuse to rest for a moment on this steep climb.

We were beginning to get some views of the mountain summits around us when we got to the slick rock section that we had read about. It was steeper and slicker than any slick rock we have ever experienced.

The reviews on-line warned that if it had been raining, you should turn around and go back because this section would be impossible to climb. We had already invested too much elevation gain to give up now, so we continued. Besides, didn't it look a little dryer if we veered to the right side of the rock?

We found some blueberry patches that were at their peak of ripeness. We needed to have a berry break to replenish all the calories we had burned already this morning. Denisa was glad to find that Blake enjoys wild blueberries as much as she does.

In all our miles of hiking, we don't remember ever seeing such a thick crop of wild blueberries before.

We just sat down and ate blueberries with the views of mountain summits all around us. We came to find out that the reason we found so many blueberries was that no one probably came this way--ever. By veering to the right we had managed to miss the trail to the summit. Now we're going to have to find our own way up across even more slick rock.

We didn't take many picture of this section because we were literally hanging on for dear life. That's when Denisa declared that she was hiking with a couple goofballs today! They should have never taken an old woman with white hair on this hike!

We were on our hands and knees, grabbing onto any trees or bushes that we could reach. It was a very slow crawl over that very steep, and now very slick section. We couldn't go back down to get out of this predicament, because there would be no way to control our speed down. Now we understood why the ranger warned us about breaking an arm. Our only option was to continue going up any way we could. We can say that we have never encountered such a dilemma in all of our years of hiking. Getting off the trail was certainly a costly error. What goofballs! But we persevered and finally made it to the summit!

That summit sign told us that we made it to 3,764 feet above sea level. In the western U.S. that doesn't sound very high. But here in Maine where we are so close to sea level, that's a big mountain! This is such a rigorous hike that we knew we wouldn't be seeing anyone else on this summit! So the only way to get a group photo was to prop the camera up on a rock and use the timer option.

From here, we could see the Katahdin Mountain summit, which would have been a longer--but easier--climb than we had just made. Baxter State Park is most famous for being the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail. Many of the hikers that get to the top of Mount Katahdin have just hiked over 2,100 miles in their epic journey from Georgia. That's the end of the Appalachian Trail--that we have encountered many times this summer.

We took a break to eat snacks, and took way too many pictures of our accomplishment of being on top of Mount Coe this morning. We had hiked 3.2 difficult miles so far this morning. Now it's time to head down off this mountain on this loop trail. We knew we certainly didn't want to go down the way we came up, so we hope this side of the loop hike is easier.

This half of the loop is longer, but hopefully less steep. We hiked along the mountain saddle for a while before we dipped back into the forest. So Denisa started taking more pictures of mushrooms. All the spring and summer flowers have finished blooming, so this is Denisa's flower-replacement.

Not too far from the summit we came upon this big pile of scat right on the narrow trail. When we were in Alaska we found many piles of moose scat, so we recognized the pecan-shaped poop here. At some time a moose climbed up to the Mount Coe summit.

We are doing this loop hike counter-clockwise as recommended. Going down the slick rock would be almost impossible. So we are going down the longer--but less steep--route through the forest.

This route down is 5.2 miles so we had lots of time to take more mushroom pictures.

That would include this Mickey Mouse mushroom.

From the top saddle we could look down on the foggy valleys below us. From that height we could see only one mountain lake.

Since we are taking so many fungi pictures, we were excited to see this patch of ghost pipe. Native Americans have used this as a hallucinogen for centuries. These plants bloom for only one week each year, so a sighting is very rare. We have never seen it before.

While going down is easier in some ways, we wouldn't say that maneuvering these big rocks is easy.

Our loop hike means that we got to see a whole new crop of fungi on the new way back towards the pickup.

We finally made it down to the little lake that we had seen from the top of the mountain. Whew! It must be time for another snack.

In this moist setting, we got our only wildlife sighting of the day. This is a Baxter state park frog.

This has been a tough hike, and we deserved another rest beside that very clear water lake. We love the reflection of the cloudy blue sky and green mountain on the surface of the water.

By the time we got back to the pickup, we had hiked 8.4 miles. That's not so long on a flat path, but on a rocky steep trail with almost 3,000 feet of elevation gain, it is brutal. All three of us were tired by the time we got back to our seats in the pickup.

From the parking lot, we headed back on the gravel roads towards the park entrance. We wanted to look around a little, so we stopped in at Daicey Pond. There are no food options in this remote park, so we had packed a picnic lunch. We ate it overlooking the pond, with the canoe and kayaks stacked on the shore.

Governor Baxter designed this park so it wouldn't be spoiled from too many visitors. But he also made visitors feel welcome. That stack of boats are available for rent for the bargain price of $1 per hour. We deposited a couple dollars and went for a boat ride on the pond. Blake went kayaking, with a great view of Mount Katahdin in the background.

Mark and Denisa took out a two-person canoe. Having a third person on the water with us allowed for a rare picture of us together on the water.  Have we mentioned how happy we are to have Blake visiting us?

Even though they call it a pond, this body of water is the size of a lake by our standards. We were out in the middle of that lake when Blake and Mark decided to change places so Mark could try out the kayak.

Denisa was yelling at both of them, sure they were going to capsize the canoe in this very sketchy transfer. These two guys are such goofballs! It was a treacherous transfer, but then we got a mother/son canoeing picture.

Denisa insisted on going back to the dock so she could make the transfer into the kayak. She was glad to get out of the canoe with these two goofballs that will try anything.

Kayaking by herself, she was able to get closer to the resident loon. When the two goofballs saw the loon, they headed across the lake to get a picture of Denisa and her favorite bird.

After a nice paddle and lunch, our legs were a little rested. So Blake suggested that we take another hike. This would save us from having to make another long drive back to Baxter State Park, as this was the second hike he had picked out here. Besides, this would take us on the Appalachian Trail, and he knew that Mark and Denisa love taking the AT whenever possible.

So we made the hike along the AT to Little Niagara Falls. This is the final stretch of the 2,190 mile Appalachian Trail before those dedicated hikers gear up for the final summit up Mount Katahdin. We had hoped to see some of the through-hikers today, but we did not. We always enjoy their stories, and we're sure they would have some good ones on their last day of hiking.

Have we mentioned how happy we are to have Blake visiting us here at Baxter State Park?

Once we made it to Little Niagara, it was only another 0.4 miles to Big Niagara. We all made the additional hike, but only the two goofballs scrambled close to the falls.

This trail was relatively flat, and only added another 2.7 miles to our total. We got lots of exercise today, with over 12 miles of hiking plus some water miles kayaking.

We got to Baxter State Park before 7:00 a.m., and we left as the sun was going down at 7:30 p.m. We had hoped to eat something on the way home. But in this remote area of Maine, the few eating establishments along the road were closed by 7:30. So three tired hikers had to do a little cooking to make dinner when we got home. We left the motor home at 5:40 this morning, and didn't get home until 8:15 p.m. We've had a big day! We didn't see everything at Baxter State Park, but we saw some of the best highlights at the best state park ever--with a couple of goofballs.