Increased Baxter State Park Fees

FYI, while looking over the BSP website, the fees structure at Baxter was modified for 2010 and the overall pricing increased. The one that really got me is the cost to drive in the park. For anyone other than Maine residents, its $14 plus add in the new mandatory parking reservation fee to park at any of the Katahdin day lots of $8 and it adds up. It looks like the big change to campsites and leantos pricing is that rather than charge per head with a minumum, they now charge for the maximum capacity of each site.


http://www.baxterstateparkauthority.com/camping/fee_schedule.html

IMHO, Still worth the price, but I expect this was a response to the decline in usage at the park. I expect this will stoke the "Baxter haters", but that will leave more room for the rest of us

I've never been in Maine for hiking, but I'm going there in 2010.

If I understand correctly, if you enters in Baxter Park, it is $14 plus an additional fee for travel or parked the car at any parking in the park?

And if you sleep in the park, the fee is $30 or $11 and do we have to pay the fee to enter in the park and added the cost of the parking?

We will not sleep in the park, but I want to know.

Thank you

If I go to Baxter again I'm going with Spencer

I can't find the parking reservation fee on the website, do you have to pay if you have a campsite?

The entry fees and camping fees are separate and payable depending on what you use

I remember renting a campsite in a WI state park, we had to pay the non-resident camping fee but could pay the resident entry fee because the rental car had WI plates

Yow! What were the tentsite fees before? I never really looked at them, but I was thinking it would be cool to do a backpacking trip in the northern part sometime next fall, but I pretty much always hike solo. $30 per night for one person isn't going to happen on my usual budget.

I'll have to look into this some more...

The website does not mention the parking reservation fee (that I can find). It was publicized earlier this year by BSP especially after the Labor Day lines at the gate. Perhaps they elected to back off on the parking reservation fee for 2010 but I doubt it. The system proposed previously was that the three parking lots normally used to day hike Katahdin, Roaring brook, Katahdin Stream and Abol would require mandatory parking reservations that had to be obtained in advance through a rolling reservation system for the cost of $8 per day per car. Any other parking lot would not require a fee. As of this summer, having a reservation inside of the park did not give one any rights to parking at the three lots mentioned previously. Therefore, anyone staying in the park at other than the campgrounds associated with the three parking lots, had to compete for parking with those at the gate, which required an early morning drive (about 4:30 AM) to get past the gate house prior to its opening. My question is, if I am staying in the park elsewhere under the new system, will I also need to reserve a spot to day hike the mountain from one of the aforementioned lots?


For as long as I have gone to the park with out of state license plates and an out of state driver license, I have had to pay the entrance fee at the gate even though I had paid reservations at a site in the park. Included with the reserved sites fee was the right to park at the designated parking lot for the site reserved.

Yvon, your best thing to do is wait until after "opening day in January to see how the rules firm up.

In general the concept of heading up last minute to Baxter on a nice stretch of weather to climb Katahdin may be a thing of the past.

peakbagger said:

In general the concept of heading up last minute to Baxter on a nice stretch of weather to climb Katahdin may be a thing of the past.

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It is precisely this consequence, intended or unintended, that will likely keep me from going.

Tim

The reservation system makes no sense to me. There's no way to know the weather far in advance, so it only makes sense to reserve several days and use the best one.
...which defeats the whole purpose of any sort of reservation.

I'm fine with paying lot fees or whatever they want to charge, but requiring reservations makes the whole trip fairly pointless to people like me. BSP is a nine hour drive, and I'm not going to drive nine hours to climb Katahdin in the pouring rain because I was forced to pick an arbitrary date to do it months in the past.

This is kind of like arguing whether $1.99/lb or $2.99/lb is a fairer price for filet mignon.

If these semantics (and incorrect assumptions) keep you away, I suspect you miss lots of treasures in life.

Is there an emoticon for I feel sorry for you?

Reservations are not required for day use. Reservations are available if you prefer to be sure there is a spot when you get there. If you are not clear on the rules and options, I suggest you call HQ directly and ask - 207.723.5140. You'll find it's not as complicated as some will have you believe.

Roy, you can have shotgun anytime.

You have to call because their web site is an impossible jumble of partial or out-dated information and unrelated links, most ending in a "call..."

http://www.baxterstateparkauthority.com/rules/allrules.html

which ostensibly is "All Rules" doesn't say squat about day-hike reservations and is dated 2006.

I just get the feeling that they don't care for non-Mainers. Note that I am not a "Baxter Hater" (I don't care for govt red tape though) - it's just very difficult to figure out what is what and very different from NH's Live-Free-Or-Die mentality.

Peakbagger posted this in Sept:

http://www.vftt.org/forums/showthread.php?t=32134 - I knew this sounded familiar.

Tim

According to the Baxter Park website, this year's "opening day" is Thursday, January 19. Jan. 19 is actually a Tuesday and that is more typically the "opening day" ... since it was changed from the first week day after New Year. If you're thinking about going to opening day, I suggest confirming the date with the Park. http://www.baxterstateparkauthority.com/camping/nextyear.html

P.S. I have not found the Park to be at all unfriendly to out of staters. Quite the contrary, I wish more public servants elsewhere were as helpful and courteous as Park personnel. Remember, they do have rules that are based not on what some people might consider good form but on Deeds of Trust which contain specific directives, including I believe some preferentail treatment for residents of Maine. Note also that the Park is free from the political influence that accompanies the use of public funds (the Park operates solely on its fees and from an endowment established by Gov. Baxter and it was purchased entirely by private donations, much from Gov. Baxter's personal wealth and that which he personally raised through his own soliticitations).

Is parking fee required for Telos Rd?

I'm planning to try for North Brother Jan. 3-4th, and have sent in my Nesowadehunk reservation request. We'd be parking the car at mile marker 35 on the Telos Rd., unless we can drive down the Williams Pond Rd. a bit. But neither of these possible parking spots SEEMS to be within BSP. Does anyone know if there's a fee for parking here?

There are no parking fees whatsoever in the winter. This is simply because you cannot actually drive anywhere into the park in the winter, meaning you are always parking off site and skiing or walking into the Park. The primary parking areas for winter use are Telos Rd. (to get to Nesowadnehunk, Brothers, etc.), Abol Bridge on Golden Rd (to get to Katahdin via Roaring Brook or southern trailheads) or Matagamon Wilderness Camps (to get anywhere in north end and actually the parking is just past the camps but well before the gate). There are a few other, seldomly used winter trailheads. All of these are outside of the park and offer free, acceptable overnight parking.

Mark, you'll find a nicely plowed parking area on the Telos Rd. at the mouth of the Williams Pond Rd. Bring a full-sized shovel b/c if it snows while you are in there, you might just need it to get out.

The Deeds of Trust make it clear that Baxter wanted the park to be accessible to all Mainers. This has been implemented in various ways, most notably that Maine residents are not subject to the entrance fees. They are still however, subject to all camping and rental fees. It's not that BSP doesn't cater to folks from other states, it's just that folks from other states are used to the WMNF and GMNF where anything goes.

...that's not to say the "anti-From Away" sentiments aren't strong in Maine. It's taken me quite a few years to get used to it. Luckily, I'm a Yankee so I'm entitled to everything in all New England states

What about non-winter?

Tim
(born-and-raised New Englander)

Taconic said:

... BSP is a nine hour drive, and I'm not going to drive nine hours to climb Katahdin in the pouring rain because I was forced to pick an arbitrary date to do it months in the past.

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Based upon my own experience, park staff may not allow you to hike Katahdin in the rain. I was turned back (after a long drive) one fall when it has rained in the night, but the day dawned with blue-bird skies. The reason given was "the trails are wet ...". I was allowed to hike anything BUT Katahdin/Pamola.

Kevin Rooney said:

Based upon my own experience, park staff may not allow you to hike Katahdin in the rain. I was turned back (after a long drive) one fall when it has rained in the night, but the day dawned with blue-bird skies. The reason given was "the trails are wet ...". I was allowed to hike anything BUT Katahdin/Pamola.

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Happened to me also, so instead we hiked the now-closed OJI N trail and I got a nasty cut when I slipped. So is it better to drive 9 hours to hike Katahdin in the rain or to drive 9 hours to not be allowed to hike Katahdin in the rain?

I have always found the in-park staff to be friendly and helpful, but they have to enforce rules which are sometimes unfriendly.

Note that the site fee system may actually be cheaper for a family or other group that actually fills a leanto or tent site.

Looking at the Baxter State misson statement....The park is for the wild animals and the land 1st, Maine Residents second.....and others 3rd....I am sorry Governor Percival Baxter's gift is not good enough for some people. Some people don't like the rules, but there are more rules you have to follow just driving your car.

I totally understand the parking fees anger.....I don't go to Boston, since it costs $3.00 to go over the Tobin Bridge for a non-resident.....But only $0.30 for a resident commuter. I feel discrimination.

I guess I will have to stay in Maine.

spencer said:

There are no parking fees whatsoever in the winter. This is simply because you cannot actually drive anywhere into the park in the winter, meaning you are always parking off site and skiing or walking into the Park. ...

Mark, you'll find a nicely plowed parking area on the Telos Rd. at the mouth of the Williams Pond Rd. Bring a full-sized shovel b/c if it snows while you are in there, you might just need it to get out.

The Deeds of Trust make it clear that Baxter wanted the park to be accessible to all Mainers. ...

...that's not to say the "anti-From Away" sentiments aren't strong in Maine. It's taken me quite a few years to get used to it. Luckily, I'm a Yankee so I'm entitled to everything in all New England states

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Spencer, thanks for that good news. I was thinking that with both my buddy (a Mainer) and I bringing sleds, there might not be enough room in his Honda for all our stuff. Now I won't worry about that.
I was already planning on bringing my regular trunk snow shovel, but I'll mention your full-sized suggestion to my buddy, after checking the forecast.

Hey, I was born in Massachusetts, where I learned to speak English and spell Massachusetts. My parents were both born in the Bronx, home of YANKEE Stadium, so I guess my Yankee pedigree makes me fully entitled to all the privileges of New Englandhood.

SpongeBob, Is your avatar Mt. Rainier?

MarkL said:

I was already planning on bringing my regular trunk snow shovel, but I'll mention your full-sized suggestion to my buddy, after checking the forecast.

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On a trip where you'll be gone for several days, bring a shovel for each person so nobody has to stand and watch

And some sort of mattock in case the plow drift freezes might not be a bad idea.

RoySwkr said:

On a trip where you'll be gone for several days, bring a shovel for each person so nobody has to stand and watch

And some sort of mattock in case the plow drift freezes might not be a bad idea.

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I keep a steel-bladed garden shovel in my car in winter. It can both move snow and smash ice. (I would also bring a full size shovel if I were to park in Baxter even for one day.)

Don't forget the jumper cables...

Doug