These Posts are to give you more information on Baxter State Park and the surrounding Areas:

Baxter State Park 101:

Many people visit Baxter State Park (8 miles from NEOC) to hike Katahdin, Maine’s highest mountain and the one that we are fortunate to overlook across the lake. There are three trail-heads to hike to the top of Katahdin and you will need a day use parking permit which you can get directly online at https://reservation.baxterstatepark.org/ and on the left side of the page click on parking reservations. You will need to be at the gate before 7am once you have a reservation and ideally probably 6.30 as there is usually a line of traffic on busy weekends. If you get there after 7 you probably will have missed your reservation, and someone else will use it.
Any three of the main trail-heads brings you to a very unique experience, Roaring Brook is very popular as there are a couple of different routes that will bring you up the mountain – either in towards Chimney Pond or up Helon Taylor or Via Hamlin Ridge.
The Parking area at Abol Campground brings you up a really neat newly routed trail that has great switchbacks – a steep climb in places and one of the shorter routes to the tableland, but you pay for it in effort!
Katahdin Stream parking area brings you up via the famed Hunt Trail which is the the route the AT comes in/goes out on. It is a long, extremely rewarding trail that has big open vistas and some scrambling over boulders and up open rock surfaces.
Whichever one you choose, go prepared, bring water, map, flashlight (mandatory) food, first aid kit. You will be out there alone or with your friends so be prepared and stay on the trails. Find out more what to bring info on Baxter SP website above. If you are looking for lodging close to the Park entrance – find camping here https://www.neoc.com/camping-in-maine/ and cabins here https://www.neoc.com/lodging-in-maine/

Baxter State Park 102:

In yesterday’s Post we covered the three trail heads for Katahdin, in the next few posts we will cover some great hikes that are not on Katahdin. One of my personal favorite destinations in the park is to head over to Kidney Pond and head towards Sentinel Mountain – it is a 5.6 mile round trip and the mountain stands at about 1,840 ft so you have elevation gain, but not impossible. You will get a good workout as you reach the top and kids will enjoy scrambling up the last part. The views open out to the South West and it is a beautiful place to stop and have some lunch. There is a good blog post on this hike here – http://hchikingnh.blogspot.com/…/sentinel-mountain-baxter-s… Pictures below are from the blog post. I’ve got to get back out there and take some new ones! For Lodging close to Baxter State park find Cabins here – https://www.neoc.com/lodging-in-maine/ and for camping here https://www.neoc.com/camping-in-maine/ or call 800-766-7236