Sunday September 1

Our campsite is close to the road and we are awaken by traffic around 6:30 in the morning. It’s certainly not commuter traffic since we are on the road to Baxter State Park. There is nothing else to create a rush hour. Besides it’s Sunday. Are the cars heading to the Park to make the hike up Mt. Katahdin? Oh well, the traffic subsides and we drift back to sleep.

A bit later in the morning we are up enjoying our coffee and breakfast. It’s time to explore the Park. The narrow road leading to the Park changes to gravel and become very narrow. The Park has no paved roads and is primitive. Arriving at the Park we discover they limit the number of cars allowed into the Park each day. On Sunday of Labor Day there are plenty who are enjoying the Park. You state where you are heading and they tell you if there is availability there or not. Those cars going by at 6:30 were heading to enter the Park at opening time of 7 AM. We hiked in the Park back in 1982 and there were no controls such as now.

We find that there is space for a hike to Little Niagara and Big Niagara Falls about ten miles into the Park so we reserve a parking spot for that. The speed limit along the Tote Road is 20 mph except lower near other parking areas. The hike to the falls is along the Appalachian Trail close to the northern end. A day hike north along the trail puts one on top of Mt. Katahdin, but we are hiking south along the trail. Shortly into our hike we meet a 71 year old man that over the past couple of years has been hiking the AT. Tomorrow he’ll complete his journey. His brother had convinced him to hike the entire AT and he agreed so his brother didn’t have to do the hike alone. Well, after a few hundred miles his brother decided to stop but he was hooked and kept going.

Wells is not expecting to capture great waterfall photos since it’s a sunny day with only a few clouds, but he carries his camera backpack anyway.  Arriving at the falls we wonder about how they got there names of Little and Big Niagara. Wells grabs a couple of shots and we head back towards the truck.

Marsha has been hoping to see Boreal Chickadees on this trip but they’ve been as elusive as moose. Up in the tree tops Wells hears Boreal Chickadees but Marsha has yet to lay eyes on one. We finish the hike and decide to head into town 9 miles beyond our campground. We are after a few supplies plus hoping to visit a photo gallery she read about.

Turns out the Gallery is open everyday except Wednesdays and Sundays but we luck out and it’s open. It’s a photo gallery that the woman at the gallery, Anita, and her husband own, run, and do all the photography. The primary subject matter for the gallery is Moose. www.mooseprintsgallery.com’

We chat with Anita at length and she tells us about a National Monument, Katahdin Lands and Waters created in August of 2016. It’s roughly 90,000 acres and has a free primitive camping area. Here’s our destination for the next few days!

Sunday September 1

Our campsite is close to the road and we are awaken by traffic around 6:30 in the morning. It’s certainly not commuter traffic since we are on the road to Baxter State Park. There is nothing else to create a rush hour. Besides it’s Sunday. Are the cars heading to the Park to make the hike up Mt. Katahdin? Oh well, the traffic subsides and we drift back to sleep.

A bit later in the morning we are up enjoying our coffee and breakfast. It’s time to explore the Park. The narrow road leading to the Park changes to gravel and become very narrow. The Park has no paved roads and is primitive. Arriving at the Park we discover they limit the number of cars allowed into the Park each day. On Sunday of Labor Day there are plenty who are enjoying the Park. You state where you are heading and they tell you if there is availability there or not. Those cars going by at 6:30 were heading to enter the Park at opening time of 7 AM. We hiked in the Park back in 1982 and there were no controls such as now.

We find that there is space for a hike to Little Niagara and Big Niagara Falls about ten miles into the Park so we reserve a parking spot for that. The speed limit along the Tote Road is 20 mph except lower near other parking areas. The hike to the falls is along the Appalachian Trail close to the northern end. A day hike north along the trail puts one on top of Mt. Katahdin, but we are hiking south along the trail. Shortly into our hike we meet a 71 year old man that over the past couple of years has been hiking the AT. Tomorrow he’ll complete his journey. His brother had convinced him to hike the entire AT and he agreed so his brother didn’t have to do the hike alone. Well, after a few hundred miles his brother decided to stop but he was hooked and kept going.

Wells is not expecting to capture great waterfall photos since it’s a sunny day with only a few clouds, but he carries his camera backpack anyway.  Arriving at the falls we wonder about how they got there names of Little and Big Niagara. Wells grabs a couple of shots and we head back towards the truck.

Marsha has been hoping to see Boreal Chickadees on this trip but they’ve been as elusive as moose. Up in the tree tops Wells hears Boreal Chickadees but Marsha has yet to lay eyes on one. We finish the hike and decide to head into town 9 miles beyond our campground. We are after a few supplies plus hoping to visit a photo gallery she read about.

Turns out the Gallery is open everyday except Wednesdays and Sundays but we luck out and it’s open. It’s a photo gallery that the woman at the gallery, Anita, and her husband own, run, and do all the photography. The primary subject matter for the gallery is Moose. www.mooseprintsgallery.com’

We chat with Anita at length and she tells us about a National Monument, Katahdin Lands and Waters created in August of 2016. It’s roughly 90,000 acres and has a free primitive camping area. Here’s our destination for the next few days!