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April 16, 2020

Baxter State Park, wary of visitors from away, delays opening until July 1

Photo / Maureen Milliken Hikers on Baxter State Park's Traveler Loop, one of the trails closed because of COVID-19 restrictions.
By Maureen Milliken

Baxter State Park, a destination spot for out-of-state visitors, won't open for summer camping until July 1, and is also banning vehicular traffic and limiting hiking.

The park normally opens for camping May 15, natural conditions like snow and weather, permitting.

The 209,6440-acre park is traditionally a model for social distancing — its regulations strictly limit the number of visitors — but now will be closed to vehicular traffic, camping and hiking above the treeline until further notice, Director Eben Sypitkowski said in a letter posted on the park's website Wednesday.

The park is in a remote part of Maine's least populated county, Piscataquis, which is the only county of the state's 16 that has yet to report a COVID-19 case. But the fact the park is a destination spot made the move necessary, said Sypitkowski. The park averages 63,000 visitors a year, and more than half are from out of state.

 "The important thing to remember is, we are a destination park and so we really draw on a wider population than a state park or a local park," Sypitkowski told the Portland Press Herald Wednesday. "We’re wary of that."

The authority is canceling day-use parking and camping reservations and is notifying those who have made the reservations. The move comes after considering guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, Piscataquis County Emergency Management Agency, the park's medical director and the Maine Department of Public Safety. It is closing the two gates that allow vehicular traffic, Togue Pond and Matagamon.

Area economic driver

The park is usually open for camping from May 15 to Oct. 15, and reservations can be made up to four months in advance. Many campsites, particularly the ones with access to Katahdin, in the southern section of the park, fill up almost immediately upon becoming available.

The park, which is self-funded and operates independently of the Maine State Park System, is a major economic driver for the Katahdin Region, which includes Millinocket, East Millinocket, Medway, Patten and other Piscataquis County towns.

The park has 22 full-time year-round employees, and more than 60 when it's open from May through October. It is indirectly responsible for nearly 100 other jobs in the area, according to a 2008 economic impact study. 

"Baxter State Park recognizes the importance of public access to the outdoors during these trying times, and that outdoor experiences are best enjoyed safely and close to home," Sypitkowski's letter said. He said the park will reopen "as soon as reasonably possible."

A map showing where Baxter State Park is relative to interstate 95, Millinocket and other towns
Image / Google Maps
Baxter State Park, the shaded area top left, will not open until, tenatively, July 1, this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The park, in Piscataquis County, is in a remote area and as a rule limits visitors, but is also a destination for out-of-state visitors.

A history of physical distancing

The closest towns to Baxter State Park are Millinocket, which is 16 miles from the Togue Pond gate, at the southern end, and Patten, which is 26 miles from the Matagamon gate, at the northern end. The park is still open to walk-in traffic, and the authority is asking those who visit to practice physical distancing. 

The park has 215 miles of trails on and around more than 40 mountains and peaks, including Katahdin, Maine's highest mountain, as well as 337 campsites in 10 campgrounds.

While some visit the park to hike the 5,269-foot mountain, which is also the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail, many visit for the other trails, mountains, lakes, campgrounds, wilderness experience and spectacular views.

Overnight camping is limited to designated campsites and the number of campers at each site is also limited. Campsites are reserved months in advance. Those who wanted to make reservations would camp out outside the park's Millinocket headquarters for days, or even weeks, to make a reservation on the Jan. 15 "open reservation" day until the open reservation practice was ended a couple years ago.

Even day hiking is normally restricted — everyone who enters the park must register, and hiking parties can't have more than 12 members. The park doesn't allow RVs and campers, and has size limits on what vehicles can enter. It doesn't allow motor boats, and ATVs and snowmobiles are only permitted in certain sections. It has no showers, running water, electricity or wifi and has limited cell service. It's carry-in, carry-out — campers and hikers are responsible for their own rubbish removal.

The park was founded by former Gov. Percival Baxter in 1931, who donated the first 6,000 acres, as well as a $7 million trust, with the requirement that the park be kept "forever wild." The park's priority is "wildness first, recreation second," so has always limited the human imprint, well before COVID-19 restrictions.

Baxter's vision for the park's future was clear: “Man is born to die, his works are short-lived. Buildings crumble, monuments decay, wealth vanishes. But Katahdin, in all its glory, forever shall remain the mountain of the people of Maine," he said when the park was dedicated.

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