MILLINOCKET – Six years ago, when Dotty Gnauck lost a friend to leukemia, the woman left her with a powerful message – you need to do the things you love. So Dotty called her sister Cathy Marquez the fall before she turned 50.

“I asked her to climb Katahdin with me. I said, ‘Do you think we can still climb it?'” Gnauck recalled.

They did make it to the top that year, and Gnauck of Brunswick and Marquez of Orono have returned to Baxter State Park with their husbands every summer since to spend a weekend, whether they climb Katahdin or not. The trouble is, doing what they love each year has meant doing something they hate – making the reservations.

And there is little sign of change in the winds for the park’s reservation system.

Baxter State Park officials begin taking reservations each year at about 6 a.m. Jan. 2, but, because of the first-come, first-served system, people start lining up the day before outside the Katahdin Inn in Millinocket next to the park headquarters.

Gnauck and Marquez arrived in Millinocket at about 4 p.m. on New Year’s Day and took their place in line in the parking lot, as they do every year, with the understanding that to keep their spot, they would have to wait outdoors through the night in freezing temperatures. Like others in the hardy group, the sisters brought sleeping bags made for subzero weather to help keep warm this year as the mercury dropped into the teens.

Around 6 a.m. Wednesday, the doors to the Katahdin Inn finally opened and Baxter State Park officials handed out numbers to Gnauck and the others based on their places in line. Then, as their numbers were called out, the campers continued the tedious reservation process by first filling out forms and picking their vacation dates and park locations at the inn before going over to the park headquarters about a quarter-mile away to complete the paperwork.

It is what scores of campers do each New Year’s Day to guarantee a stay in a cabin within the 205,000-acre park that features 10 campgrounds serving about 1,100 campers a day.

People who come in person on Jan. 2 are given first choice of reservations. Those who mail in their reservations are given campsites based on the postmark date. Traditionally, more than 200 show up on Jan. 2, while up to 700 will show up during the week. Showing up in Millinocket in person has become a ritual for many, but for some, such as Gnauck, it’s also getting old.

“I have to use a personal day [from work] to be able to come up here with my sister,” Gnauck said. “I think it should be like deer season, where Maine residents get first shot, I’ve been thinking about making a questionnaire and asking people this, and giving that to the advisory board.”

But so long as order prevails, the system will remain in place. Some fear that if chaos were to erupt, park officials might take only mail-in reservations, or, as Gnauck fears, go to a lottery. But there’s no sign of that happening anytime soon.

Longtime camper and Vermont forest ranger Bill Gunther of Newfane, Vt., is a big reason. Through the night, as the line outside grows, he helps to maintain a semblance of order with an unofficial system he established 10 years ago. The rules he formed, which other campers have agreed upon, help to maintain a protocol for marking everyone’s place in line before the inn doors open.

In accordance with his unofficial system, each year Gunther takes names from people as they arrive during the night to take their place in line in the parking lot. Each name is posted on an unofficial poster-board calendar along with the park sites and dates that person tends to reserve.

While everyone still has to wait outside in line to ensure their places, the informal system helps to establish some order before park officials take over at 6 a.m. It also gives everyone a heads-up as to what campsites might be taken by someone ahead of them. That way, campers who arrive later than others can call their family or friends during the night to find alternative dates or sites.

Gunther, who was eighth in line this year, said there is no guarantee people will get the unofficial reservations he marks down, but since the crowd, which is made up of regulars, has agreed to the system, it works for now. Most agreed to let Gunther act as unofficial coordinator because he has a 40-year history of camping at Baxter, and he cares about how the reservation system works.

“In 1992 there was a near altercation,” Gunther said. “Some got ugly. People could be trampled or killed like at a soccer game. So we made a set of rules. I’m a facilitator of peace. We ask for voluntary compliance with the rules. People bought into it.”

Gnauck and Marquez were 30th and 31st in a line of 60 that formed before 12:30 a.m. Wednesday. That was good enough to get them a reservation at Kidney Pond, but not the one they wanted at Daicey Pond. They prefer the cabins that are farthest away from the others.

“The cabin we like to stay in is near the pond. Moose and deer walk right up to it,” Marquez said.

Though the sisters didn’t get their first choice and the night’s wait was a hardship, Gnauck said the reservation system works.

The sisters also said the park has made some changes that please them. For one, beginning in 2003, reservations will be accepted for a maximum of seven days, instead of the two weeks now allowed.

“That will double our chances of getting a four-person cabin. That’s going to be a big help,” Gnauck said.

Gunther, too, said he’s happy to see that change. He worries about campers’ satisfaction. Because, in truth, while New Year’s Day every year involves an eight-hour drive for him, a more drastic change in the system could hurt the nonresident’s chances of getting his preferred site. But he doesn’t think that will happen.

Gunther pointed out Wednesday that reservations are still completed in appointment books at the park headquarters with the campers’ names written in pencil. It is a primitive way of recording data in this day and age, but one that pleases the outdoorsman.

“I love that system,” Gunther boomed. “I’m an old-schooler.”

Deirdre Fleming covers outdoor sports and recreation for the NEWS. She can be reached at 990-8250 or at dfleming@bangordailynews.net.