Baxter park pays price of tourism 100,000 strain facilities yearly

BAXTER STATE PARK – You don’t hike to the peak of Mount Katahdin; you climb, in the truest swinging, clawing sense of the word. Through hour after hour of scrambling, the anticipation builds. You want to see a wilderness view worthy of your burning muscles and blistered feet.

Then, you look down at the empty soda bottles and rotting fruit nestled in the crevices of Baxter Peak. You struggle to find a place for quiet contemplation among the dozens of fellow climbers who congregate on the summit by midday, every day.

About 50,000 people attempt to climb Katahdin each summer, and that’s simply more than the mountain can handle, said Park Director Irvin “Buzz” Caverly.

In fact, the whole of Baxter State Park’s 204,000 acres is beginning to suffer from its own reputation as one of Maine’s last outposts of true wilderness.

If park managers don’t keep a tight rein on ecotourists, the well-meaning wilderness seekers could very well love Baxter State Park to death, Caverly said recently.

“There’s a demand that we can’t ever supply,” he said.

About 100,000 people visit Baxter State Park in 25,000 vehicles each summer. Hundreds stand in long lines each January in hopes of securing a campsite for the next summer.

As the park’s most famous landmark, Mount Katahdin bears the brunt of this pressure with as many as 500 hikers scaling its trails on a clear summer Saturday.

Sheer numbers are the biggest problem facing Baxter, Caverly said. Erosion and human waste are becoming problematic on popular trails, such as the ones on Katahdin.

“We’re worrying about our water systems,” he said.

Crowding on the park’s 47-mile perimeter road system is similarly dire. This primitive tote road loops through the park, providing access to trailheads and campsites. It’s intentionally narrow, winding and bumpy to reduce speed and limit use.

In recent years, however, tourists, both in organized groups and on their own, have used the tote road as a scenic drive, watching wildlife from the comfort of their air-conditioned vehicles.

“Between the [tour group] vans and the general tourists, we now have a traffic problem,” Caverly said.

The 18-car traffic jam Caverly saw last summer would have former Gov. Percival Baxter rolling in his grave. The park’s founder didn’t even want to build automobile roads, the director said.

Baxter once predicted that the growth of campgrounds, parking lots, roads and trails would be unlimited if it were determined only by demand. Caverly heartily agrees.

“Baxter wanted the park to be used to its fullest extent, but in the right, responsible way,” Caverly said. “You don’t just keep building to solve your problems.”

In 43 years at Baxter, Caverly has become known for his strong conservationist views.

In fact, the director believes the park’s traffic problems might be eased by the closure of several minor roads, including the spur that leads to Kidney Pond camps. Limiting the numbers of people, as opposed to cars, allowed through Baxter’s gates on a given day also would benefit the park in the long run, he said.

But restricting the use of a facility known as “the people’s park” has never earned much support. The governing Baxter State Park Authority has decided not to consider any road closings in the immediate future, though new gate admittance limits may be proposed for next season.

The park’s natural resources are irreplaceable and must be protected, Caverly said. Public access to these resources is an important, but secondary concern, he said, confident that people who love Baxter will be willing to wait their turn.

“You just say, ‘No – there’s no room at the inn,'” he said.