Baxter State Park

 

   Baxter State Park is an enormous wilderness area, protected by the State of Maine since 1933. the park was a gift to the state from former Governor Percival P. Baxter. Baxter pioneered highly restrictive guidelines for access and use that have helped the popular area preserve its’ character as a wilderness. No motorized vehicles are allowed and even pets are not barred from entering the park.

        Baxter made his first purchase of 5,960 acres in 1930. The land included the highest peak in the state, Mount Katahdin. This land was given to the state a year later, in 1931. In 1933 the legislature named the park for Baxter, and renamed the peak of Katahdin Baxter Peak in his honor. Baxter’s final gift was 7.764 acres that he donated in 1962. Today the park totals 202,064 acres, more fully protected wilderness than in the Green and White Mounatin National Forests combined.

        Katahdin also serves as the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail. The summit has a commanding view of the Atlantic to the East, the White Mountains to the West and the Allagash River to the North. Baxter State Park also boasts extensive unspoiled coastline with jagged cliffs and some of the first sunrises in the U.S..

        For more about Baxter State Park click here.