Since we’ve pretty much explored everything along the coast
we might as well head inland to our previously planned destination before Dave
got sick… We start out early morning
headed towards Baxter State Park, the home of Mt. Katahdin the northern
terminus of the Appalachian Trail. Just
past Bangor we get onto Hwy 95… speed limit 75mph… after some miles the error
messages clear… Dave starts to run better… then… a regen… and… no new error messages…
WOO HOO… is this all Dave really needed,
a hard and fast blow out of his emissions control system with clean fuel??? Hope springs eternal!
 |
| Lake Millinocket |
We stop at Katahdin Air to see if we might still be able to
fly over Katahdin in the next week… Sure… but it’s still dependent on weather… Encouraged, we walk across the road to the
Big Moose Inn Cabins and Campground on the shore of Lake Millinocket (We made a
3 night reservation over a month ago, before Dave got sick… and we moved it
forward a bunch of times and finally cancelled because we were pretty sure that
we would not be able to get there… they have a 30-day cancellation policy and
at this point we are out $93 for the three days that we previously booked and
cancelled.) Katie at the lodge remembers us. “You finally made it!” she says
when we introduce ourselves. She then reactivates and moves our reservation to the next week… Guess it’s back to plan A!
After the weekend we take Dave back to the dealer. They run the diagnostics and there are no
error messages… So the next morning we pack up and head out to the Big Moose
Inn and Baxter State Park.
The Big Moose Inn has a total of 4 water and electric RV
sites. Since they are all empty we have
our pick. We choose one at the back that
seems to meet all of our basic requirements.
The site looks incredibly lumpy but once we pull in and park, it is
totally level. Early the next morning we
are awakened with loud bangs and thumps…seems our spot is below a number of
pine trees and at this time of year, they are dropping super sap laden
pinecones… thump… sticky sap… thump… maybe we need to rethink this… So we move to the site next door without the
sappy pinecone bombs!
 |
| Katahdin from behind the visitor center |
We’re only here for a couple of days to get close to the
northern terminus of the AT. We have already decided that climbing Mt. Katahdin
is NOT in our immediate or any future, but we are willing and able to hike and
explore the area leading up to Katahdin.
At the visitor center we chat with the ranger and indicate
that we are interested in some moderate hikes.
We get a map and some hiking recommendations and take a few photos of
Katahdin from behind the visitor center.
Baxter State Park is for hiking and camping, with limited
vehicle access, (Dimples is too long and wide to be allowed in the park) no
services and unreliable cell coverage. There
is a paved road into the park to a tollbooth.
Here we pay our $14.00 out of state visitor fee for a full day’s use of
the park and are given a pass.
 |
| Sandy pond |
Just past the tollbooth the road splits and is no longer
paved. We take the east fork for about
eight miles to the end at the Roaring Brook Campground. From here we hike to Sandy Stream Pond. The path takes us through forest and over
wetlands and along the shore of Sandy Stream Pond with great views of the
eastern side of the mountains. We stop
at the Big Rock viewpoint; an aptly named big rock along the shore and a great
place to sit and watch for moose. No
moose today, just a couple of ducks out on the pond.
 |
| view of Katahdin from the top of Little Niagara |
Next we drive back around to the west fork of the park road
to Daicey Pond. Here we hike along the
Appalachian Trail to little and big Niagara Falls. Both sets of falls are pretty impressive, but
there is no access to the bottoms of either falls, so photos are tough. At Little Niagara there are large stones that
extend out at the top of the falls. It’s a bit of a scramble to get out there,
but the view up the Nesowadnehunk Stream to Mt. Katahdin is worth it.
As we are hiking here we meet up with a few AT through
hikers. (We actually smell them before we see them LOL.) This is their last few miles before making
the ascent of Katahdin and completing their journey. Some seem excited to be
finishing and others dazed and exhausted.
We have to admire them for this accomplishment. They have been hiking for an average of five
to seven months, have covered over 2,000 miles and have accomplished something
that over seventy percent of hikers who attempt the trail fail. On our way out of the park we stop to turn in
our pass and the ranger asks if we saw any moose, “No” we reply, “Only some
chipmunks and a frog.”
 |
| Baxter Wildlife |
On our second day here it rains all day, so we hang out in
the lodge using their WIFI until the power goes out. So we go back to
Dimples. When the power comes back on we
head back over to the lodge to use the WIFI for a bit before having dinner. While there, the chef brings out a new roasted
beet salad creation for the Inn manager to taste. We can’t ignore the ohhs and ahhs. We’ve heard that the food is good here and now
we are really looking forward to dinner.
There are two dining options, Fredricka’s for an intimate
dining experience and The Loose Moose Bar and Grille for a more social
experience. Both restaurants offer menus
created by executive chef Matteo Proctor and diners can order off either menu
regardless where they are dining. We opt
to dine in the Grille. After perusing
the menus we ask about the beet salad.
It’s tomorrows special, but the chef will prepare it for us tonight. We also order a fresh Maine crab cake with
roasted corn succotash and spicy sriracha aioli and haddock stew and fresh
focaccia bread. The beet salad is
amazing, the haddock stew creamy and full of flavor and the fresh focaccia
light and savory. The crab cake tasted
less than fresh and a bit blackened but the corn and aioli were excellent. They also have a good selection of local
beers on tap and a full bar.
We hoped that the weather would cooperate so we could take a
flight over Mt. Katahdin, but the day we go hiking, there are no flights over
the mountain, the next day it’s raining and the last morning, the winds are too
high to fly safely. So we bid adieu to
the Northern Terminus of the AT and start heading southwest. We do a quick overnight in Skowhegan, Maine
at the Two Rivers Campground and then continue on into New Hampshire…
k
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