Long Weekend at Baxter

We had a great long weekend up at Baxter! The only things that might have made it better would have been more blankets, a little girl who napped in the pack n' play in the cabin and one more day up there, but otherwise it was awesome! We had a wonderful time and it was lots of fun to take Sam up to a place we love so much.

I though I'd write a long report about the trip, but I took a ton of photos, so I thought I'd do a photo journal instead!

Our destination: Kidney Pond, Baxter State Park

Canoe launch, Kidney Pond


"Katahdin," Cabin #4

The cabin was great, with a big porch and picnic table, and a view of the pond through the trees. Kidney Pond is perfect for kids, with a wide open grassy area, a big library and a canoe launch.

We did a lot of this:

Morning at the field at Kidney Pond


Hanging out

And this:

Enjoying the view


Playing on the porch

Sam wouldn't nap in the cabin, so we spent a lot of time driving the Tote Road, meaning we saw a fair amount of this:

Asleep

Saturday evening, we walked the trail along the pond's edge, and saw this:


Katahdin over Kidney Pond


Mommy and me and the Mountain


Fun!


Hugs from Mommy

Saturday night was cool and crisp, and Sam came into bed with me in the early morning hours, and when we woke up on Sunday morning, we all cuddled in bed for a bit:


Cuddles

Meghan and Chris got us this awesome stove for Christmas, and it was perfect for this trip!


Yum, chocolate chip pancakes! And French Roast coffee!

Sam enjoyed her meals on the picnic table, and decided the bowl was lots of fun to play with!


Having fun with nobody!

Sunday afternoon we headed over to Daicey Pond and hiked along the AT to Little and Big Niagara Falls:

At the falls


Yeah!


View from Little Niagara Falls

Sam had lots of fun in the baby backpack:


Hurray!

In the evening, we took a nice walk around the campground as the evening light faded:

Family portrait with Katahdin

And Ryan and I enjoyed a bit of this after Sam went to sleep:


Treats

Monday we had a picnic lunch at Katahdin Stream Campground, and hiked up to Katahdin Stream Falls before heading home:

Sam and Katahdin


Fun at the Falls

In short, it was a great trip and we had a blast. Sam was good 99% of the time and loved looking at the water, watching the breeze blow through the breeze and hiking with us. This trip surely wasn't our most active up at Baxter, but it was a nice getaway with lots of fun family time, a little hiking and even some relaxing :-) Ryan and I also managed to sneak a little running in, although I know we were both tempted by all the great trails up there and wished we had had more time to explore them. I managed to get in a nice 5 miles on the Tote Road on Sunday evening before dinner, enjoying the views of Doubletop from along the hard-packed dirt road as it wound by the river. I decided to push the pace to 'comfortably fast' on the last mile, and finished that one off at 7:33 pace, which felt good.

And this write-up wouldn't be complete without the requisite flora and fauna report: Kidney Pond is home to a pair of loons with a little baby. We could hear the loon's haunting calls at night, ringing out over the water. The pond is also home to some really large frogs, and we saw a few minnows too. A brown rabbit hopped around the cabin a few times, we saw one Groundhog and the red squirrels and chipmunks fought over Sam's dropped Cheerios out back :-) I noted some juncoes and red-breasted nuthatches in the woods, and we saw a Flicker as well as swallows and bats swooping over the pond and field. While we were out driving, I spotted a black bear cub hiding down in the greenery along the river. So cute! The river and roadsides were lined with Joe Pye Weed, goldenrod and Pearly Everlasting, and a few lily pads floated on the ponds. I picked a few blueberries, but most of the raspberries had already been picked over. The bunchberries in the woods were sporting their beautiful bright red berries, but everything else was pretty much just greenery, with all the spring flowers gone. I am sure there is more, but that's all I can remember for now!

You can see the whole album from our weekend here.