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Posted by Dave on April 24, 2006 at 12:55:41 pm EDT
In reply to Acadia and Baxter Parks in Maine posted by Uncle Wayne on March 30, 2006 at 7:42:54 am EST

On the weekend people start lining up well before the park gate opens (officially 6 a.m., though it often opens at 5 on midsummer weekends). Midweek in June it's more likely that you can show up "late" (e.g. 7 a.m.) and still get into the park, but there are no guarantees. Because of this cutoff on the number of vehicles allowed in Baxter at any one time, crowding inside the park is never an issue.

Roaring Brook is the largest day-use parking lot, but it's also the most popular and the first to fill up most days. There are lots of other nice places to hike in the park if you show up too late for a spot at Roaring Brook.

Of course if you have campsite reservations you don't need to worry about showing up early. All sites must be reserved in advance and they do fill up very quickly. The park is in the second year of a rolling reservation system trial, which means that sites open for reservations four months in advance of the day you're reserving. In all likelyhood June was fully booked back in February, but it's worth mailing a reservation request if you think you might want to camp. You can also call within ten days of your trip to try a last-minute reservation, as some additional sites are released at that point.

The reservation system is overly-complicated, and not well explained, but here's the official info from the BSP web site:
http://www.baxterstateparkauthority.com/camping/newres2006.html

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• Re: Acadia and Baxter Parks in Maine - Eric (Guest) 10:31:28 04/25/2006

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