Spectacular Baxter State Park: Arrival, Beautiful Sunsets & Meteors

Arrival in Millinocket & Baxter

After a cross country flight and rendezvous with friends in New England, we head up to Maine for a week at Baxter State Park. I stay one night in Newburyport on the North Shore of Massachusetts, one of my favorite towns in the country, then meet up with friends in Boston and we head north. After a short transit of New Hampshire, we cross the Piscataqua River Bridge into Maine, then it’s several hours north chatting about gear and the trip until we reach Millinocket, where we stop for dinner while we wait for our other friends to catch up to us. (Baxter limits the number of cars at campsites, so we are carpooling up in several). Then, early evening, we leave Millinocket to head into the park around sunset. I’m hoping to catch both it and some meteors – this weekend is the peak of the Perseid meteor shower, after all.

Baxter State Park: Togue Pond to Bear Brook

After passing the entrance sign, we stop briefly for a sunset moment just outside the gate at Upper and Lower Togue Pond. A serene moment of the blue hour shortly after sunset. Then it’s through the Togue Pond Gatehouse on the park’s southern boundary and on to our group campsite at Roaring Brook, where we meet with two other members of the group who came from New Hampshire.

We get a campfire going and set up our tents. It’s decently cloudy at the moment, but I’m hopeful that the skies might clear somewhat for the Perseids. Around 10, the skies do clear and we get quite a few, although it’s a day or two past the peak.

Tomorrow we plan to head up to Russell Pond for two nights to use it as a base camp for exploring the east-central portion of the park, and maybe return over Hamlin Peak. I’m thinking of doing a slight detour to Grand Falls on the way out, time permitting. Then it’s several more days here at Bear Brook with a lot of flexibility. My hope is to stop at Katahdin Woods and Waters at least; and perhaps, if we get a truly spectacular day, climb the mountain.

Other major summits in the park, such as Hamlin Peak and the North Brother, are higher on my priority list, though, since I intend to come back to do the Appalachian Trail, which will get me Katahdin anyway. But we shall see what the week holds in terms of condition and opportunity. For now, it’s off to rest for the hike out to Russell in the morning.