MILLINOCKET – More than 300 avid visitors of Baxter State Park spent much of Friday waiting to reserve cabins, lean-tos and tent spaces at the park’s annual opening day sign-up at Millinocket’s Katahdin Inn and Baxter park headquarters.

While it won’t be the last opening day, park officials described the record camper turnout as the “last hurrah” before a rolling reservation system is implemented next year. The new system is expected to spread out the stressful reservation process for park staff and make it more equitable for visitors who can’t attend the mad dash for campsites on opening day.

Bundled in giant parkas and subzero sleeping bags, many park patrons had spent one or more chilly nights this week in tents on the hard-packed snow outside the Katahdin Inn in hopes of snagging prime holiday weekends in the camp facilities on Kidney and Stacey ponds.

From an event that once included only die-hard park enthusiasts, opening day has mushroomed, according to Union resident Chaitanya York, who has lined up at each of the events since it started roughly 15 years ago. While waiting to have his number called over the loudspeaker Friday morning, York recalled how he once showed up at 4:30 a.m. the morning of the event and was fifth in line. This year, he arrived at 8:30 the night before and was No. 81.

As it has grown larger every year, the turnout shows how many people love nature and the outdoors, York said.

“It says something really encouraging about people,” York said. “Life is so hectic, but there’s just something about the wild that calls to people’s souls.”

As a first-timer to the park’s opening day, Elizabeth Bragdon of Presque Isle was hoping to land a Daicey Pond cabin in August for her mother’s first trip to the park. Arriving at 7:30 a.m. Friday, however, Bragdon was overwhelmed to see all of the people.

“I had absolutely no idea what I was in for,” Bragdon said.

Opening day is the busiest single day of the year for park staff, according to Chief Ranger Chris Drew. Close to 30 staffers and volunteers spent Friday guiding people through preregistration at the inn and the trip down the street to Baxter park headquarters where they waited until they could choose a campsite.

Park staff will remain busy next week with walk-in reservations and expect to process mailed-in reservations over the next couple months, Drew said.

When the two-year trial of the rolling reservation system goes into effect next year, opening day will be limited to just one day, Jan. 18, 2005. Reservations for the May 15 to Oct. 15 season will be limited to seven days at any one campground instead of the current 14 days.

After the single opening day, rolling reservations will be taken, requiring campers to reserve specific dates no more than four months in advance, Drew said. For example, campers won’t be able to complete a walk-in or mail reservation until March 4 for a July 4 camp date, he said. Reservations will be limited to seven days at any one campground with a two-week total limit in the park.

After taking a couple of days off from work in order to capture the coveted first place in line Friday morning, Veazie resident Bruce Geroux said the experience was well worth the sacrifices.

Geroux wouldn’t say exactly when he arrived, honoring the tradition that the first person in line doesn’t divulge such information. But Park Director Irvin “Buzz” Caverly said people started setting up camp outside the Katahdin Inn on Tuesday.

Though he slept in a sleeping bag on a chaise lounge in 10-degree weather, Geroux said he had a chance to share stories and camaraderie with people he sees only once a year.

Even with the coming changes, Geroux plans to come back on the next opening day to make his reservations.

“I think in a lot of ways, this may be a better system because people know to plan to take this one day off,” Geroux said.

The system was operating quite smoothly on Friday, according to Caverly. By day’s end at 4 p.m., 224 reservations had been confirmed, and the park was planning to bring in an overtime crew on the weekend to take care of those remaining by Monday morning, he said. Caverly said 79 percent of the reservations processed went to residents, while 21 percent went to nonresidents.

Additionally, 155 people on hand for opening day indicated they would be back for the next one, he said, adding that they likely will have preregistration outside Baxter headquarters again.

“It looks like opening day will go on for a while,” Caverly said Friday afternoon. He said he was thankful for the free coffee provided by the local Irving Mainway on Thursday night and Friday morning.

In what appears to be the only snag in the event, an 82-year-old woman was taken to Millinocket Regional Hospital for exposure, Caverly said. She had been sitting outside for part of the morning. She was treated and released, according to hospital officials.