Baxter State Park - Moose & Mountains - 2 of 2 parts

Sunday November 15, 2009

Baxter State Park – Moose & Mountains – 2 of 2 parts

I find it rather ironic that I’m back in Mainewriting a blog entry about my last trip to Maine. But let’s get back to the story at hand. In my first Baxter blog, I told you about our experience with a couple of bear cubs who were very interested in our breakfast as well as some geocaching George and I did. Now we were headed back to Baxer to set up camp at Nesowadnehunk Field Campground. Geri, one of the nicest park rangers around, was again at the gate to greet us. We filled her in on our adventures with the cubs and reconfirmed that Ted would be joining us that evening at Nesowadnehunk Field Campground. She had the info for Ted and would pass it along when he arrived. We had about an hour drive to the campground from the gate of the park.

Along the way, we spotted a nice piece of glass (for the non-photographers reading this, you can interpret that as a really big camera lens) and a couple of guys waiting by a pond. We decided to stop and see what was or wasn’t happening. Turns out, they were a couple of wildlife photographers from Canada. One had the new Leica M9. He must know someone because that camera is impossible to get at the moment. The spot they picked overlooked a pond with a small mountain in the background. They were both hoping a moose would decide to take a swim while they were there.

We arrived at Nesowadnehunk Field Campground a while later. In route, we saw another black bear, but this one was much less interested in us than the cubs were that morning. We pulled into the parking area and went to track down the ranger so we could check in. We met Gabe a few minutes later. He was great. He fielded all the questions I had lined up and gave us the most current info about the wildlife and hiking in the area. A bull moose had been seen regularly right there in the campground the past couple of weeks. We headed out to the car to unload. Just as we reached the cars, wouldn’t you know it – the bull moose Gabe told us about was walking right toward us. It crossed the stream and walked right through Gabe’s yard. It was definitely the biggest moose I’ve seen in New England. I had only seen young bulls up to this point.

After snapping a few shots, he went on his way and we went back to the task on walking everything into the site. We eventually got all the gear in and set up. Dinner was next on the agenda. We not only have a tradition of camping, but also eating my mom’s chili on said camping trips. We had picked up a pot of it on the way to Maine and were very happy to partake this evening. Hot dogs on the open fire complimented the chili perfectly.

Ted arrived as we were preparing dinner and was happy to help us eat it. We were happy to have him with us. We filled him in on all of our animal sightings and hoped to have even more now that he was there. We hung out by the fire for a while and then decided to get the food back to the vehicles and check out the stars from the parking area. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many stars in my life. There is such little light pollution in Baxter State Park that you can see gazillions of stars. The Milky Way Galaxy was clear enough for George to get photos of it. Amazing!

We hit the hay in hopes of some sleep before tomorrow’s hike. Little did we realize that the Bull Moose would be bellowing ALL NIGHT LONG from a distance that made him sound like he was in our campsite. You need to understand that I’m dead to the world when I sleep. The moose woke me up multiple times.

The next morning was cold. Frigid. So cold that you dare not exit your sleeping back lest you turn into an icicle. Eventually, we all bundled up, got the food from the vehicles, took some photos of the heavy frost (I wasn’t joking about the cold!) and started making breakfast. The water couldn’t boil fast enough for our hot chocolate and hot oatmeal. As we were finishing breakfast, we heard the moose again. We grabbed our cameras and went running toward the parking area. There was the Bull Moose right in front of us! We were so excited to see it again, but Ted was the only one properly equipped to get good photographs. By the time I got my zoom from the truck, the bull, along with the cow and calf he was with, had dashed into the woods. We chatted with Gabe, who, along with a bunch of other campers had been watching the moose family for quite a while. He told us that his thermometer read 18 degrees Fahrenheit that morning at 7 a.m. We knew it was cold, but didn’t think it was THAT cold. We headed back to our site and started preparing for our hike. It turned out that the trailhead for Doubletop Mountain started right in our campground, just a few sites from where we were. With neither George nor I at our best physically, we thought a 3,400 foot peak sound a lot better than the alternative of 5,267 feet.

It was the perfect day for a hike. The sun was out. Just a slight breeze. And the temp had warmed up to around 50 degrees by mid-day. We reached the North Peak around 1:30 p.m. We enjoyed the view of mountains in every direction. We could easily see Canada and had an amazing view of Katahdin to our East. The only man-made objects we could see from the peak were a few cars in a parking lot below. Otherwise, it was just miles and miles of wilderness. I had never seen such a sight. It was amazing!

We found a spot to sit, take off our boots, eat lunch and enjoy the views. A couple of other groups of hikers joined us. One was a family with young kids who were proud that they did all the hiking on their own. They really did. Another group was three lady friends who were well into middle age and wondered why they had climbed the mountain. One of them was terrified of the edge, but finally looked over it with some assistance. All in all, we couldn’t have asked for a better hike. Ted was gracious enough to bring his camera so we snapped some shots from the peak before beginning our descent back to camp.

Our dinner that evening consisted of steak and green beans. We left the potatoes in the truck and were too lazy to walk back and get them.

We decided to take a drive around to see if we could spot a bear for Ted. No such luck, but we stopped at a lake in the northern section of the park which offered a wonderful view of Doubletop Mountain.

As we came back into camp, we chatted with Gabe for a few minutes only to have our conversation interrupted by a moose. Gabe was cooking a steak on his outdoor fire as the female moose came out of the brush right behind him. "You can’t have my steak moose!" was Gabe’s reaction. She really didn’t seem interested in it. The shrubs were more appealing. Pretty soon, the bull and the calf made an appearance as well.

Back at camp, we sat entranced by the fire, eating marshmallows and chocolate. Yup, the graham crackers were left in the truck too.

The next morning, we ate a big breakfast and packed up camp. It was much warmer this morning than the last. By 11 a.m. ish, we had the trucks packed and headed north. We stopped along the way and traveled the "moose highway" – an abandoned road, now completely covered in undergrowth, but clearly used by many moose in the area.

Our last stop was at the north gate. We ate lunch on the banks of Grand Lake Matagamon before heading back to civilization. What instantly struck me as we exited the park was the amount of clear cutting just beyond the borders of this majestic wilderness. I’m thankful that Percival Proctor Baxter had the forethought to maintain the wilderness of Baxter State Park for many generations to enjoy. Otherwise, it would be just another opportunity for a greedy logging company to exploit the land.

The final stop in Maine gave George and I the opportunity to catch up with some good friends – Jon and Melody. They live in Cape Elizabeth and met us just off the highway in the Portland area for a quick bite and some storytelling. It was weird to get to Portland and think that we were most of the way home. Three hours later, we were home.

First moose sighting -moving pretty quick!