October offers some of the best hiking conditions of the year. The temperature will drop. The air tends to be dry. The sun is lower and lower, tilting to cast abundant light onto forests, swamps, mountains and ponds. Red maples turn orange and scarlet. Birch turns golden. The leaves of red oak are deep purple. Coniferous trees such as white pine, spruce, fir, cedar, hemlock and hackmatack also have a velvety shine with dark green hues. As the temperatures cool down, the winds die down a bit, allowing for impressive mirror views of ponds and lakes.
The interior of Baxter State Park, north of Katahdin and well off the park’s perimeter roads, is one of my favorite outdoor destinations. It is centered around Wassataquik Lake and requires a day or more of hiking from the nearest trailheads at Roaring Brook, South Branch Pond, and Nesowadnehank Campground. At 178 acres, this body of water is the largest body of water in the park, and is dramatically located in a deep, fjord-like valley between Mount Pogy to the north and the high mountain massif that culminates to the south. Katahdin itself, Maine.
Fall has arrived on the calendar, and a backpacking friend and I will be heading into the enchanting depths of Baxter State Park for the better part of a week. Our destination was Wassataquik Lake, a dozen miles from the Nesowadnehank ranger station and campground on the western edge of the park. We are hiking the easy Center Pond portion of the Wassataquik Lake Trail. Expect to see few other hikers on the trail, plan on doing a little fly fishing, and keep your eyes peeled for moose, bears, and eagles. For an early start, we camp at Nesowadnehank Campground the night before our hike and enjoy a direct view of Doubletop Mountain’s sharp peak ridge as the sun sets.
Just after sunrise, the air is cool, the sky is bright, and there is a light breeze. The maples are beginning to turn their fall colors as we continue through the hardwood forest, tramping over the small Nesowadnehank River and plunging into five miles of deep, nearly uninterrupted forest. The blue jay chirps, the crow crows, and the black-capped tit sings. By the end of the few days, we only see three other hikers, but there are definitely more than 100 trekkers heading to the summit of Katahdin to the south of us.
On the way to Center Pond (Doug Dunlap photo)
The trail is almost entirely low-lying and level, and in places it follows the route of long-abandoned forest roads. Some sections were flooded due to nearby beaver activity and the trail was rerouted to dry ground. Elsewhere, trail crews ripped cedar trees in half and spiked short cedar crosspieces to build marsh bridges. The route includes many low-lying areas, and the total length of the marsh bridge is estimated to be more than 400 meters. Building these bridges requires many days of trail work. Nature cannot be left alone, at least when the land is healthy. A thick layer of light green moss grows around the bridge.
A moss-lined bog bridge spans damp ground (Doug Dunlap photo)
We had been told by park rangers to be on the lookout for black bears. Black bears are attracted to food left in tents and lean-tos, and have appeared at suburban campgrounds by campers who neglected to hang food within reach. While hiking we found quite a bit of bear scat. Some of them contained berries, indicating they were a recent sign. However, we were careful with our food and no one visited the campsite. There are lots of moose tracks, some droppings and a few scrapes, but mostly tracks, some quite deep in the muddy sections. At Center Pond, you’ll stay in one of the Adirondack accommodations available to backpackers. The 12-acre pond offers unusual views of the Brothers Mountains (North Brother, South Brother, Mt. Coe, and Mt. Odzi) to the southeast and Doubletop to the southwest. Mt Mürren is roadless and remote, just to the east. The wetland area by the pond has a concentration of hundreds of maroon pitcher plants, more than I’ve seen anywhere else. Canoes are available for those who book a lean-to. As you go around the pond, you will row on the surface of the water, which is reflected like a mirror. In the evening you can go back to the sea for some fly fishing or catch and release and have some luck.
Mirror image, central pond, (Doug Dunlap photo)
The next day, we continue our hike, and early in our trek we pass a vast swamp that was once the water of a pond, but has gradually become dry ground over the centuries. In autumn, the March grass turns yellow and sways in the morning breeze. The carcasses of black spruce, fir and cedar sit in the marsh, glistening in the sunlight.
Cotton grass at Center Pond Wetland. Mt Murren in the distance. (Doug Dunlap photo)
Along the way, you’ll walk mostly on level ground for about eight miles through deep forest, ending up on a short rise that separates the Nesowadnehank and Wassatakuik drainages. (Try saying it quickly!). At the highest point, covered with spruce, fir, and occasional pines, we arrive at the junction with a side road that leads to our home base for the night, the Little Wassataquik Lake lean-to.
This is a relatively new lean-to, located near a small mossy waterfall in a small stream. The trail crew thoughtfully built a cedar log bench next to the waterfall. During my stay, I spent quite a bit of time there, reading books, writing in my diary, or simply admiring the waterfalls and listening to “water music.”
This area is a popular habitat for red squirrels. Red squirrels roam up and down the small clearing by the lean-to, gathering spruce berries for winter storage. What’s really fun to watch are the squirrels that strip the cedar bark from the fallen tree in front of them, stuff the bark in their mouths, and take it home as material for their winter nests. Your cheeks swell and there’s no room for more, so you peel off another layer and sprint towards home, holding it between your teeth.
We explore nearby Little Wassataquik Lake (a really small pond), look for places to fish, and take a dip in the hottest part of the park that day. Nearing the end of the day, after dinner we hike 800m to a high overlook above Wassataquik Lake valley. I’m sitting on the side of a cliff, looking out at this secluded, pristine body of water. The view resembles a fjord, a deep canyon in the heart of the Scottish Highlands, or a Sierra Nevada landscape, but this is very much Northern Maine.
Wassataquik Lake (Doug Dunlap photo)
There is another lean-to on the main part of Wassataquik Lake about 2 miles from our camp. If occupied, it means there are probably no more than four people in this vast landscape at the moment. The setting sun casts a glow over Howe Peak. Barely visible from this angle, it is a rarely visited mountain on the northern Katahdin plateau. Continuing straight ahead, far to the east, the northern and southern Turner Mountains loom at the park’s eastern edge. The sun disappears behind us. The light falls. Back to lean-to with headlamp.
The next day we returned to Center Pond and were fortunate enough to be able to rebook that lean-to, so we were able to split the 10-mile round trip to the Nesowadnehank trailhead into two days of 5-mile hikes each. Bear scat, moose tracks, red squirrels, and quite a few toads are among the wildlife sightings. We walk through ever-changing colors as the autumn leaves rapidly change to red, yellow, gold, orange, and everything in between.
At Center Pond, we met a party of two who had stopped for lunch and were continuing their hike. So, I met a total of 5 people on this trip. Exchange stories about the trails in the park. They, like me, had backpacked to Davis Pond, high up on the northwestern edge of the Katahdin Plateau. We all share an appreciation for remote places.
Once again, we have the pond and canoe all to ourselves and stay overnight. I’m leaving. A family of three goldeneyes, waterfowl from a remote pond, paddle along the south shore. It dives repeatedly like a loon, but it is a small bird. We circle the pond, fly fish, and chase rising trout. Return for dinner, spend some time relaxing by the waterfall, and put the canoe back into the water as the sun sets. The evening sky is dramatic, with the setting sun turning the sky fiery red and then orange. They fish until dark and, if they are lucky, return their catch to the pond.
Sunset (Doug Dunlap Photography)
On the morning of your final day, wait for the sun to rise, take a dip, then pack up and begin your hike. I paused to look longer at the marshes of Center Pond, wondering how many decades or even centuries it would be before what I was looking at became solid ground and Center Pond itself disappeared. For now, in the fresh and rich light of the morning, its golden lawns and surrounding rich green hills are extremely beautiful.
We cross a swamp bridge, walk alongside thick moss covering rocks and stumps, and reach for the top of the swamp bridge. A dense forest of broad-leaved and coniferous trees stretches along the trail. There are a few aster postures, whites, and purples here and there. The clumps of ferns are turning yellow. A striped maple waves its giant leaves that have turned lemon yellow. “Foo” of the great horned owl. We’re in the heart of the Maine woods.
Autumn foliage on the Little Nesowadnehank River. (Doug Dunlap photo)
Once you arrive at Little Nesowadnehank Stream, it’s only a quarter mile to the trailhead. Pause here and explore upstream and downstream. I curl up in a ball after years of rolling on the riverbed, peck through the polished stones of the riverbed, pick up a few and turn them over in my hands. Orange maple leaves race down the river like little boats, disappearing over a small waterfall and reappearing on the other side. Everything is so simple, so peaceful, this distant stream gliding down to the distant sea, witnessed by an almost silent forest.
We look forward to seeing you on the trails this fall.
Note: All camping at Baxter State Park is by reservation only. The park’s day parking lot fills up quickly, so advance reservations are highly recommended for day hikes. For more information, contact baxterstatepark.org.
