The weather was nice today and I had room on my calender so I took a run over to BSP headquarters in Millinocket today to get some summer reservations. I got there around 8:30 and the folks who had tented out all night were packing up. When I walked in the door, they were on the 17th reservation and I got number 68. Stan from VFTT was there for his annual trip and had had gotten a chance to enjoy the warm weather in the area for the prior couple of days as well as getting great treatment at the New England Outdoors accommodations. He had been in line before the doors opened and had #31. We both were pretty flexible on dates and we both werent going for the prime spots, so we didnt have to worry much about someone ahead of us grabbing our intended dates.
There is at least one major new policy in the park which I will do a separate post
Soon Stan's number came up and he got his first choice, after a few more minutes of talking he left to pick up the rest of the crew that decided sleeping in at the hotel was more to their liking.
I talked to a few folks and everyone seemed to be happy with their reservations. As usual it looked like Kidney and Daicey were the hot pick. Based on the general age of the crowd and the general knowledge of the area, there was not a lot of "new blood" with the average age of the crowd probably around 60 which probably explains the demand for the cabins. I did run into one couple that got skunked for reservations for Wassataquoik lake Island, the shelter was open but Russel Pond was at the 20% maximum occupancy limit for early August so they couldn't book the island. There were some folks going for a second round but by the time I left the pace was pretty sparse.
I did have a chance to talk to Dr. Howard Whitcomb that has done several books on the park including the 4 volume set of "Percival Baxter's Vision for Baxter State Park" a very limited edition definitive reference to the evolution of the park and and Baxter's intents using as much original source material from Baxter's personal files as well as park files and the Maine attorney general. He organized all the data and annotated it for the first time. He is an incredible source of information. He subsequently developed an abridged version of same source documents in a more accessible and affordable volume "Governor Baxter's Magnificent Obsession". I picked one up and got it autographed and expect it will make some interesting reading. Someone nearby asked the question of turning the park into a national park and he rapidly located the personal letters from Baxter opposing it. If someone wants to argue Baxter's intent and subsequent reinforcement of his intent, this is the reference to use unless you have access to the 4 volume set. I also asked him about the prohibition of dogs which is not specifically called out in the deeds of trust, he agreed that they arent called out specifically but Baxter stated his intent in numerous documents which are used to guide the administration of the Park
Around 10:30 my number was called and after a few minutes with the reservations clerk, I had my reservations for Bear Brook #3 on Labor day weekend, plus another night in the back country. I was back on the road at 11:15 AM and back in Gorham NH by 3:15 PM with 480 miles on the odometer.
There is at least one major new policy in the park which I will do a separate post
Soon Stan's number came up and he got his first choice, after a few more minutes of talking he left to pick up the rest of the crew that decided sleeping in at the hotel was more to their liking.
I talked to a few folks and everyone seemed to be happy with their reservations. As usual it looked like Kidney and Daicey were the hot pick. Based on the general age of the crowd and the general knowledge of the area, there was not a lot of "new blood" with the average age of the crowd probably around 60 which probably explains the demand for the cabins. I did run into one couple that got skunked for reservations for Wassataquoik lake Island, the shelter was open but Russel Pond was at the 20% maximum occupancy limit for early August so they couldn't book the island. There were some folks going for a second round but by the time I left the pace was pretty sparse.
I did have a chance to talk to Dr. Howard Whitcomb that has done several books on the park including the 4 volume set of "Percival Baxter's Vision for Baxter State Park" a very limited edition definitive reference to the evolution of the park and and Baxter's intents using as much original source material from Baxter's personal files as well as park files and the Maine attorney general. He organized all the data and annotated it for the first time. He is an incredible source of information. He subsequently developed an abridged version of same source documents in a more accessible and affordable volume "Governor Baxter's Magnificent Obsession". I picked one up and got it autographed and expect it will make some interesting reading. Someone nearby asked the question of turning the park into a national park and he rapidly located the personal letters from Baxter opposing it. If someone wants to argue Baxter's intent and subsequent reinforcement of his intent, this is the reference to use unless you have access to the 4 volume set. I also asked him about the prohibition of dogs which is not specifically called out in the deeds of trust, he agreed that they arent called out specifically but Baxter stated his intent in numerous documents which are used to guide the administration of the Park
Around 10:30 my number was called and after a few minutes with the reservations clerk, I had my reservations for Bear Brook #3 on Labor day weekend, plus another night in the back country. I was back on the road at 11:15 AM and back in Gorham NH by 3:15 PM with 480 miles on the odometer.
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