We woke up early after a very comfortable night and headed to the camp pavilion for coffee. They did not open until 8:30 so we explored a bit and walked down to the lake but the mosquitos were relentless. We headed back to the cabin to escape them.

A short while later, we got our coffee and really good breakfast sandwiches. The mosquitos made doing our own cooking absolutely miserable so having cooked food available right at the campground was a huge bonus. We also got some great information about the history of Baxter State Park and their policies for maintaining the natural environment from the very friendly staff person who made our breakfast at the Penobscot Outdoor Center.

The very helpful ranger gave us some suggestions for good hiking trails when we arrived at Baxter State Park. We wanted a fairly short but scenic trail as we were planning to make it to the coast by evening.  It started to pour down rain as soon as we were about to set off on our first hike so we waited it out in the car. Before too long, the rain let up enough for us to hike. The trail was well maintained and designed to keep hikers on the walkway. There were numerous signs directing visitors to stay off areas meant only for wildlife. The trail ended wth a very pretty water view. We wanted to see more of the park so we drove the scenic road and stopped at a few places to take pictures. We did not have enough time to really do this beautiful park justice, so it is on our list for a return visit.

Acadia National Park was on our list of must-sees in Maine so we headed southeast. Freecampsites.net helped us find a nice spot for the night near Schoodic Penninsula at Donnell Pond Public Reserved Land. The campsites were actually a half-mile walk from the parking lot but we opted to sleep in the jeep in the parking lot. Considering that everything we own is in there, we don’t really like to leave it unattended at night. Not our most scenic campsite ever but it was free, close to Acadia, and had a clean, well-maintained outhouse so we had no complaints.