I recently had a wonderful weeklong camping trip with our younger daughter on the shores of South Branch Pond in Baxter State Park in Maine. Our first three days were in lean-to #1, and our last 4 days were in lean-to #7 (there are seven of them; we booked it in April).
We enjoyed the orange full moon rise, the loons, hummingbirds, cedar wax wings, rabbits, and frogs, our daughter’s amazing baked goods done in the fire (including Gougere and biscuits), reading lakeside (me) or hand-sewing or story-writing (her).
Our daughter hiked the Traveler’s trail, a very difficult 10.5 mile loop including 3+ peaks, which took her 12 hours to do in 31,000 steps. At the top of each peak, she rewarded herself with some of our Sourdough Discard Everything Crackers. On the trail she encountered a moose three feet away, with fortunately a rock between them. When she completed the trail, she got in the lake in her clothes. She said the trail was harder than Mount Katahdin, and she’d not want to do this one again. I climbed the closest peak for the view, and painted.
We had a full rain day where we hunkered down in #7 and read all day; our daughter needed to recoup anyway.
Then toward the end of the week, our other highlight was a day canoeing (you can rent them for $1/hour). We took a seven hour sojourn, which included hanging out next to the birches at the other end of the lake and then portaging into the next lake, which we had never been to before, and it had some steep cliffs.
The lake is incredibly clear and you can see right to the bottom, as much as 15 feet down. The views never get old, because they change all the time with the light, as you can see in the photos.
I am so grateful for this quality time in remote nature with our daughter.
Mount Katahdin
Lean-to #1
my art stuff
a hint of northern lights?
writing a story
She took her spinning on the trail
Spinning on the trail (yes this is what the trail looks like)
View from above of the lake we are staying on
Leaving for her huge hike
She climbed that whole set of ridges
upon return went directly into the lake
Our awesome fire starters (see how to make them here)
our entourage
Playing bananagrams (she needs an e on thrive)
lean-to #7
boys climbing up to jump off the cliffs into the water
beaver dam
very clear water
good-bye until next time!
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12 Comments
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Your family certainly knows how to travel!
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How wonderful! And I see your daughter brought her drop spindle.
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Yup! She loves it! And hand sewing…
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Beautiful photos! Especially the ones with the orange moon rise. Your narrative made me feel like I was tagging along. Any way you’d allow me to share a couple of those photos? With obvious credit to you, of course! I’d like to add a Bible verse to a couple of them that have a dark space on the bottom. Enjoying more creativity these days and greatly appreciate yours!
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Sure with photo credit, PollyCastor.com.
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What a wonderful trip to Baxter State Park with your daughter! But I have to say, sleeping on the floor in a sleeping bag would do me in I’m afraid. Good thing there aren’t many bears around, as you are really sleeping with nature with no protection. Good on you.
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Well there are bears, but we had cots as you can see in one of the photos.
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Spectacular photos as usual. Thank you for giving me a visit to Baxter. I see a lot of paintings in those photos. Let’s talk.
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WOW!!!!! These photographs are like being transported to a place where the divine is amplified as nature takes precedence. I want to go here !! Breathtakingly Beautiful.
I see so many paintings in these photographs… Thank you for sharing, and I hope to experience it next year!-
You’d LOVE swimming in that perfect water!
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Oh my goodness! Baxter is a gorgeous place! Your photos are outstanding! As a nature-lover, I found them very inspiring.
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