Baxter State Park - 1

Monday and Tue were on the cooler side and sunny. I was staying at the New England Outdoor Center about 2 miles from the South entrance. Reasonable camp site with showers, nice common area to hang out, and food. They also have kayaks to take out on a small pond. Since the first day was nice I decided to go up a nice loop I had heard about. From the roaring brook entrance I went to Chimney Pond, up the Cathedral trail to the top, along the knife edge to Pamola peak and then down the Hellen Taylor trail. The Cathedral trail is steep and you need your hands free. The knife edge is interesting, about 1 mile long, and steep drop offs on both sides. There are a few places near Mt Pamola where you need your hands and it is pretty steep. Very nice loop and perfect day for hiking.

A few things about the park. You need a reservation in one of the in-park camp grounds or a day parking pass to hike. The day parking pass needs to be used between 6AM and 7AM or they give away the parking site. The South entrance requires this overhead while the North entrance has much less people and you don't need parking passes. The camp sites in the park have nothing beyond out houses. No showers. The park is very clean and they are serious about protecting it.

Pictures from camp ground in AM

Mt Hamlin as seen from Cathedral trail

Looking at Pamola mtn and end of knife edge from my direction

Knife edge trail - Looking back at Katahdin

End of day at camp ground

First view of Katahdin - Roaring brook trail

Good view of most of knife edge from near top of Katahdin

Steep trail near Pamola mtn